Well!
Today was a beautiful day, and I managed to finish the assembly on the front end. I still need to lube and then plumb and bleed the brakes, but NOW I can measure for the steering column/shaft and also start thinking about how best to yank out the transmission.
This was the most (and least) fun part of the build so far- those springs are scary to compress.
But I'm extremely happy with the results - and how much I've learned!
I'm also lovin' the end result:

Next... Yanking out the rear end, torque tube and transmission... in ONE PIECE?!? (ha ha, I'll try!)
PS: I did publish a step-by-step photodiary on chevytalk.com ~ Click on the title of this post to view it!