Hi kimpw. I have a 1986 Trek 400 Elance. You have that glorious blue finish- I love seeing my frame in the sun, the finish just looks so deep- like you could reach into it. For that reason, I wouldn't recommend brazing on cantis and/or refinishing.

As far as braking... I replaced my brake levers and brake calipers with Tri-Color Shimano 600. I did run into a few issues that I had to kludge around.

First, the reach on the TriColor brakes is not long enough- so you'll need some calipers that'll have the reach you need- if it's at 650B- that's a LONGER reach necessary.

I'd heartily recommend dual pivot brakes. I don't think the stock brakes were "bad" but the dual pivot brakes are just that much better.

The other thing- the brake bridge on the rear- on mine, it's a block- and it was designed for nutted brakes- (front is recessed, rear is nutted- go figure) so I had to get a "front" brake to mount back there. (as an aside, I went with dual pivot in the front and single in the back- just to be unique)

If you're using the Tektros and you're not getting the stopping power you want- I guess I'd start by getting some Kool Stop salmon pads. There's a bunch of different shoes out there that would look really slick on your bike.