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A friend of mine just gave away a nice Cadillac to get it out of the yard. It looked great inside and out. It would crank and run just fine. You just couldn't keep water in it because of the Northstar head bolt problem.

The black trim is just dressing and does not need to come off the panels. My advice is to just study what "layers" of parts need to come off to get to the rear speakers from inside the cabin. What's the outer most layer...probably the molded hanger clip for the seat belts, then the coat hanger clip, the door sill, upper side and rear window panels, then the lower side panel that houses the cloth speaker grill cover, et, etc. Just take your time and remember, don't break anything! Take pics, take notes, and report back so that we all can benefit from your experience.

and Cadillacs with Buick engines are just slow. I also have a lot of Reatta parts particularly electronic and a whole 3800/4T60 on a stand. Also waaaay too many factory aluminum wheels. From what I can tell, about 15-20% of 93 Northstars had major ($$$$) problems, particularly the ones from 1992. The rest are great engines. Cad finally got them reliable for the '04 models. But there was major decontenting done on the 93 Allantes and 90-93 had the early airbags. That and not so much the engine is why I wanted 89s. However in many ways the Northstar is really two Quad-4s and I worked on a number of those despite many different TSBs on head tightening sequences. That said the 200hp 4.5 in mine makes lots of torque low down and will stay with a Northstar up to 65-70. It has the kind of power a Reatta should have had. Northstar only makes 17 lb-ft more torque but about 1,000 rpm higher than the 4.5 - why the HP is higher.

Agree 93 Northstars are either very very good or horrid. 93s are also very decontented. Specifically bought 89s because have big engine, hardtops were still standard, have wind wings. Originally bought second one as a "spare" but really too nice to part out. Have acquired much of the electronics from eBay including two complete center stacks, several display modules, coolant fan module, analog speedo cluster, ECMs, BCMs, etc. Radio module is same as Reatta/Riviera/Corvette with Bose. Many other common fail parts (e.g. HVAC controller) are also the same. Pull down motors (top & trunk) in nice one are both replaced and have spare. Dunno about other, have not had hardtop off. Have service and parts manuals for all years . Questions ?

Relays are common. I'd poibably rinse with 91% alcohol or non-residue tuner cleaner and see what happens.

I don't know what that could be. Maybe a dielectric grease that was applied decades ago and has solidified? I would try to find a solvent that would clean it and see how it turns out. You might end up replacing but I would save that as a last resort.