Just to close the loop here, I had a professional licensed electrician from a large reputable company come out today. He looked at my box and said nope it's not grounded, but there's not gonna be any problem. basically leave it just as it is and you can install the new box. Which is exactly what I wanted to do. He also fixed another issue for me and charge me about $300 for everything.
So let's get off our tradesmen high horse if we don't mind.