So my 4.9 is alive and well, finishing minor details here and there -- but driving this thing is starting to have me wonder about how long the Isuzu tranny will hold. I know several are running the Isuzu with out problems, but I figured I could slowly accumulate parts and as the Getrag is rated for more....

Anyways -- what is the best one? What year/make donor? I know the newer will need Rodney's brackets, and I think new cables will be necessary. What else will I need?

I know there are differences among them, so basically which one would you put behing your 4.9?

Should I combine two Getrags to get the best of this or that?

For now, I'd like to keep the 6 speed F40 out of this, as its price goes way up in a hurry....

If you want to stick with the getrag 282 family, then the 92-94 HTOB getrag was the last year and had the most upgrades and you can purchase every needed part for the swap. The ones from the 3.1V6 have the same ratios as the stock fiero getrag.
https://www.fiero.nl/forum/Forum2/HTML/091336.html

The F23 and F35 would also be an upgrade from the isuzu.