I've had to put a halt to the conversion at this stage as it's just too expensive to get the bits I need at the moment as I pretty much have to get them from Aus to NZ (part import taxes and GST are a bitch). Or wait till I can get a wrecker in NZ to track a R154 conversion setup down for me (got a couple working on it for me at the moment)

I found a good link for the handbrake change around http://www.geocities.jp/t_izumi81/funct-side_b.html hopefully that can be of some help.