I tested Money 97 again using SuSE 9.1 (with the 2.6 kernel) and Crossover 3.0 Pro.
There has been some progress. The install now runs in 3 minutes instead of 20 minutes. How much of this is due to the new 2.6 kernel and how much is due to the new Crossover is unknown, though I think it is mostly due to improvements in Crossover.
Unfortunately, although the install runs perfectly, I still get the same error trying to start:
"The path is not properly set up in the registry or has been moved after
running Money's setup. Please reinstall Money. Otherwise, Money may not
be able to run properly."
I will continue testing with variations on the install to see if I can get any further.