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Here's my opinion for whatever it's worth.
If you are addicted to the badge and the particular car you bought and planned to keep it for 10 years or indefinitely, then replace the motor with a 3.4. You will have a wicked-fast boxster, especially if you keep the 5 speed tranny. You lose some top end (which you'll rarely enjoy anyway) and add a lot of low rpm grunt that the 6 speed trannies do not possess.
If you are not smack dab in love with your car and don't plan to keep it forever, then you would be throwing good money after bad because you'll lose your shirt in two years when you tire of the car.
I bought my 97 for $15,500. I've put $8000 into it with a salvage transmission, lots of repairs to the cooling system, suspension and emissions, and the balance on new rims, skirts, humps, xenons, salvaged seats out of a 2002 carrera, etc. If my engine blew tomorrow, I'd put a 3.4 or a 3.6 in it as soon as I saved up the cash to do it.
Why dump even more money into a car worth $12k?
1. I can't afford a newer 3.4 boxster at $40k (I pay cash for cars).
2. I am happy to keep my car for the next 10+ years and a new motor would serve me well and the cost would be amortized over many years.
I hope my thinking process on your sad situation helps you decide what to do.
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