Hey, welcome to the forum. My 97 2.5 has AC and yes can feel some power loss when it's on, but sure beats enduring the heat.
I think your best bet for finding all the individual parts is going to be finding someone who is parting out a TJ. What I don't know (and others might) is what model years would work for your 97. My guess is that any year with the 2.5 would work for you, but keep in mind that there are many
quirks of the 97 models, so there may be some things that make other year models' AC systems different? Others on here will know better than I do.
I'll add this thread to the
SE thread. Keep us posted on your progress.
If you want some examples of places that part out TJs, see
this thread. Or if you use Facebook, you can often find part-out listings on Marketplace.