I'm finally making some progress after putting this down due to some work and personal distractions. I did end up using self etching primer on both sides. The places where I had ground studs were masked off then burnished. I installed studs with star washers and secured with nylock nuts. The wood where it meets the metal was treated with a penetrating oil and wiping varnish (Waterlox). The top plate has been mounted for a month or more and no further signs of the leaching issues as before. Finally getting some of the guts installed. Frankly I'm not as happy with it as I was hoping for. While the solid wire is a dream but it's a bit bulkier to work with than I liked. Some of the components dimensionally weren't what I was counting on, the little tube base circuit boards also not as handy as I was expecting but, there's always next time. A few loose ends to finish up then a long hard look at all the connections and compare to the schematic, verify all the components are where they need to be, give it a good proper clean out to remove any clippings then the start up begins.
