I'm not totally comfortable about sandblasting and paint-dipping the rear axle bearings, but it's your choice of course: worst case, new bearings after a while. Did you have any problems getting the rust out of the crevices around the welds in the frame parts?
This job should come up well - I'm looking forward to further installments. Meanwhile, other people have also said that emailing Greenfield's service department about vintage mowers doesn't seem to be the best way to get a fast response, but people who have telephoned have usually been quite pleased with the service. As you will have learned from Rong's thread, though, Greenfield have not retained records from the HD-8 days and therefore cannot be of much help to you anyway.
Did you actually need a new starter on the engine? Because it looks like a genuine Honda engine, I'm surprised that you needed a new one. I hope you got a genuine replacement: chonda starters are usually not one of their best features.
