[Christien]

$12K is the "sweet spot" for a "good" 3.2 that "needs some TLC"? I haven't been looking closely at the market for the last few months, but I think $12K is about $10K short of the mark, and I suspect that may be why you're having difficulties. I suppose "good" and "needs some TLC" are rather vague terms, but I would think a $12K 3.2 would need a rebuild. IMHO, that's more than "TLC".

I don't mean to sound overly harsh, but I don't think that's a reasonable budget.

edit: just did a quick search on the rennlist classifieds, there were maybe 10 cars in your model year range, the cheapest of which was $14K. Most were in the low to mid 20s, except for the screwball who wants $65K for an 87 slantnose.