-> 4) Are there any fairly cheap (<$150 or so) ways to increase the
-> performance on this car? Unfortunately, a Taurus is not exactly a
-> muscle car, so I'm looking for ways to increase the performance.

There is a company in Florida that sells computer chips that supposedly
get a few HP and Torque out of the 3.0. Don't have the address, but saw
the ad in Hot Rod and some other car magazines. Also, you could open up
the exhaust (get an exhaust with a larger i.d.)

Hope this helps. If you find anything else, let me know. I've got a 1990
Taurus L.