There is an awful lot of rust repairs to do to that body Andrew, add filling in the windows and the sunroof if you can't do it all yourself it is going to cost a fortune in body work.

Personally I would be looking at using the Aquarius HJ body you found at the wreckers as it probably has a lot less work in it. Either that or use the body from the HZ you got off Jason, you will have to swap out the firewall sections and use your HJ ones but again a lot less work. You will end up with a better car for less work and outlay if you re-body it. At least the HJ has th hood lining strips in it and if that body was up here I would use it to replace mine.

Some think a body swap makes the car no longer original..... pfttt.. The Sandman ID is in the chassis, plates and Sandman parts, the body is just another part and no different than replacing doors, guards, panels etc.

Get your body soda blasted... stay well away from sandblasting unless you know your blaster really well and have used him before for similar projects. Blasters will all tell you how good they are and by the time you find out they are not your car body is stuffed.

In answer to your restoration questions....

I do the major rust repairs before blasting the body, all the places that are obvious otherwise you will be doing a lot of priming, sanding, priming etc. Once you think you have all rust repairs done then get it blasted and primed, you will have a lot less work repairing the small spots you have missed that were covered by paint etc.

The rust along the seam of the side panels says to me that the top of the rear quarter panel will also need repairs so if cutting panels from another car cut along the quarter panel an inch or so below the seam, I would also cut along the roof an inch or so above the gutter joint. You can then unpick these sections and if needed have them as repair sections.