Getting the CJ7 painted! Good colors?

[GaryMB]

My buddie is getting ready to paint his mustang, and wants something to practice on. So far he has one body to practice on, and offered to paint my jeep right before he paints his mustang. All i can say is that anything will look better than the current half oxidized black paint/half black primer I have right now. Any color suggestions? I'm hoping to keep the price down, but don't want it to look terrible. I like black, but also saw a charcol CJ7 a while ago that looked pretty nice. Any suggestions? Or should I just not paint it 'cause it'll hurt too bad when it gets scratched offroad... Since I'll be replacing the entire drivetrain and suspension soon, I think that I might take the body off the frame to fix it up (the rear cross member is cracked, also it couldn't hurt to sand blast it since i have a sand blaster). What is the best way to seal up the frame? Paint it with car paint? coat it with bed liner? regular under coating?