Re:
OK, so the plan at the moment is to create a bike I can actually ride off road, while keeping it fairly original.
The frame and most of the components seem to be in good nick. The only things that need to be replaced (as far as I can tell at the moment) are the bottom bracket, contact points, tyres and possibly the fork. It works after a fashion, but having looked at the costs of service parts, I think I might swap it for a rigid fork.
The big change is going to be a 1x10 drivetrain, since I'm done with front derailleurs. To keep the XT theme going, I'm planning to use an RD-M786 which came off my modern XC bike. That means the front and rear derailleurs and the XTR shifter / brake lever units will be surplus to requirements. The latter are not in good condition anyway, although they do work.
So, a couple of initial questions! Roughly how much are the parts I don't need likely to be worth? And, do standalone XT levers for canti brakes exist?
Of course before I get to the build I need to work out how to get the frame looking nice and shiny again...