It should clean up OK... is the headset in good shape? How about the front wheel?

As I see it, the best candidates for conversion only need the rear wheel swapped. So that's the baseline. You're talking BB, cranks, maybe bars & stem, on top of that... you might end up putting over $100 onto this heavy frame with pressed dropouts.

So you might want to look for other bikes in the $100 range with functional BB & cranks.

In the bay area: http://americancyclery.com/