Islick,
Sounds like you tried some of the same things I tried. I also tried to vacuum bleed the brakes and had the same results, for me air was coming in around the threads and I was never able to get it to work well enought to get all the air out. I ended up training the wife, which was easier than I thought.
I didnt like my system with DOT 5 in it but I thought that was because of air in the system. Now I'm thinking that it was the DOT 5. I'm happy with DOT4 and my problems of one (front) tire locking and generally not stopping fast have TOTALLY gone away.