Sent the body off to the soda blasting shop. They do all the cars for the local rod shop, so I trusted things would work out. While I'm waiting, I decided to build a paint booth in my garage. I built it with three sections of PVC. The idea is that each section can fold into the next so if I need to open up the garage I can essentially slide the sections together.
For now, it's setup for some primer once the body returns.
Also settled on 2x3 3/16" box steel for the chassis. Having some trouble figuring out how tall front suspension is going to be so I need to sort out what options I have for a solid i beam front axle. The current axle is not a dropped axle, so I may not be able to fit it under the car and keep the radiator shell "beer can" height.