[MrFixr55]

I think if you went to Homeowner #&!!, they would probably be just as expensive. I have been going to my hardware store since I was 13. That's 57 years. Family owned, has passed through generations. Not much more expensive than Home Depot or Lowes, often, same price, sometimes cheaper. If I go to Home Depot, gotta park, there may not be a handicapped spot (and I never take the last one; there are people much worse than me), grab a crippie cart (unless it's the last one), get halfway to the hardware section where the battery dies on the cart, then go on a scavenger hunt for the part or for help.
OR
Pull right up to the hardware store, 5 steps to the counter where there are a minimum of 3 people plus the owner, all who know my name, in case I need help finding anything. And they usually have almost any hardware, plumbing or electrical sundry that I need.

As for floating the chassis, there may be a real issue with that. You HAM types, please chime in, but unless you make some sort of bus to transfer each ground connection to, and very near the original grounding point, the FM section alignment may be greatly affected. I guess that this is one advantage of PC boards, which Zenith eschewed, and no one else used until about 1956 or so. The FM Section of this set is tuned by variable inductance, like a car radio instead of by variable capacitor.