Somehow I missed this thread. This looks like a fun project and you are just working through getting it running. I hear you about the budget. Mine started to get out of hand in January and I just walked away from it until I built the money pit fund back up to finish up my work on it....
Definitely make sure it stops, steers, and is somewhat reliable. As for the rest of it, just chip away at it and make it roadworthy so you can enjoy it.... Awesome color combo and hopefully you can make the A/C work without a huge amount of work....
JW
