Update 1/1/2012: Happy New Year to all of you. I’ve spent some time out in the shop the past few days, starting in on the brakes and other details. The rear brakes look excellent: clean and dry, meaty brake shoes and all of the hardware is in nice shape. I will only end up replacing the wheel cylinders (for peace of mind although they’ve not been leaking), the metal lines on the housing (they are bent up), the rubber flex line and adjusting everything accordingly.

Then the front brakes were pulled apart. The rotors- although rusty- have not ever been cut (OEM new thickness of .875). The calipers were a mess as expected: I will be ordering up reman stainless sleeved calipers and getting all new wheel bearings/seals/hoses/master cylinder/etc. One rotor has already been cleaned up using Evaporust and the other is now soaking in the product. Twenty four hours and the rotor cleaned up real nice. I’ll get them cut before hanging them back on the car:

I also pulled off the Dana cover to drain the oil and inspect everything. The aftermarket chrome cover was on the car the first time I saw it back in 1985, but they re-installed the factory 4:10 and Sure Grip tags (very cool). The ring and pinion looked fine- no chips- and everything was nice, clean and oily without trace of rust or moisture. Looking at the ring gear, it is dated 10-68, so maybe it’s never been apart or altered: