so....long story short, any idea how much an ej22 (1996) with the internals costs?

Depends what you're looking for. Top of the line would be something like a rebuild from ccrengines

 

Used/non already rebuilt maybe $50 on up. Depends what mileage, condition, etc, you want. If you get it locally from a salvage you pull it yard would probably be cheapest. You can also get them on eBay, car-part.com, etc, but then shipping adds to the cost. For the '96MY you might be able to pick up an entire vehicle or front clip for not too much.

I paid about $340 shipping included for my 95 2.2 with about 77K on it. If yo have it delivered to a business with a pallet lift of some sort, it will cost less.

 

Good luck.

The U pull it yard around here gets $85 and a 10 core charge.