Hi Guys, I have a 55 Buick Special I picked up a few years ago, that needs a full restoration. I havent touched it in years because I was broke. Now I finally have a decent income so Im starting the build. First things first I need to be able to drive it back and forth to the storage yard. I rebuilt the fuel pump, carb, and boiled the gas tank and radiator, so now it runs like a top. But The brakes are horrible. I took the drums off had them turned, replaced all the hardware and wheel cylinders even though they were still good but they were original. I bled it all out but the car still barely stops. So Im going to get it towed home and my first job will be the brakes. I think I have it all figured out but I need a little help. First the drums, I got my self a pair of 90 fin aluminum drums for the front, so I can upgrade them to 2.5 inch shoes and I get the added heat disipatation of aluminum drums. From what I understand its just a matter of taking the hubs out of my drums and putting them into the aluminum drums, then buying the new bigger shoes, and buying newer self adjusting hardware. Then drill a hole for the self adjuster. Next I want to put my old front drums on the back so I can get bigger 2.25 brakes on the rear, instead of 2 inch. Am I missing anything important or is it as easy as it sounds? Next I think the Treadle Vac is failing and thats why I cant lock the brakes. I found a manual brake pedal in the junk yard. I read that its a 6:1 ratio, Im thinking if trying to install a 7 inch dual diaphragm master in place of the stock booster and a dual reservoir master cylinder for safety and just generally better brakes. Has anyone tried this before? I ordered a new set of white walls to replace the early 70s white walls that are on it so I can actually drive it, and a pair of 15 x 6 stock Roadmaster wheels to put on the front for a little more foot print. I want to have the other pair of wheels that are on the car widened but I dont know how wide of a rim I can fit under the car yet. My goal would be to get 15x7's in the front and 15x8's in the back with 235-75-15's and stock hub caps so the car appears stock but I actually get some traction out of the car. Then get some custom sway bars made so it doesnt feel like its going to roll over when going around turns.
A better plan might be to rebuild the stock brakes properly. Fifties cars with drum brakes never did stop as well as modern cars so your expectations may be a bit high. Scarebird offers a disc brake upgrade for the '55 Buick that works well and is a complete bolt-on. Just don't expect your Buick stop or handle like a modern car without a complete suspension make-over. https://scarebird.com/index.php?route=product/category&path=59
I am not sure how fast you get going from the storage lot to the house, but I doubt that you will notice any difference with the aluminum drums until you get yourself into a brake fade situation. Me personally before I did the swap I would get the originals working properly, wither go to manual or repair the tredle-vac. I may be mistaken but I think that in order to go with the wider late model drums you are going to have to upgrade to late backing plates. Like say from a '58 or later Roadmaster. The backing plate will have a different offset to allow for the difference in drum width. I am not sure that you will have to change the hub out in the drum a little pioneering will tell you that easy enough.
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