1991 300 ZX 2+2 NA AT Engine Rebuild

[gugga4u]

Greetings,

Yesterday, while driving my ZX on the highway around 75 MPH, all of a sudden I saw white cloud coming out of my exhaust. The car started to lose speed, started hesitating, and the white smoke cloud continued coming as long as I had my foot on the gas pedal. When I let my foot off of the gas pedal, the white smoke stopped, so I let the momentum of the car get me to the breakdown lane, and then towed the car to my house. When I try to start the car, it produces a LOT of white smoke. Given that the smoke has no "bluish" color, and is a "white cloud", I'm assuming the head-gasket in the engine is gone, and the radiator fluid is burning inside the engine. (Note: if the smoke was "bluish" in color, I would have thought it'd be the engine oil - am I right?)

1) I'm not mechanic by any stretch of imagination, but can do minor checks on my own. What are some simple things that I can do to confirm that the head-gasket is gone, or if it's something else?

2) If it's the head-gasket, then I need an engine rebuild OR get a re-furbished one from a reliable source, and also a mechanic who can do the engine swap. Any leads on a good ZX mechanic in Boston area?

3) I do not want to go over $2,000 in repair costs. What are my options?

4) My car is an 1991 Automatic transmission. If I must do the engine swap, would I be better off doing a conversion from NA to TT?

Thanks for all you leads,
-aamir