[LS short box]

I'm not a body/paint body expert but I play one for 8 hours per week. LOL. Two four hour days per week helping out a local body shop. It's all my back can take. My doc said I need to lose a few pounds so I thought I might as well make some car parts money.
The body shop has a couple of resto projects that I've been doing the block sanding. Good for the shoulder muscles. It's hard dusty work but kind of cool seeing panels go from wavy to really straight.
It's the same shop that let me do all body work on my 68 C10 with their supervision. Prior to that I never did any body work. Saved me a ton of money. Maybe that's an option for you?
As said above material costs have gone thru the roof.