Have you checked your timing?
I had something similar happen with my 96 too, it ended up being the crankshaft timing gear. The key-way on the crank shaft wallowed out, and the crank bolt came loose. If I would have caught it sooner, it would have been an easy fix.
The timing started wandering around because the loose crank bolt let the timing gear move around on the crank end. So when it started out it would bog down and have no power, until it got higher up into the RPM range.