94 Dodge Stealth smoking, transmission issue, rebuild

1. Make and Model of your car
Dodge Stealth 1994 Base model

2. Include the mileage
196000

3. Stick shift or automatic transmission
Auto, 3.0, SOHC, 6 cylinder

4. 2 or 4 wheel drive
2

5. Strange sounds
Thunk?

6. Fluid leaks
Not that I can tell.

7. Past repair history if applicable


Question 1: My Stealth is smoking every time I start it after it has sat for say an hour or more. If I start it in less time than that, there is no smoke. The smoke is white and usually lasts a few seconds. However, recently it has taken longer and longer to stop.

From what I've read, it could be a cracked head gasket or cracked head. A friend said it could be a bad bypass. What's your thoughts on this?

Question 2: My Stealth has an economy and power fuel setting switch. On economy, the transmission has always been rough (I've had the car for about 5 years) when shifting, especially when coming to a stop. The best I can describe it is that if I come to a stop even remotely fast, it feels like the car stops and then the engine is catching up with a "tha-thunk"
that comes with an actual jerking of the car that seems to come from the engine.

The power setting used to not have this problem, but lately it, too, has started doing this. Any thoughts on this?

Note: the smoking has been going on for probably 4 months. The shifting issue (if that's what it is) started about 2 weeks ago (with the power setting).

And finally.
Question 3: What all is involved in an engine rebuild and what level of experience would you recommend someone have before they attempt it?

Thanks in advance,

Ryan O'Connor