'92 a518 vss to '97 OBD2, compatible?

That's another way to go, for sure. Finding one shouldn't be too tough, I'm on pretty good terms with the guys at a small local wrecking yard. They don't seem to mind looking up part numbers and applications for me. But they'll also sell me core transmissions for under $100, and if I'm gonna rebuild it anyway... The other nice thing about changing transmissions is that I could use the kit from PATC to put the RH behind an LA motor at some point. Wow. That's a lot of abbreviations.