First the engine, then fuel pump now trans

I have a 1993 Plymouth Grand Voyager. A month or so ago I noticed it was losing major power. It had never burned oil and everything seemed great other than that so I took it in for a tune up thinking that would fix it. The repair shop tuned it and then told me it was still not good. It was backfiring so they did a compression test and 3 of the 6 cylinders were measuring 25. Not good. They told me that I also had a bad head gasket. I have never liked those gasket repair kits so I talked to my brother who is also a mechanic but he has a full time job so unless it's major I don't have him work on the van because he has to do it on his own time. He retested it and agreed that I needed a new engine. The next day on my way to work (I was hoping to wait a few weeks) the serpentine belt broke so I just got the new engine and had him put it in. A week later the fuel pump went bad and we replaced that and the fuel filter. A couple of days later my transmission fluid started leaking out fast. I had just taken it in February and replaced the transmission. My brother did not do that for me because I wanted a warranty since those are expensive. I took the van in and they fixed it. The warranty covered it so it was free. They said it was the torque converter. My brother told me that he thought he might have messed up while doing the engine because he had doubts about the Transmission Front Pump Seal. We had a hard time finding that part. Would that have caused my torque converter to go bad??

Also after putting in a new fuel pump has anyone had any trouble with their van starting hard? It turns over for a few seconds before it actually starts. The distributer is getting the spark and I have a new rotor button so any other idea on what could be causing it to start hard? Should I maybe do a fuel system cleaner or something?

If I hadn't spent so much fixing my van I'd be dropping it off at the junkyard.:rolleyes: