Well, I dug in a bit more to see whether there was the option of replacing the center section of the torsion tube, as I have seen on a few others do. The hunt for rust was fruitful, unfortunately.
The torsion bar cover looked like it has spent some time on the bottom of the ocean
The inside of the torsion tube appeared to be crumbly, flaky rust all the way through, at least on the right side.
And the real kicker is that it looks like the supporting wheelhouse structure will also need to be replaced. On the inside, it looked there was an old repair attempt, that I'll have to dig a bit deeper to get a decent photo and idea of the quality of the repair.
The eagle-eyed may also notice the bolt that snapped off - welded in nut looks like part of the previous repair?
I'm hoping to get some suggestions on what else to look for before I make the decision to push forward with the project or to let it go to someone with deeper pockets or more capabiliites.