A 12 bolt, if put together with the right pieces, should be plenty strong. As for the brakes, by the time you locate all the pieces and do the necessary rebuilding you'll almost have the same money in them as some of the more inexpensive disc brake packages..... Check out Speedway Motors, they have some that are very reasonable and work quite well!!!

If it's going to be on the street, and not a lot of long distance cruising the 4.10's would be fine. If you plan on some highway driving, might want to be down in the 3.50-3.73 range so you won't be zingin' the engine quite so high when you're on the highway.....