I always used this. Had a drain hose that I would run through my plug hole and used this to pump out the oil.
https://www.harborfreight.com/23-gallon-manual-fluid-extractor-62643.html
I would go with h-beam rods purely based of their strength. But I don’t think you would go wrong with the I beam rods from p2r. As for pistons…. Weisco has always been my go to.