Cast your vote...Discs or Drums

I know its beating a dead horse. However, I was with some buddies and a bet came up. The bets whether discs or drums are more popular on open wheeled hot rods. Im not looking for opinions or pros/cons, just a vote. Do you run drums or discs on your open wheeled hot rod? Thanks for your input.

 

Drums. Buick finned aluminum drums if you can find some, at least in front, not polished.

pigpen

 

Every time I try and vote on one of these polls it tells me I have already voted, but I haven't..! Is this Fla.????

 

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Every time I try and vote on one of these polls it tells me I have already voted, but I haven't..! Is this Fla.????

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Nope - we're allowed to vote as much as we want....

Mutt

 

Drums. So much so that So-Cal sells a kit to HIDE your disc brakes to make them look like drums.

 

What a waste of time, DRUMS !!!!!

 

drums all the way all you gotta do is stop....at some point

 

ct,

if you look at the results first you loose your opportunity to vote. for some reason. don't ask me why.

 

I'll bet you lose your opportunity to vote because after you look at the results, it's not entirely 'your' vote anymore. Human brains are funny, either you'll be persuaded to follow the herd, or you'll be a rebel against the herd. Good policy in my opinion.

 

I voted for discs and run discs, but I wouldn't hesitate to run drums on an open wheeled car. Preferably something along the lines of a turtle deck T-Bucket or Model A based modified.

There are several things you can do to drums to improve performance and running Buick is not the only way.

 

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I voted for discs and run discs, but I wouldn't hesitate to run drums on an open wheeled car. Preferably something along the lines of a turtle deck T-Bucket or Model A based modified.

There are several things you can do to drums to improve performance and running Buick is not the only way.

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Hmmm I was just pondering this exact thing the other day. I have a 28 Closed Cab PU and it has a blown sbc in it. I looked at the unpolished 6-71 and some other vintage speed parts....I'm trying to make it look like an altered on the street.

I was admiring my combo of parts when I glanced down to my heavy drum brakes, I was thinking about the million and one hole routine to keep 'em light and let the air p*** through them for cooling when it dawned on me...these may not be able to stop me if I throttle it hard. I was thinking that I got 600+hp in a 2300lb telephone booth and 4 drums to stop me. The front two from 1946 and the rear two from 1968 Maybe I should step up to discs, maybe the two on the rear? but most of the braking comes from the front as I understand it?

What do you guys think?

 

i think someone should develop a kit to convert `40-`48 ford brakes to self energizing....that would be a great improvement and i'm sure a big seller

 

Drums will stop a car just as well in a panic but tend to fade more in repeated stops.
The best brakes I ever had on a truck were drums, on a 57 F-350. It had a hydrovac behind the seat like a bigger truck should have. Also putting them together right makes a big difference. Arcing in the shoes is an all but forgotten step to drums working 100%. Nobody does it anymore. But if you think about it, especially after a drum has been turned it now has a larger arc than the shoes so you don't get a full contact from the shoes. Years ago shoes had thicker material to allow for grinding some off to arc them in. I have also heard of guys just whacking them with a big deadblow hammer to arc them. When I did the brakes on the 57 I took the drums and shoes to a specialty brake shop that worked on big trucks and they turned my drums and arced the shoes in for me.
Also for optimum braking I would run an adjustable bias valve and do some hard stops to get it adjusted to slide all the wheels at the same point. Most cars do about 65% of the stopping with the front wheels but it will vary from car to car depending on weight bias ect.

 

I have drums on both the 32 and the 40. The 32 has the ever popular 56 F100 conversion on early Ford spindles and the 40 is............well........stock

Discs do work better. I have a 40 Ford frame under constructon for the coupe ( back burner slow type project....long story........4 years and counting ) and it has discs on the front, along with a PB booster and dual master cylinder. It has a rack, 9 inch Ford.....all the usual stuff.

The reason I have slowed down so much on the 40 frame conversion is the stock 40 brakes and stuff works fairly well.......if you keep them serviced and adjust them.

 

Discs aren't "traditional" looking.

.....but you're in Tennessee where "traditional" takes on a different meaning. Lots of the Greazies have disc brakes up front. I've got disc brakes on the Fairlane. I love them.

 

If it came to a choice I wouldn't sacrifice saftey just to be traditional.