Wow, don't know how I missed this thread all these weeks but will be watching it now. A couple of thoughts for you.
I like McMaster-Carr a lot better than Grainger.McMaster has a TON of info on almost everything they sell to help make choices,the ship incredibly quickly for little money.
http://www.mcmaster.com/#
When i was researching color about 4 years ago I came across a list from one of the Shelby ads back in the day. Silver was on it so that is what I went with.
THe MkIV steering column is a pain in the butt. Good looking but. The old ones had several joints in them that this one doesn't. The shaft gets captured between the bearing at the firewall and the rack and the only rotational adjustment available is at the splines on the rack. The wheel goes on only two ways 180 degrees from each other. So, before you tighten the rack and the bearing,1-stick the wheel on the shaft,2-center the rack by turning all the way in both directions, making marks and counting back to it's center, 3- put the shaft on the rack,4-tighten the rack mounts and bearing mounts. It may be a little easier w/ a manual rack but we learned the hard way on Bills car that the rack just barely will move enough w/ the bolts out and the bearing loose to get the shaft on to the splines.
Torque- any time you have any doubts look at this generic chart for additional reference
http://www.repairengineering.com/bolt-torque-chart.html
Most of the FFR bolts are grade 5 and a few grade 8