to do the job in 4-5 hours (max). So figure maybe $600 in labor + $40 or so in parts. Of course, since the tranny is being dropped also a good time to do some clutch servicing if needed. -- that may add additional costs.
The real question is how many miles on the '96 and what kind of MTCE records does it have? That helps drive the question about the turbos. Anything over say 120k miles and original car turbos would be something to think about.
Do you plan to keep the car a long time and add a decent amount of miles or is this just a summer driver?