Featured Technical 1932 ford roadster juice to bendix or disc

@3blapcam yes I agree on checking system again. I was going to check and bleed the system again tonight or tomorrow.

I was having some issues with getting the emergency brake to work so I decided to swap the rears to bendix. After some research I’ll probably swap the fronts to bendix soon. Debating going with boling brothers 1 3/4 back plate shoes because I can use my current drums a little longer.

I do think my pedal is bottoming out before my master cylinder is fully depressed (I did bench bleed it). I’m having a hard time sourcing a 32 pedal that will fit my setup. Majority of ones online appear straight pedal and mine has a slight bend in it.

im wondering if i can thread on an extension between the pedal arm and the pedal to give me a little more travel before the brake pedal bottoms out on the floor. I think i only need about 1/2 to 1 inch max. Thoughts….?

 

You still haven’t confirmed what kind of pedal you have in there. Original or aftermarket? We’re flying blind.

You can bend a pedal most any direction you need. Original Fords are forged, and most aftermarket are mild steel cut from a sheet. It’s not hard to do with a little heat, a vise, and some large pliers.

 

You definitely need to know this... You need to be able to get 100% of the piston travel in the MC or there's always going to be a chance of trapped air... and that'll always leave you with a squishy pedal.

You've got homework to do!

3blap.

 

I’ll take some photos after work and report back.

plus I’ll disconnect pedal and master cylinder and push the rod by hand to see how far it goes. Mark it. Then compare to with pedal attached.

 

Hard to get good photos but hopefully below helps.

so I jacked up the front and did the large adjustment screws on the bottom and got the wheels to just drag ever so slightly.

Now when I do pedal it doesn’t bottom out on the floor. Hopefully it was just the adjustments I needed to do.

tomorrow or this weekend I’ll measure how far the master cylinder push rod goes in without the pedal attached

 

Looks like you have the lower pedal arm about as short as possible, placing the rod as close to the crossmember as you can, so I don’t think you can improve the pedal ratio without significant fabrication. Is it really only 4 to 1?

As said above, I’d check that the master is receiving a full stroke. And if you want some almost bolt on improved brakes, get some Lincolns.

 

While you have the tape measure out don't forget to measure the critical dimensions of the pedal.

Possibly nothing, but the pedal looks very scratched and scuffed. Has it been hanging up on something.

What's the operation of the brakes like now with the drums adjusted? I suspect higher, more re***uring, pedal but possibly no notable change in stopping power. I can't check it from here!

Chris

 

I had ****py brakes on my A coupe that i fought for awhile. Ended up being the pushrod needed to be adjusted about 1/4" longer.

 

Well, they're OG Ford pedals, which is good! They look like they're stock '32s, except that brake pedal has a zig & a zag added to it, which is fine if it clears everything. I see the s****ing that Happydaze sees, and it's only a little concerning, but not extremely concerning. It looks like someone has welded on the extension down to the adjusting rod, which has me concerned about why was it messed with? The weld does not look concerning.

Couple of things to note. You're not going to be able to push that MC piston with your hand, unless there's significant relief in the system. If you get it to move, you're never going to get full travel out of it. Easiest thing to do in my opinion is to identify that MC and grab a new one to measure for comparison. If you're lucky, once you've ID'ed it, see if you can find specs online for its intended travel. Next, IF that extension/pendulum (not sure what it's called) down to the rod has been modified, it HAS TO HAVE a 45 degree angle forward in it so that it will finish with a 45 degree angle when fully compressed. I hope that makes sense? I made that mistake with my first Model A hot rod when modifying pedals for hydraulic brakes. If you don't have enough sweep, you'll never get full travel out of the rod/piston. In the pic, it looks like it is straight down, which will not give it enough travel.

I'll try and remember to crawl under mine tonight and take some pics for comparison sake.

You're on your way! You're going to crack this code very soon!

3blap.

 

Another vote for bleeding the brakes. Even if the push rod was too short to get the brakes all the way applied the pedal feel wouldn’t be squishy or weird.

