I have a Trek from this vintage, 1980, Columbus SL. It has been thru a lot. Broken twice at seat post bolt area. Broken steer tube. Repaired under warrantee, refurbished at Cyclart when S&S added and became travel bike. Now, I have spread the rear again and it is now 135mm (started at 120) to accomodate a Rohloff 14 speed hub with plug-in cables all around. Massive time saver in hotel rooms.
The odd brake reaches you mention are true. Univeral 77s and CLBs worked fine, but now I have updated with the better stopping afforded by dual pivot Tiagra stoppers with KoolStop salmon pads-- after all, this one gets used and I do want state of the art safety. The rear is using an acorn bolt and the front is an allen on a longer bolt and neatly fits into the Trek crown with no drilling.
Still a neat bike. Have fun on yours.
Ken, near St Louis