Plain and simple, help me fix my ever lovable xt6

[Coliseum]

So, theres a lot of levels to this, being that i intend to make this car outlast me so ill try to keep this organized

First and foremost, I both want and need to replace, revamp, or otherwise retrofit most of my undercarriage, while its served perfectly as my daily driver, I can feel and hear that my tie rods are bad, ball joints too I'm sure, my power steering works most of the time but id like to do whatever is best to get it at maximum capability again, idk what CV Axles or how to figure out certain part specifics like that so please explain it to me like I'm a child should you do so.

I'd also like to swap it to coilovers for now, please drop me some specifics or what kinds of coilovers will fit exactly so i can start to search for them as ive been lost so far, eventually ill return it to functional air suspension and hopefully get it all working again so i can show off the height calibration stuff.

Generally, I'd like to restore as much of this car to "original" as humanly possible. I, of course, want to customize it a small bit but I'd feel like im ruining the car if i start trying to turbo things and stance it so im hoping to keep it tame, focus on function as much as i can, but i cant rely on the ER27 for as long as Id like to keep the car, if yall think its possible for me to revive the ER27, id love that, the engine has a classic charm and rumble to it i wont get out of my next ask for advice

Which brings me to my main point and the full extent of my intentions for the car

I love the flat 6 engines, the EG33 isn't as easy to obtain, but the EZ30-36 are common enough and powerful enough that I can reasonably obtain one and a donor subie for 3-800 dollars(if yall are fckin with this idea, should I get the 03 or 05 3.0, is One better?) My hope and plan is to lift the ER27 out, replace it with an ez30 and hopefully keep the oem 5 speed, i understand the saying is easier than doing, im trying to establish a baseline and a timeline so I can put my dream car back together.

Truly any advice, anything yall know, and any parts you could offer me would do me a world of good.

Anything common with the car that could help me would a miracle as well because finding people nowadays who even know what the car is in my area leaves me finding a better time looking for actual unicorn cars on Facebook marketplace.

Many thanks and have a good one.

Edited 1 hour ago by Coliseum
Just wanted to add this photo

[bushytails]

I think you should start with simpler projects, like CVs, ball joints, and tie rod ends, before worrying about an engine swap.  Until you're confident with routine maintenance like that, an engine swap isn't even something you can consider.  Then worry about suspension mods and such until you're comfortable with fab work and re-engineering things.  Then you can start researching engine swaps or other large projects.  Is there even anything wrong with your current engine?

[Coliseum]

1 hour ago, bushytails said:

I think you should start with simpler projects, like CVs, ball joints, and tie rod ends, before worrying about an engine swap.  Until you're confident with routine maintenance like that, an engine swap isn't even something you can consider.  Then worry about suspension mods and such until you're comfortable with fab work and re-engineering things.  Then you can start researching engine swaps or other large projects.  Is there even anything wrong with your current engine?

Oh youre 100% correct, I intend to do all the side missions before I finish the game yeah? Perhaps I should've been more clear that thats a long term goal not intended to be done ASAP, but I still wanted yalls opinions on it.

Regards to the engine, im not certain of the full extent of its issues but it has the tick, I need to locate and afford an oil pump seal so I can hopefully fix that issue, which hopefully you guys can educate me on as well. My main concern is that it will stall randomly upon pressing the clutch in, the engine power seems to wane randomly like the engine isn't firing properly or something, its not an issue per se but its coming up on 300,000 miles, I believe its burning a little oil? But its doing so at a snails pace and ive barely had to give it oil to keep it up after the first oil change. I want to change all my gaskets if I can but I cant seem to locate any gaskets for the engine, and I have trust issues with Ebay.