Old roadbike -> commuter. Update and more advice needed.

First of all, just wanted to say thanks to everyone who helped me out with comments and advice on my previous post. It made a daunting task a lot easier and helped me wrap my head around what I had to get done.

Above I have before and after pictures for anyone interested.

My final question (for now?) is regarding my brake cables (pictured in last slide) they don’t hold in the levers anymore, and everytime I squeeze my brakes they pop right out and I lose braking power. Is there a simple fix of maybe a new o-ring, new cable sheaths themselves, or do I need to get all new levers? Hoping it’s simple and I don’t have to take off bar wraps and attach new levers!

Also happy to answer and questions re parts or steps I went through if anyone is curious and might find it helpful, though take it with a grain of salt as this was my first project working on bikes and I made a couple mistakes along the way. Also in the process of making some panniers out of some East German assault packs I had laying around. I may document and make a post on that if it piques peoples interest.

P.S. Ignore the messy shed I beg you… it already haunts my dreams.