Is there any projects or whatnot, that shows how I can strip out the Linksys Firmware and put something else in its place? Is it even possible?

Thank you.

I have heard of one, my friend has done it, I just sent him an e-mail asking for the link and will post it when I get it.

Please know that the New firmware may kill your router, at least $40 wasted

-Joey

Yes you can change those routers. There are ways to make you have access to its OS on it and give you more features. There was an episode on G4TechTV's The Screen Savers about updating it, so you can do some LINUX stuff because its OS is using embedded LINUX.

If you messed up the FLASH chip you can get a replacement or take out the chip and flash it yourself. You can also take it apart and use it as a simple switch.

yeah but the thing is, Id rather follow a project which does this, I dont feel safe doing it myself from scratch

Here is what I'm talking about:
http://www.g4techtv.com/feature.aspx?article_key=354
http://www4.ncsu.edu/~bdferris/linksys_wrt54g/

Consumer grade routers costs about $50, so you should worry to much if you trashed your router. These routers are not that complex as server grade routers. Consumer routers, like the Linksys routers, contain a simple 5 port switch attached to one board that can work alone as a 5 port switch or be controlled by a computer to act like a router. The other board contains an embedded chip. In mine is an ARM embedded chip that is clocked at 33 MHz and it uses two memory chips. This board connects to the board that is contains the switch chip.

If you do not unstand what I'm saying use your favorite search engine and type linksys mods or something similar to that.