How good does you Mercury stop. I just did complete brake job with new mc and all wc's and I have to almost stand on pedal to make her stop.This is my first real classic so I might be expecting to much from el-manual brake?
My '49 stops great with the 4 wheel drums, but it has a boosted dual reservoir master cylinder....I am putting discs on the front though, because I live in the Rocky Mountains and I've experienced brake fade on my Riviera and Coupe Deville on the steep passes....your car shouldn't be doing what it's doing. Are the shoes adjusted correctly? Is it bled (do you have to pump it to get pressure?) How many miles since you rebuilt the brakes? Did you turn the drums, because it takes a bit to get the shoes and drums to "set" to each other.
Do you have the correct diameter master cylinder? If the diameter is bigger than stock it will take more pedal pressure to stop the car. Also smaller diameter wheel cylinders than stock will do the same thing. I have seen so called kits with the wrong diameter wheel cylinders or masters for sale in the past.
When those cars were new and in stock form they stopped just fine. I drove one for 30 years without any problems. Find out what you did wrong and fix it. A correct brake job isn't just changing the worn parts.
You might be used to modern brakes and how they stop on a dime vs the older stuff. I put a disc brake conversion on my Shoebox and thought that they really sucked, but I had been driving nothing but late model cars for close to 10 years since the last time I drove my oldie. Once I started driving my 51 on a regular basis the more normal that it felt.
I finally got time to work on the old heap. When I bought all the stuff to do the brakes I made sure they were the same so I was pretty confident I didn't have the wrong stuff. I pulled all drums and made sure everything was good . I wasn't sure about the shoes being right, don't know if short shoe and long shoe could be reversed but they were right. So went on to bleeding the brakes. First time I did it with my old lady helping me which turned in to a pain in my ass you know . Pump, hold, open, push, close . LOL . So I did it myself with a jug full of fluid and just pumped way. Everything seemed ok till I got to the front left. I would pump and every other pump was different. It would get hard then go. I pulled brake line off and found some green shit in it . Pulled hose off , ran some wire through it. It was half the diameter before . Put it back together . Took it out for a test and all good . The brakes now have a little sponge to them not hard . Lesson learned . Now on to my next problem . Dies when going into drive .
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