Fixing my 89 Sidekick JX

[collujstoodunt]

Hey everyone,
I'm new here and I am hoping I could get some help. I just bought my car in April from a guy who fixed it up solely to take it to Moab's Jeep Safari this year, so not all of the work he did was that great. I'm pretty sure that my rear main seal is blown, but I haven't had the chance to really tear into it to take a look, but my leak is coming from the right area. I've also recently sprung a leak in one of my radiator hoses. So far they're fixable problems, but I do have other concerns.

I took it to Grand Junction in June and then it started having issues. Does this vehicle have problems with long distance canyon driving? It doesn't like to get above 60 mph and it doesn't seem to have a lot of power.

Whenever it's cold you have to press the brakes REALLY hard, is there anyway to get past that? We're just barely in the beginning months of autmun, it's going to get much colder here in Utah, so I'm a little worried about that.

Another problem I've noticed is that the temperature gage doesn't read accurately. My dad's 93 sidekick does the same thing. Is this an inherent problem with sidekicks? Are the temperature sensing units just faulty on all of them or is this something worth replacing?

I'm wanting to modify what I already have. First off I would very much like to replace the transmission. I've got the auto, and I would like to go manual. Does anyone know how hard this is or how long it will take? I'm just wondering if I can do that in one weekend? I would also like to add power steering. How hard is that going to be does anyone know? I'm also looking to improve my gas mileage as much as I can, so if you have any suggestions on that I would very much appreciate it.

Thanks so much for any help you can give me.