[wheatdog]

I was faced with the same dilemma about a year ago. My '86 3.2 has approx 130k but was running strong. I wanted to go through it before it developed any serious problems. Came up with about the same numbers for the same stuff you want to do. I went the 3.6 Vram route and never looked back. Found a low mile '97 Vram for 10 G's and bought the Timmons kit for the crossover. I spent another $800 to have the ECU tweaked by some "Tuners" in Deutchland. Installed 2nd oil cooler up front along with new lines. I did my own install and ended up with an extremely strong engine swap for about $15,000. It ended up about even money with the rebuild I wanted to do on my 3.2 but this Vram engine has way more torque & HP. I got lucky on the engine. The guy I bought it from sight unseen ( yea, I know, way dumb) ended up being an honest guy and I got a "claimed 27k" engine. Now, just from peeking in the ports at the valves (super clean) and doing a compression test and the butt dyno all say its not worn. I can't prove it's 27K but it runs strong starts first time, uses no oil, doesn't leak and definitely brings a smile to my face. I'd do it again in a heartbeat! Look up my name in the search engine if you want to see some of the install pics and BS. By the way, Vram is a must for this outcome.

Mike