Thanks for the reply. Yes, the brake cylinders were due to laziness or lacking observational skills. Although, the rear brakes had to be rebuilt from the ground up as the car came with none. I'm not sure how one would miss replacing those cylinders.
As it turns out the new shop said that the old TOB seems to have been defective internally. I'm still waiting on the pump R&R. They've had the car a week. All but the pump have been R&R'd thus far. The shop is always slammed...like standing room only slammed, like find a place on the street to park slammed. So, I hope that means they are reliable and do a good job.
As for the gears. I will see about 400 RPMs difference (lower) in 5th gear at highway speeds. On one hand that doesn't sound like a lot. On the other hand if you figure that lower RPM range over the course of 10 hours driving time per day it could start to add up. I'll play it by ear at when the time comes to fix those axle seals. If it seems to be an easy swap (i.e., parts all ready to go, no real hassle), then I'll swap to the 327s.