Phat,
You right on with the later frames and rear steer, remember early Nova's with V-8 engines. I made several offset drag links to use a real oil pan for these cars. Do you think a late 1-ton chassis would be ok to use, I don't want the thing to beat me to death driving it.
What can you tell me about the right way to fit rack and pinion steering on a front end? The other idea I though of would be to move the steering box and fab linkage to make it work. I am thinking a rod off the Pittman arm with some bearings going to the new gearbox location and another Pittman arm. Keep all the geometry the same just use a bell crank assembly to actuate the steering.