niterydr, you are pretty much correct on your assumption about what I want, something reliable and effective. I'm gonna have to replace the head gasket and probably the timing belt anyways b/c I have to swap the engine from a FWD into the AWD I plan to get. For all the info on the car go here:
http://www.dsmstyle.com/forums/showthread.php?t=13563
I was planning on going along with Mach V's (
www.machv.com) suggested stages for upgrading. They pretty much say to change everything you stated.