Finally got back to this. Tried the simpler things first. No air in lines, adjustment looks OK, shoes seem OK as do drums. So we tried swapping the old MC (1 3/4) with the biggest bore substitute we could find that would fit on the booster; that was 1 7/8". Unfortunately that gave no noticeable improvement (of course all I guess you'd expect would be a decrease in pedal travel to around 87% of what you had before, which isn't a whole lot). So I'm still looking for suggestions. Maybe the key is figuring out what the front axle/brakes came from. Any ideas would be appreciated.