Well, I'm thinking I might keep the bike for a while. ???
What I don't want to happen is; get the 8 spd cassette, and new chainrings, 8spd chain, cables and housing and have it not perform...

Ok, so the economic choice is freshen up the 8spd, the money's not an issue choice is go with 9spd.

Would a newer LX crank work well with the 8spd set up? Are the chainrings narrower?
Should I try and find 8spd specific chainrings? The Strongarm crank seems to be ok...haven't checked the condition of the BB yet.

I'm starting to lean more towards cleaning up the 8spd side of things.
What is a good source of 8spd stuff, specifically chainrings?

Thanks