its very unusual (unique?) for a bontrager to be fillet brazed, so it may mark it out as an especially rare early frame, or possibly done as part of the respray?
Its lovely and unless the paint is really badly damaged I wouldn't respray again. if you do respray, make sure to retain the original metal of the rivetted brake bosses on the top tube.
New decal panels can be bought from Gil_M at Retrodecals on Facebook who does a lot decals for the retrobike community. The straight edge decals are correct for the period, but some bikes had a third panel on the seat tube too - iI prefer the way yours looks actually.
I'd keep virtually everything on that bike - the only things letting it down are the cockpit and brakes that you've already identified.
and just so you know the original bontrager forks are also very desirable , they go for around £300 at the moment.
I've got some spare bontrager black bars , but they are much later ('97ish) if you are interested. bontrager sterms pop up on ebay from time to time, but as said above a salsa one fits the period better.
Oh, the seat clamp - while ugly as sin, is original and you probably shouldn't ditch it