Technical 62 Impala wagon - Stay with drum or switch to disc?

Wth anti lock brake computor controlling the brakes to pulse instead of locking up the wheels on a hard panic stop.It is said there are many abs equipped cars that have their steering wheels folded in half trying to gain leverage to lock up the wheels on a panic brake stop. How does a folded steering wheel help in avoiding loss of control in a panic stops.

 

It is said that the world is flat. Doesn't make it true, although many believe it.

 

(It was said)to me by a reliable source,therefore I believe it even though I have not had the misfortune to experience it myself

 

But what happens when you upgrade to discs with a single pot master cylinder? I'm just stirring up the comments, FWIW that combo will work fine. With less safety compared to dual master cylinder.

Another aspect to consider, if you want drop spindles they come with disc brake caliper mounting brackets integral to the casting. I used them on my 59 El Camino and had nice brakes: discs front and stock drums rear.

 

Pedal feel is based on a lot more than disc vs drum. Drive any 80s Ford with their ridiculously overboosted power disc brakes and tell me they are easier to keep from locking up than a properly setup drum brake system. Go drive your damn car instead of reading advertisements. Both systems function perfectly fine for every day driving. Didn't realize people consider this to be a "what type of oil should I use in my flathead" type of discussion.
We should all scrap our flatheads and do LS swaps since points ignitions and carburetors have magically ceased to function as well.

 

The problems occur when you have a brake hose burst and empty your only pot containing brake fluid

 

That's why I said with less safety. It is no less reliable than 4 wheel drum and single pot; i.e. the original brake design on a 62 Chevy.

 

I’ve made one panic stop in my life drive an OT 13 F-150 with 4 wheel ABS. I had no idea what was going to happen ie: noise, straight, pedal feel, etc… we stopped with room to spare but others in a different lane were not as lucky. My immediate reaction after stepping hard on the pedal was to look in the rear view mirror. Seeing a large new Mercedes Benz made my day…..

 

If I lived in a lightly populated area in Nevada, I probably wouldn't be worried about stopping in heavy modern-day city traffic either.

 

The ABS on my late models have saved my bacon a couple of times...

I parted out a '96 T-bird years ago, I saved the ABS off it. Haven't really explored what would be involved in 'adapting' it to another car, but maybe one of these days...

 

Locking up the brakes on any surface means that you just lost control and that is not a good thing. The old bullshit story of "I have great brakes because I can lock all four of them and leave even tire marks on the pavement" is just that a bullshit story and an allusion. Brakes need to haul you down from speed under control without locking up or fading.

Part 2 of it. Fading brakes. Many older guys from Texas raced at Little River /Temple Academy speedway back in the day when you could be hitting third gear and see some clown running across the strip at the finish line to bet on the race with another guy. Then you hit the end of the quarter and went to stop and if you had made two or three passes rather close together you could easily have drum brakes fade.
There is better lining that stops better available for drum brakes most of the time though.

Still as far as switching to disk or more advanced disk brakes. A lot of that has to do with how you actually drive the car, where you drive the car and what traffic you drive in. Crazy Steve has far more need for real good disk brakes than I do. If you drive on the roads over in his hood you had damned well better have a car that stops and stops straight if you drive it more than just put to events and back. His conditions are totally different than Moriarity's conditions in the flat lands. I drove my 48 well over 100K with drum brakes between 1989 and 2004 but I am a hell for defensive driver who always knows where his escape route is going to be and always gave myself plenty of room to stop or hit the escape route that was normally the shoulder. If a car with great 4 wheel disks got in front of me I backed off further. It's not going to have drums on the front this time around though as I want stopping ability that matches the go ability. Our first road trip after the truck is finished will probably rack up 7 or 8 k miles in under 30 days. A lot of bucket list in that one. The speed limits between here and there are 80 a lot of the time and it is being built to comfortably cruise at 80 rather than toddle along at 55 on back roads.

 

We took a whole lot of pictures of wrecks when I worked at GM, like 10,000+ pictures.

There was no evidence of this being a thing.

Steering wheels are often bent by first responders during occupant extraction, though.

 

Again, no.

You have no hard data to back this assertion up, because it doesn't exist.

All the rest is pure grasping.

 

The steering wheel folding is purely the "low performance drivers" panicking
My dad lost the brakes on his Mazda pickup [ABS] he'd stand on them and the vehicle would cost to a stop.
It was a leaking axle bearing onto the brakes. This caused the speed sensors to "tell lies" to the whole ABS braking system [preventing 3 wheels locking up]

Learn to "trail brake" and you won't need them.
The average competition "road racer" can out brake an ABS system [you don't need to be a superstar]

ABS reacts whereas a human brain anticipates.
Where ABS reigns supreme is when we're driving in "brain dead mode"

Adapting an ABS system from a T-Bird to an old car would be fun and challenging

 

Isn't that apples and oranges? The use case for ABS is a panic stop OR an unpredictable road surface like loose gravel, ice, etc. In road racing, you are anticipating the need to brake. Two totally different things.

 

If I recall my information came from an instructor in a GM Tech. training class on abs brakes, and no it was the driver that folded the steering wheel with his hands to gain leverage with his foot on the brake pedal to lock up the wheels and not necessarily ending in a wreck situation

 

"Antique Class" is the first clue.
Guessing that Jim Fugle has been around since forever, knows how to drive, and set up a chassis.
He could probably get around pretty good, in an up to date car.

How many of the current Dirt Modifieds run drums ?
Can someone even buy a current Modified, with drums ?

 

For everyday driving, yeah, maybe. My comment was related to emergency braking situations and maintaining control. Lockup is not what you want, and it is easier to avoid with disc brakes. This is an advantage, pure and simple. Why do you think ABS was developed and adopted? I am not argueing for one design over the other, just pointing out the benefits of discs when you need them the most.
Now, I might go and drive my damn car........

If drivers are bending the steering wheel trying to apply enough pressure to lock up the brakes two things are happening, and neither of them is good.
1). The driver is panicking, or does not know how to brake properly......... or even worse, both.
2). The car's brakes are not operating correctly. It should not take that much effort to achieve lock up.
I would put my money on it being number 1.
"folded the steering wheel with his hands to gain leverage with his foot on the brake pedal to lock up the wheels and not necessarily ending in a wreck situation"
This is entirely incorrect. Locking up the wheels will result in loss of vehicle control and will increase the stopping distance, which will make it more likely to end up in a wreck situation. Bending the steering wheel is just pure panic.

 

Most people don’t understand ABS was not designed to stop faster as @Kerrynzl said a skilled driver can stop faster without it, the point of it is to maintain directional control while panic braking.

 

Most drivers are not skilled. Even the ones who think they are.

 

Essentially a mechanical emulation of threshold braking (but not as good).

 

exactly, a computer doesn’t feel stress.