I just changed the clutch in one of those for a buddy. Man it was one of the hardest auto jobs I've ever done. No room to work on anything.
As a near-life long GM fan, I used to look past the difficulties built into every GM vehicle. From restrictions around the simpliest things like changing spark plugs to interchanging metric to standard bolt sizes within the same part(!), in 2005 I finally admitted that GM built stupidity into their engine bays and threw in the towel. That year I bought the wife a Dodge (Hemi) Magnum and myself a Dodge (Cummins) Ram. Haven’t looked back!
I’m not at all surprised that you found a simple clutch replacement to be one of the hardest jobs you’ve ever done - it was on a GM product!
Hell, you shoulda changed the clutch on my Mustang - I needed about 5 different tools just to reach the bolts, let alone drop the trans. :)