[rustyold72]

Question 1 : You can finish it in many ways, POR 15 seems to be one of the more popular finishes around here, I'm going to be using Eastwoods Corroless, and their chassis black ,in a rattle can, or there's always the ever popular Rustoleum.
Question 2: It's always a good idea to get your front end aligned anytime you do major front end work JMO, reuse the old shims and you should be pretty close, as for tools, a pickle fork, a 3 pound maul, and a floor jack, along with various size wrenches are all I ever needed to take apart a typical front end, one word of caution, a spring compresser is a nice tool to have so the front coil can be compressed before taking apart the ball joint/front spindle assembly (if that makes sense)
Most if not all of these tools, along with a ball joint press (looks like a big C clamp) can be rented from your local Auto Zone store