'99 V8 AWD chassis under '96 V8 body

Well, this is my project:

I came across a '99 Explorer V8 AWD rolling chassis with 1,400 miles on the drivetrain. I got the whole package for damn cheap. Anyway, this weekend I am going to basically slap the body of my current '96 V8 (with 135,000 miles and a bent frame) onto the new, factory-fresh chassis.

So, does anyone have any advice for me before I begin this project? I'm assuming the '96 and '99 V8's are the same aside from the GT40/GT40P heads, right?

Give me input and advice!

I'll have plenty of pics and stuff afterwards!

 

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Originally posted by stog94
Awesome job man...

Have you run into any problems smogging this in CA?

Ooops. A little late here. But no! I had it smogged last month. The place thought I had thrown a V8 into a V6 Explorer so they were all confused. But once they realized 5.0s came in Explorers they got back on track and it smogged without a problem.

Hard to believe this was done over 1 1/4 years ago.