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I bought it in immaculate condition...
I'm trying to keep this on the cheap...
Bearing in mind the above, I would change as little as possible.
It's never going to be a "rad street-whip" (slack geometry, large clearances, curved fork), so work with what you have and keep it "classic" looking: silver components, non-aero levers and stick the mudguards back on (which will also fill the tyre/frame gap, as well as being practical).
If it's had little use, then the components ought still to be serviceable so there's no need to change them, which fits the "cheap" part of your brief as well as keeping it classic.
The front chainline will need tweaking, but that doesn't necessarily mean new cranks or even a chainring.
The chainline of the inner ring should be 41mm, whereas it's 42mm at the rear: not perfect, but it'll be fine. Then you'll just need to remove the inner ring and replace it with the big one. Old chainrings like yours pre-date the introduction of ramps and pins which aid shifting, so are fine to use fixed/SS. You'll need new, single ring specific chainring bolts though (about £7).
However it's possible that the big ring will foul the chainstay, in which case you'll either need a smaller ring or to stick with original inner ring.
If you do want to use the outer chainring position (using the inner position alone does look a bit shit), then you'll need a new bottom bracket (about £15 for a Shimano UN55). You'll need to measure the chainline of the outer ring (see link above), measure your current bottom bracket and do some maths.
The outer chainline should be 46mm and you want 42mm, ie you want to move it inboard by 4mm. So if your current BB is 118mm, then your new one would want to be 110mm: 118mm - (2 x 4mm) = 110mm.
You may find that the exact size BB you need isn't available, so you may need to compromise a little. You may find that the crank now fouls the chainstay: you can get an idea of whether this will be a problem by measuring the gap between the crank and the stay and comparing it to how much you need to move the crank in by.
You could fit dual pivot brakes, but it's not straightforward. Your bike takes brakes that are secured with an external, hex nut; dual pivot brakes use a recessed tube nut with an Allen head.
The most straightforward but expensive option, is a pair of Tektro R559: they're DP (and long drop) but have a nut fitting.
Or you could widen the hole in the back of the fork to take a tube nut, but without a pillar drill it's easy to get that off-centre which would mean your brake is also off-centre.
For the rear you could get another front brake, as they have a longer thread which would allowing you to secure it with an external nut. Or you could drill the back of the bridge (you won't get a drill in the front) and mount the brake backwards, but you have the same problem with keeping the holes co-axial and it looks a bit shit.
Myself, I would keep the existing brakes but replace the pads (they'll be perished and useless), cables and levers to improve the performance: people have been riding single pivot brakes for yonks without issue.
A compressionless cable kit will remove the spongey feeling and new pads sharpen up the actual braking. The extensions on your current levers are worse than useless (known as "suicide levers") and look shit: drilled Weinmann levers would suit the build and can be had off of eBay for £15 or so.
Scilly.Suffolk-
Thank you for the amazing reply, I'm going to take the lot on board and see what I can do :) I appreciate it's not a beauty and hence will keep it simple as you suggest.
The mudguards are going back on it as yes, the tyre gap grates on me and needs filling! I also hate getting a wet back in the rain.
Chainline is going to be the challenge, I have seen a few videos online showing how to do this, and will check out Sheldon's page on it!
RE the brake calipers; I do have a long reach tektro rear caliper I attempted to fit last night, however, they weren't long enough. The recessed bolt was fine as this frame is really weird and has a flat plate to attach the rear components to...I'll try and show you a picture later on. The current pads have leather strips in them, I did replace the front ones with new pads but still have pretty bad stopping power. I do need to tinker with them this weekend to fine tune them as I hastily put this together as the light was failing last night
Suicide levers will be gone as soon as I fine some replacements. Not sure if I can just remove them and keep the current ones?
Thank you
dirac
So I have had this bike in the garden for over a year with the best intentions of riding it as it was, however, is all rusted up and weighs a ton. No idea what sort of age it is because I bought it in immaculate condition off of some guy who had ridden it once when new then stored in a shed for 30 years! It even had stubble on the original gumwalls! I'm trying to keep this on the cheap as it'll be surplus to another bike I bought last weekend but realise there is a lot of work to do!
It's a weird off-gold colour so I'm having to decide what colour theme/parts to put on it. Any ideas would be great:
After stripping back and putting a new wheel set on it (purchased from @Vince on this forum); re-setting the brakes etc, it's looking like this:
Tasks left to do/parts left to source:
Sort out drive train (new sprocket, cranks, and chain)
Praying for no chainline adjustments
Potentially new bar/levers
Potentially upgrade to dual pivot brakes, however, I'll need very long reach ones (~70mm drop)
Any suggestions, tips or comments would be greatly appreciated!