rspears, Thanks for the info. You gave me a lot to go over.

Per the rear end. I'm going with a Ford 9" rear end. I did some searching around and found a shop that does nothing but specialize in rear ends just 10 miles from me. I can pick up a Ford 9" from the savage yard. They will rebuild it and can cut it down to any width I want. So now at this point I need to decide on the best donner rear end. Also what rim size/off-set I'm going to use. Possibly a 3.25:1 ratio?

The transmission I have is a 5-speed manual WC B/W T5 #1352-175 from a 1988 5.0 Camaro. I only swapped out the tail housing from the S10 to move the shifter forward. Not the main shaft. I will either go with a GPS speedo or none at all.

I found a GM certified engine builder ~25 miles from me. He will build an engine to my spec's. I can even help build the engine. Since this will be a daily driver, I'm not looking to burn the tires off. But I do want the car to be able to get out of it's own way. He said we can sit down and plan the build out to match my needs.

For the front end, I have decided to go with a TCI IFS. The decision I need to make is chrome or no chrome. Being a daily, I'm wondering if polishing all of that chrome underneath is worth the hassle. But with wire spoke wheels, what is the non-chrome going to look like?

As per the frame. Ole Henry was quite the penny pincher. I was going over the frame when I noticed something. From the tip of the horns to about 3" past where the body bolts down is completely square. Top and bottom of the "c" channel is the same. But just past that point on both sides of the rail. The bottom rail angles in 3/16" making the bottom rail just a tad smaller than the top. Guess Mr. Ford was trying to save some steel cost. Not a big problem. I can square it up when I box out the frame.

I'm just a couple of days away from having the frame sandblasted. I was going to spray the frame down with weldable primer when it came back. But I'm not so sure now. I've been reading a lot about Southern Polyurethanes, SPI.. I'm going to contact them and see what they recommend. Has anyone else used Southern Polyurethanes products? What did you think of them?