Also those pedals look pretty standard so you may be measuring the ratio wrong. That being said 4/1 would just require more foot effort it wouldnt give you a bad foot feel.

 

His brake pedal has the stock arm cut off the upward direction and welded onto the downward direction for the conversion to hydraulic. I’m guessing the guy who did it knew what he was doing. Very common and should work fine when everything is adjusted properly. And even better if he switches to Lincoln style front brakes.

In my 32 sedan I have a very similar setup and use a 68 Mustang dual master from a drum/drum car.

 

I think your ****ysis is spot on regarding the removing and rewelding the arm! It does look solid and the only concern I have is the angle of the dangle on it!

I crawled under my hoopty last night. I forgot how much I had modified my setup. It's not pretty and I wish it was 3/16 to 1/4" longer so that the rod pushes on the piston in a 100% linear direction. In a daily driver, I would expect this to cause just enough wear to create a sloppy MC piston prematurely.

 

Sorry long week at work. I go some homework to do tomorrow.

I agree, I don’t think I have the arm strength or leverage to push the push rod in by hand.

Tomorrow I’ll:
1) research on the master cylinder. It was a Dorman M36367
2) check the angle on the rod coming off the lower side of the pedal
3) bleed the brakes again.


The s****ing on the brake pedal is from the metal over the wood floor. I may just need to file a larger opening an put a rubber garmet around it

 

Not home but I was able to find a shot of the angle in a photo I took.

does appear to be more or less straight down but I’ll confirm tomorrow

if straight down I guess I could engineer something to move the pushrod connector behind the pedal arm to be closer to 45 degrees?

 

The new pic clearly shows that the start point is too far towards the rear which will result in something of an extreme of diminishing travel (because it is in an arc the travel cannot be strictly linear). I'm not so sure about the 45 degree thing, but generally agree with the sentiment. You need about 1.25" of travel (to get full stroke on the master) p***ing through the mid point, and roughly equidistant. If that works out at 2 x 45 degrees then so be it!

Chris

 

Sdsurfer Doooood... yeah, it's running out of travel too quickly pointing straight down. Cut it 90-95% through at the base from behind, bend it forward until a bunch and fill with weld. You'll have to bleed it afterwards because there's still air in there and then booooooom! You'll have brakes!

I look forward to hearing about your happiness after this is done!

3blap.

 

Clicking “full image”



when posting photos of cool cars is always appreciated …..
beautiful roadster that you have there !
.

 

I wouldn’t cut and weld the arm. I’d just clamp it in the vise and hold the torch to it. Bend the arm.

Might be a good time to check the wear on the pedal bushings as well.

 

I may try bending with heat. I am horrible at welding

I also saw someone selling this:
https://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/threads/1932-ford-pedal-***embly.1327163/

I may get that one and see what I can do with it. I think earlyv8garage sells an adapter so I don’t have to cut and weld under.

Or I know a hot rod shop in Houston that does a lot of 32s. They maybe able to cut and weld the one for sale

 

Yeah, starting fresh wouldn't be a bad idea. As you can see on those pedals, that vertical brake lever is pretty long. I used an extra transmission/cross shaft jammer that the throw out bearing attaches to, to cut down and extend (by about an inch, maybe an inch.25) the pedal pivots. Then I built an attachment arm at about a 1:1 ratio with that arm kicking up, for my brake lever. I bolted the uppers together, and attached the rod to the lower. I think that shaft is 1.00" diameter, so I think I found an oilite bushing for my new pivot. added a bolt on the end so it stays in place. So far, it's working. I did do all this work with the body off the frame, which obviously makes life easier when doing this work.

If you're going to heat & bend, you're going to need an Oxy Acetylene setup. The blue/yellow cans at Home Depot aren't going to get hot enough. Sorry, from behind this computer, it's hard to tell your skill set, so excuse any ***umptions, please.

The Early V8 Garage definitely is a solid source. I think they have 100% retro-fit kits. Or, you might be able to get a partial kit.

3blap.