Swapping a front end would be a lot easier than swapping out an engine.  However, should the bike ever be stolen or you should get pulled over (and the cop check the steering neck), the potential is there for a whole lot more hassle than you would want.  I personally would do the engine swap.  When you swap the engine, the five speed tranny is all part of the package and you are golden.

Personally I would swap the engine just to keep everything legal that way if you ever change your mind and decide to sell the bike you will be able to get more for it. There is also the thin chance that Johny Law will check the vin numbers if you are pulled over. After all what could you say to a cop if he finds the numbers don't match "gee officer I thought this was my bike, I don't know why the plate doesn't match the vin number". Hello graybar hotel Oh, I see you are down by Titusville, the local fuzz can be rough. Gotta get together, I'm just a bit up the coast by Daytona.

Ed chimed in before I could.I was going to say be careful around Daytona(at least during bike week)they specifically check VIN's.

I was thinking about the possibility of frame damage because the forks were pretty bent.  I would probably never sell the Savage because I prefer to add to a motorcycle collection but the thought that the parts bike could possibly have been stolen at some point made me thinking about the possibility, however slim, that mine could be stolen and then I'd get a knock on the door from a Brevard sheriff and have to explain the mess and risk a trip to Sharpes.  I've been there after a d.u.i. (valuable life lesson learned, debt to society paid) and they don't mess around in this state but that's a whole other infuriating issue.  I still give the two finger British salute when I'm riding my Triumph to Daytona.  The Savage has been to Daytona a couple of times but will only go again if the wife learns to ride or a New England buddy comes down for bike week because the Scrambler is the coolest bike ever.

At any rate I got a decent parts bike delivered for only $300 so I'm gonna take the engine and transmission and the brand new and much bigger rear tire off the parts bike then save what I may need and get some of the money back on the stuff I know I won't on e-bay.  

I saw that listing and considered it for a split second but the 88 already has a title and, quite frankly, it has a whole lot of sentimental value to me.  I had a '72 Triumph Daytona that had been sitting in storage in New England for about 6 years because I was going through a divorce and my parents had moved to Florida.  My dad has been a mechanic for over 40 years and is able to fix anything with the appropriate Clymer's or Haynes manual and finding someone to work on British steel back then was near impossible.  When I decided to light the fuse on the escape pod I figured I could ship the Triumph down to Florida and sink at least a grand into it and still have a 33 year old bike with a ubiquitous oil leak and dastardly Lucas electric as my only means of transportation while I rebuilt my life in the Florida sunshine.  I did an even swap for the Savage on craigslist and she served me very well and that's where I got the handle Trump2Thump and got some great help from this site.  

I got my love of British steel from dad's 1970 BSA 650 that I still ride on occasion and vowed that I would get a brand new Bonneville when I got my life together.  When I saw the swept back pipes on the Scrambler it was love at first sight and I finally got my dream bike last year. Check out the line-up at http://www.triumphmotorcycles.com/usa/ and you'll see what I mean.  The next one in the stable is the Rocket III, 2400 cc's of pure, smooth adrenaline.  I've ridden her at Daytona and she handles like a dream.  When we got off the test ride my wife said "oh baby, that's our next bike" and I just smiled.

So I guess a huge part of rebuilding the 88 is sentimental reasons but I'm preaching to the choir on how much we can love what is really a pile of mechanical parts.

On a side note, on my first day in Florida I softened the blow of the worst breakup in history (all charges eventually dropped) with Jimmy Buffett tickets in Tampa.  Life further softened the blow by letting me meet my childhood hero, the coolest man to ever ride a motorcycle - the King himself, Evel Knievel.  I got to shake his hand and thank him for giving me a red blooded American hero to lookup to as a kid and making my childhood so special.  He said "you're welcome" and autographed a helmet "to Lou, Happy Landings, Evel Knievel, '05".  2005 was my personal Caesar's Palace but that helmet sits as the centerpiece of an Evel shrine that keeps expanding thanks to e-bay.  Evel fans should check out Bob Cook's ultimate fan site - http://www.geocities.com/colosseum/track/5573/ this dude has a replica XR-750 jump bike AND a full scale Sky Cycle in his living room.  Be sure to check out the fan web board for a link I posted to a really cool Evel Knievel song.

I guess I'm back to Trump but I still love my little Thump.  She's served me well and deserves reincarnation.