Hey man, love your truck, I've got the same brakes as you and am wondering if you got your intermediate parking brake cable swedged or what you were doing with it.
On the polishing after doing a good deal of it without always getting it as shiney as the pros I think it all comes down to technique, are you just using rags and mother's or are you using some nice sisal pads? I used these (sisal pads and special rouges on bench grinder) on the engine cases for my Thruxton, the cases turned out great until I ordered a sprocket cover from Speed Merchant and the polish on it made my work look dull. I learned a good bit from this forum (I'm not affiliated but did find it helpful)
http://forum.caswellplating.com/forum.php
Jason