thanks guys. your input really helped. we went to the junkyard today and got a 2wd tranny out of a '92 pup. it was a u pull it and luckily, someone had already taken the engine. we got the tranny and a nearly perfect hood for $120. got a new clutch and installed everything in less than 10 beers between 3 of us.

the deal breaker was the 4wd trans/tcase was $500. you can buy a running 4wd xj for that. in the end, common sense prevailed. just because you can do something doesn't mean you should. there was a momentary lapse looking at the 14" king coilovers on his sand car sitting right next to the amigo (with it's big, bubbly, flared out, desert style fenders). it was more a "well you could...." "believe me dude, i thought about it". the amigo will remain the 2wd street machine it was born to be and eventually get sold to some chick that thinks it's cute.

thanks again for the info. google wasn't very helpful.