Doing an update here with lot's pictures.. I've been busy cleaning, sanding, and painting. The Master Coat series
http://www.masterseriescoatings.com/index/
is a long process. After all the parts are cleaned you start with the metal prep that they provide in their kit.. you can wipe or brush it on. After you do a couple coats of that you let sit for 2-3 hours. This leaves a zinc phosphate coating and cleans the parts really well.
The next step is to apply the silver rust preventive primer..requires 2 coats with 3 hours minimum between each coat. The final coat is the gloss black top coat.. I used a brush for everything. I think if I had a spray gun it would be much faster and easier to apply, but I think the results came out pretty good. I'm satisfied with it.