What direction to take the brakes?

[gigamanx]

I'd like the biggest bang for my buck as the future goals of this project are a full S10 swap. With that in mind, I'd like to get the current truck running and road worthy first.

Here are some pics of the current state of the brakes. The front drums look ok, but the rears have pitting around the edges and might need to be replaced. There is a lot of grime in there so I'm assuming a good clean out too. The brake pads have a weird consistency almost like clay as opposed to a hard surface. I'm pretty sure that's not normal. The brakes currently don't work and the system looks like its dry. It could be a wheel cylinder or the master cylinder. Any way to tell other than pouring brake fluid into the system and seeing where it comes out?

Should I buy the parts to restore the current front brakes or look for a disc brake conversion kit? For the rear, should I try and get these fixed, or try and source a new rear end with disc brakes also?

Rear




Front