I went out the other day and started buying all new original brakes for my 50 ford, i never really put much thought into the reliability of the original 4 way drums, and a single master cylinder.there's no way i can afford to go with a mustang2 kit ,what i'm wondering is if these are safe enough to not really worry about wreckin it
I just rebuilt my wheel cyls and master cyl today on my 51...they stop ok, I mean I wouldnt put a blown hemi between the rails but never had any problems with my stock 50 Merc brakes.
in a basically stock car they should be fine if you dont tailgate. if you got some passing power and flog it regular go to some bigger binders
The brakes at the wheels are fine. The part you might want to swap out is the master cylinder. A two chamber master cylinder is a great safety piece if you blow out a line or a wheel cylinder, you've still got brakes at two wheels. A power booster helps you stop too. But the drums and wheel cylinders themselves should be fine as long as they're working properly.
If they weren't, all the shoeboxes you see would have bent up front ends, wouldn'cha think? Just pay attention and look down the road. Simple, no? chili, always helpful
I haven't done this myself, but I've looked into it, and a replacement part MII M/C is short money, like 40 bucks. I know there are MII DC/MC bracket kits available for your car. Fatman has them for as little as $45, but not for the '50 passenger cars. Jamco has an adapter for $200. I'd contact one of the custom brake companies that Fatman recommends and see if you can find something for cheaper. That said, I'm still driving my 50 with original MC and drums. I keep them adjusted and inspect everything now and then. I think my 68 GTO drum brakes made me more nervous... 'course I haven't tried braking my '50 from 120mph
The M/C on the shoebox Fords is part of the pedal assembly & can't be eliminated easily. This makes conversion to a dual-chamber problematic at best. I converted one about 6 years ago by using the M/C itself as a bushing!! I ran bronze stock into the gutted M/C & honed to size, used the actual M/C piston & spring modified & used a modified long 3/8-drive socket extension (I mean long!) as the pushrod that went all the way through the M/C & actuated a disc/drum mid-60s Mustang M/C mounted to a bracket I fabricated on the crossmember. A little Rube Goldberg, but works well. Here's the only pic I've got (a crummy, dimly lit, out of focus film pic scanned in)
I would switch to discs. My last shoebox was a daily with drums, and the brakes are inadequate for modern traffic. I've just converted my current 'box to discs using an ECI bracket kit (Aerostar rotors and GM metric calipers). It's inexpensive to do. I just need to finish fabricating a dual m/c bracket and pushrod and then it's on the road.
It depends on who you are and how you drive. A lot of commuting through daily rush hour traffic and you'll eventually hurt someone. Trailer queen to every other weekend service and you might be OK. Fact is, those brakes were just on adequate 65 years ago. And most of what else was around had equally bad brakes, so nobody was going to out-stop you by very much. And everyone knew how bad your brakes were, because THEIR brakes were just the same. Today, people buy cars on fear. They HAVE to have airbags. They HAVE to have ABS/TCS/ECM/IDKWTFE (I Don't Know What The Fuck Else). Four wheel power discs with ABS are standard on nearly everything. People drive as if the safety features are there to save their life from their poor driving habits. And, nobody can remember when having a car was a luxury. What does this all mean to you?? That everyone on the highway with you thinks that YOUR car is the equal to THEIR car in the manner of brakes and safety features AND the ability to evade when they make a boo-boo. It's not you, it's THEM...and they'll hit you and survive to laugh about it, AND they won't care about your car, because it's just an old car, MAAAAAN. Cosmo
This is how CH Topping in Long Beach does it. They are very well regarded in racing and restoration circles. Flat Ernie proves what I've always said, the best minds in hot rodding frequent the HAMB. Phil
Did you port the drums and tune the shoes? Drums this way work just as good as discs, 1/3 less weight, rain or shine.
I drove my '51 with stock brakes daily, no complaints, other than the need for regular adjustment. A dual master would have been nice, but I never had a failure, soooo... Butch's Rod Shop in Ohio used to sell a kit that set the m/c up like Flat Ernie's. check out these master cylinders-- '73 Mustang m/c for disc/drum, or '72 Maverick for drum/drum
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