Considering a 944 transaxle

I know Alfa uses a jointed shaft (using rubber donuts) to connect their engines to the transaxle in the Milano and GTV... is the 944 (and 968) transaxle joined to the engine the same way, or is their a rigid torque tube?

Its a torque tube.

3" diameter rigid tube with an approximately 1" diameter shaft. The shaft is held by 3 (or 4 I forget) bearings. one each end is a bell housing. The forward bell housing contains the clutch and flywheel. the rear is empty other than a coupling.

The actual gearbox has the rear bell housing since the casting is borred from a front drive audi layout. Porsche chose not to remove this bell housing probably for cost reasons associated with a redesign.

Of note the gear cluster in a 944 transaxle is behind the diff. The diff is right behind the bell housing. This arrangement makes sence when considering a front drive layout.

1980 Porsche 924 transaxles have good ratios for the power of an Alfa. And the ratios can be swapped with ratios from the Porsche 901 transaxle if you want to change them. They're small and easy to package and mount in a car. They use a standard bolt-on CV joint. The "gearbox" portion is ahead of the differential and output stubs, making weight balance even easier. The front of the transaxle has a small snout, instead of the large bellhousing like the 944. The torque tube is just as easy to modify and is easy to adapt to other bellhousings.

I may look into the 924 transaxle then. I really wanted the 968 trans with 6 speeds.. but if the 924 trans is easier to work with, all the better

They're easier to a point. The syncro's are delicate and tend to wear out. Unfortunately they are a 924 only piece and if you can find them they are expensive to repair.

Some 924 folks are investigating the possibility of using 901 or 915 pieces in their units.

However, the gearbox doesn't have a bellhousing attached to the nose where the TT attaches, making for a much more compact solution.