I think mabye your getting a little carried away...but I admire your determination. If you want to fix the heater just install a k5 heater motor and replace your heater core...it will pretty much keep you warm even with the top off. A CJ dash has ample room to put just about any guage you want on it. If you want to know how cramped your interior will be with all the XJ stuff in it step into a TJ and if your over 6 foot tall like me...you will be cramped...its pretty much the same. Swaping the Engine and tranny is a good idea but if your 258 is a good runner or even if its not have the shortblock rebuilt and do a 4.0 head conversion with fuel injection. You can pretty much put any seat in there with a little modification to the stock CJ seat brackets. Just be carefull on the width if you want a center console. Just some advice. good luck with the prodject.

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