MuuMuu101's 68 Dart, A Learning Process...
Well, you know you can't have time for everything when you're still in school. The winches gig sounds a lot more like it. I actually work on the Hydraulic components of ABS and Stability Control systems as my normal job now (and for the last 3 1/2 years). A pretty interesting place to be.
Tires are probably the most important thing when it comes to handling/braking. I'll say this a million times over - and in all conditions, because well, we have all conditions here in Michigan (lately its been snow and ice only but whatever). The right tires are huge. I'm honestly not sure the big brakes matter much - unless you are planning to go to track days, or just care about the look. If you can lock the wheels instantaneously with smaller brakes, the bigger brakes won't help much...other than repeatiblity. Smart use of a setup like an 11.75" front and one of the dr. diff rear setups is more than enough for street use.
The reason I say that is that I own a very similarly weighted modern car - 2012 Chevrolet Cruze 2LT...3100 lbs, maybe a bit more front weight. It runs a 10.8" front and 10.7" rear rotor with smaller front calipers than I have on the Duster, and this thing stops in a retina -jerking 115 ft from 60.
I'm interested to see what the 15/16" manual master cylinder does to my car, as its hard to lock my 225-60/15 BFG G-force Sports even with the 11.75's. I think it's not getting enough master cylinder pressure. I probably will be going to rear disks as well at some point.
The body on your car sounds like mine. Mine has had bubbles for the last 15 years. Keeping it dry has kept it from changing much.
Just remember, you could be itching to work on your car, and have it be 16 degrees and snowing outside like I have lol