51PhatBoy,
Shop space wasn't always as nice when working on the '49.
Original \'49 shop space 
I bought the '49 in Pullman in 1976. In the picture I was getting ready to paint the 5-bolt 15" wheels for the 1st upgrade to the truck. '54 passenger car brakes and hubs followed shortly by a '56 passenger rear end and 3-speed transmission.
On the current upgrade, I'm going to keep the non-power (1" bore) master cylinder under the floor ('76 Nova) that I had with the Camaro disks and the solid axle. I ran a '69 Impala 12-bolt in the rear and used a proportioning valve from a mid 70's Chevy 1/2 ton pickup.
I did a bunch of digging in the parts books and discovered that most of the front disk/rear drum applications used a 1" bore master cylinder for manual brakes and 1-1/8" bore for power brakes.
The setup I took out worked as good as any vehicle I've owned. Very nice pedal pressure with lots of control. Back wheels locked up just a second before the fronts when running empty. Plenty easy to lock up all four without using both feet.
I always ran DOT 5 silicon fluid and you could feel a bit of sponginess in the pedal but it didn't bother the operation any. It's my understanding that the silicone fluid is slightly compressible which would account for the pedal feel.
