Things that definitely stay:
Axles (D44/HD20 with 4.88 gears and ARB lockers): the brakes have always been great and I love this pair for what I do.
Clean up and repaint, if desired. Maybe wheel bearing maintenance, if necessary. Bearing maintenance could be performed after the "big build" to save time.
Dual diaphragm MC: Vanco unit that's been awesome
If happy, leave it
Frame: I do have front reinforcement plates from chiefwaho that I want to get on and I want to do the rear ones as well as fixing any other issues I find
At minimum, blast/clean/repaint the inside/outside of the frame, check factory welds/lack of welds at the seams
Wheels/tires: no reason to change, no intention of ever going beyond 35s
Leave alone
Interior: Outside of the rear seat mentioned below, there's nothing really wrong with the interior.
Clean up/repair as needed and reuse
Cage: I've been thrilled with the cage and aside from making the feet in the front floorboards work for whatever new floor ends up in there, it should be fine with a coat of paint.
Paint and leave it alone
Things that could go:
Motor: I have abused the CRAP out of this poor 4.0. I did the swap to this motor so that I could drop in a stroker in a weekend. The recent turbo developments for the 4.0 had me wondering about that route too. I wonder if
@MrBeep if going to let me have my stroker motor and exhaust finally
Get the Toby engine, easy swap into what you have, you are familiar/happy with it, done deal
Body: This is the
BIG one. Fiberglass is out. It is MANDATORY that whatever I do work with the World Cab (that needs restoration of its own). That means that the top lip has to be right and able to accept the World Cab flange. With what I've seen of the Phillipine units, I don't think they'll work. I spoke with the owner of Aqualu for over an hour standing in front of the Postal at EJS and he is 100% confident that they can make a body that will work exactly right as everything they do is CAD driven. A few measurements and we could confirm it for certain and if adjustments were needed, they'd make them. I can't get over the idea of scrapping the original tub and it's not THAT far gone. Sadly, I have zero experience with sheet metal work and I'm worried that what I do won't look good or last if I go the repair route. It's also going to slow everything down enormously...
This is the tough one, and only you can make the call once it is stripped down/exposed. Comes down to time/money crunch. I would love to see you reuse the original, BUT if it is too far gone/requires too many repairs/has a bunch of stress cracks in the sheet metal, makes the decision to swap easier. Even with a swap, still a lot of time to ensure everything fits, plus having to make all the holes in the replacement body. Ideally, you are able to find a local shop to repair what you have for reasonable money/time frame. IF you decide to fix it yourself, budget in money/time for acquiring/learning how to use a bunch of new tools. Kind of expensive in time/money to acquire tools/skills to repair one body? Hopefully, you can repair your existing body, either a local/reasonable/quality shop, OR send it to JeeperDD!!!!!! This will also probably be your most expensive/time consuming part of the project. I have not had any experience in 10 years with this sort of work at a shop, BUT either repair what you have or new, I would conservatively budget 10k.
Suspension: I have the rear BDS leaves where I'm happy but need to play with the front. I've always said I'd like to get corner weights and go with a custom set of Alcan/Deaver/etc. springs to finally get things exactly right. I will get these weights before this project starts just in case.
Leave the BDS for now, complete your rebuild/mods, then consider custom spring packs. Get the Jeep/mods finished, then weigh it, then get the custom springs, if necessary. I would not weigh it now for custom springs, who knows what might change over the course of the rebuild?
Tcase: I dream of a 3/4-speed Atlas/STAK/etc. unit but the price will likely kill this. (Not into the idea of doublers.)
Leave/clean/reseal (if necessary)/repaint (if desired) the Dana 300 for now. You can change transfer cases/drive shafts later. Save you money/time for now, easy enough to swap out later.
Crossmember: I have an XJ trans mount under the AW4 with holes drilled for it in the CJ crossmember, it's way taller than I need it to be. I'd like to suck up the crossmember and go with some other, shorter trans mount to take up the difference.
Change it now or later, let your money/time budget dictate minor improvements like this?
Things that have to be done:
Rear seat: need one with head rests and want to move it back. Matt Trout's recent third row seat install looks pretty killer.
Wait to see if you will repair your existing body, or swap on a new tub, before custom making a rear seat/associated brackets?
Fuel system: Need more gas for my road trips and fuel lines should be replaced. I'd like to clean up the regulator/pump mounting while I'm in there and add a spare pump in parallel for easy fixes when one dies. Need a proper skid plate. I've destroyed one side of the stock unit.
Clean out tank, swap in sender, all new flexible/hard fuel lines everywhere. Leave external pump, make a simple bracket to mount a spare pump along side the current pump.
Body replacement or fixes (see above):
I could take in/down the wheel wells with my lift and wider axles while doing the rust repair. New body mounts all around while I'm at it.
New mounts for sure, on either repaired/new tub. Also, blast/repair/repaint grill, fenders, hood.
Outboard rear shocks/u-bolt flip:
I finally had to weld the lower shock mounts into the Rubicon Express U-bolt skid plates I have. They're total rock anchors and I bend/break one per wheeling trip on average. This would allow me to make/install a u-bolt flip so I can finally ditch the stupid skids that further kill ground clearance.
Do it, take notes and pictures, I need to do the same.
CB delete: get rid of this entirely, it's GMRS or nothing from now on, I haven't used it in years.
Easy
Steering box placement/pitman change: I have slight interference between the end of the pitman TRE and the tie rod at full, even compression. This needs to be addressed once and for all
I'll let someone with more knowledge advise here. I get slight contact between my thicker/flipped tie rod/drag link. I always tear the pitman arm tie rod end boot. No binding. I just change boots once a year. On mine, I could probably move the box forward, you have a totally different front axle/suspension set up then mine. I'm out here.
Wiring: time to start over and rethink things now that I pretty much have added every possible 12V thing that this Jeep will ever see. I'd like to get rid of the XJ PDC I mounted under the hood on my driver's fender. Maybe a painless large harness and Trail Rocker or similar. Oops, one final addition, I need a 12V outlet in the bed for my fridge. I don't know how I haven't done this yet.
Replace entire harness, ditch the under hood stuff, add the Trail Rocker. You already got this part figured out.
OBA system: Replace the tubing for everything and clean up/refine. May go electric rather than the converted Sanden setup I have in my LJ now for simplicity. Other than occasional leaks and holes in the air line I used, I've been happy with this otherwise.
Ditto
IMO, your body work/swap/decision is the most critical/time/money issue.
1) Frame is good, clean up, weld on plates, done.
2) Axles/brakes are complete/good shape/happy with, done.
3) Swap in the Toby engine, keep you current transmission/transfer case, drive shafts, for now. You can swap either/or later, if deemed necessary, once the big project is over.
4) Do all new wiring/brake/fuel lines while it is apart. Clean up/paint all your existing/reused parts.
5) Comes back to the body, which IMO, is going to be the toughest decision to make, and the biggest time/money issue. I would love for you to repair/repaint/reuse what you have, but will totally understand if it is not feasible.
Just my thoughts