Yes you will need the FAA medical.
Most people find if you consider all costs, ie: travel and accomodation and the price of the conversions there is little diference between doing a complete JAA modular training in Europe and converting FAA ratings.
The main advantage is you are dual rated and you can reach a point of the FAA system where you can start paid hour building quicker than you could under a pure JAA training system.
But certainly alot cheaper than an integrated course.
I would recommend you do search on FAA prices and schools offering J1 visa schemes; my knowledge of this may be a little out of date (2004) to be accurate.
Last edited by portsharbourflyer; 2nd May 2008 at 14:44.