boy do I remember that first drive around the block with my MJ. scary as hell! (no shocks, no rear shaft, and front spool which meant only one tire had power)
you'll want to host the videos on youtube though. the CC isn't very good at it.
auto or manual is entirely a personal decision. it may take some time to locate an AX-15, but I'm sure you will eventually. there are some threads on man-auto transmission swapping in here:
huh. I thought I've read somewhere that the 24# worked ok. though maybe those particular guys didn't notice or care about a rich mixture (meaning they weren't in a sniffer state).
I had intentions for hanging a waggy frontend, just never got around to it. plans were to use a 6 or 9 volt converter to power the marker lights so they were dimmer than stock. buuuuut that's as far as it got.