Joshua, one suggestion I can offer on the brakes is to see if you can find new shoes with asbestos linings or asbestos linings that you can have bonded or riveted. Asbestos has a much higher friction coefficient than "organic" friction materials that parts stores have carried for the last 30 years but the asbestos stuff still shows up on ebay.
I put asbestos brakes on my '32 Ford roadster street rod and it was like adding a power booster. Really!
