A500 in an Early A

Yes. As a matter of fact I have 2 more V8 steel cranks and one 65 slant crank and will get them all done at the same time
That will work.
I'm not positive, but you might need to have a "ring" made to go over the flange for the flexplate, so can use the A-500 flexplate. I don't know if you can use the early flexplate with the 500 converter. The center hole in the 500 drive plate is larger then the flange on the crank.