3rd Gear Grind

On the way to my cottage this weekend my 1999 Contour SVT developed a grind. All of the other gears work fine, but when I go to shift into 3rd I always get a grind preventing me from shifting into that gear. I can only shift into 3rd gear when the revolutions are perfectly matched and by moving slowly, so I've stopped using it in the meanwhile. Is my transmission gone? Is it the synchros? or something else? How much is this going to cost me, and what parts do I need?

usually it's the syncronizer and blocking rings, with only one gear. but it could be the input shaft too. either way it has to come out.

its the syncro. The 3rd gear syncro is the usually the one to go out first on the post 98 cable shift trans. The syncro isnt all that much, only like $80 iirc. However, its the labor thats going to kill you. Upgrade to the revised 2000 syncro and post 2000 shifter forks.