steering column disassembly question

[SpeedWorks]

So I know this might be a strange thread, but just bear with me please. So, in my journey to make everything nice and new, I decided to take apart my steering column to clean it up and give it some fresh paint. The upper column was covered in surface rust, just like most of the metal on the interior of most miatas. On the upper column that goes from the steering wheel to the firewall, the steering shaft runs through the column. Has anyone ever tried removing the shaft from the column? I took my column and taped and bagged off the ends and sand blasted the column, but somehow managed to still get sand into the bearings and maybe inside. If possible, i'd like to remove the shaft from the column, clean everything properly, paint the column and reinstall the shaft, maybe even change the bearings if possible.

I just don't want to try this without getting some advise first since I don't want to destroy the column since I don't have a spare.

Any suggestions? I know that on the upper portion, the shaft has a c-clip on it right before the upper bearing. By the looks of it, if I take that c-clip off, the shaft should slide down out of the column from the bottom, but not 100% sure of this, nor do I know if by doing this I will ruin or damage the existing bearings in there now.

Please, any help would be great.

Thanks
Alex