Poor man's frame-off?..."Front-off resto"

['70 C/10 SS500]

To make things easier of course, I've pulled the front off my truck for my 500 cid Caddy motor swap. As to be expected from a 30 year old + truck, my frame, crossmenbers, and suspension arms are all rusty. I've stripped the frame (from the front back to the cab mounts) and crossmember down to bare metal and am now comtemplating doing the upper and lower A-arms as well while I'm at it. With the front end off, I can pretty much do a complete rebuild of the front back to the cab. I'm thinking of doing a "Front-off" resto, you might say! I know it's kinda half assed to stop at the cab, but from there back, the floor and frame isn't rusty. Greasy yes, but no rust. This will have to do till I can eventually do a full frame-off.

My questions are: 1. If I do get everything down to bare metal, how should I finish it? What type of primer/ paint should I use? I have a hvlp gun I can use, or I can go with the rattle can approach. Money as always is the biggest concern. I can't really spend MUCH more than $100 in materials right now.
2. I've never taken a-arms off before. Is it very easy to set back up with the correct alignment? Just a matter of re-using the same shims? Any special tools needed? Will this be more trouble and time than it's worth?

Thanks for the input!