Tom,
I'm going to have my 3.6 case back from the machine shop in a week or so. I can take a look at the squirter to see if I can confirm that they are magnetic and what they look like.
I think the answer to your question has to do with for how long you can live with the car down.
I would guess option #1 would = $15k with all the ancillary items included (resealing the tranny).
2. You might shave several thousand $s from the bill. You might even look at sending the engine to one of our resident experts on the board (Steve Weiner comes to mind), shipping is expensive, but I bet he'd do a far better job than a dealership. Joel Reiser is close to you, too and is in the same boat.
3. you could probably do it for $5k to $8k, depending upon what you have done, if you seek more power, new cams, porting.
4. might be a good option, especially if you want to rebuild yours. You could buy a replacement (get a running one that you can test and document. Probably worth $6k to $8k. Rebuild yours and sell the spare when you are ready.
I've had my car down for the better part of a year, when I thought I would do a simple swap and be done with it in three months. My story is unique on one hand, but as it turns out not so unusal
Just one man's opinion.
Doug