I was lucky enough to have a friend whose family owned a autobody shop so I was able to work for them for a summer and have them teach me and help me with my car. From my experience you have to really make sure (like Jay_Gadsby said), that you have enough rust for it to be worth your time in order to sandblast. You will have to take out the interior, the sand gets everywhere...seriously, I still find some occasionally. Having it painted is expensive, but if you choose silver paint you will be doing well, red is the most expensive I've seen. I think those prices are pretty standard for cost of a good paint job. Also, choosing to do it yourself is a huge project so you have to be sure before you do it. You can get a cheap paint gun at harbor freight for like $10, but the real killer is the sandpaper and paint. I spent way more than I expected on sandpaper and paint. So now that I have begun rambling I will stop. If you have any more questions I'm happy to answer them as best I can.