Got my 53 club coupe back out of storage yesterday. Forgot how well it drives, (has a rebuilt motor with Merc crank.) It has new cross ply tyres so the steering is a little vague, just need to make allowances! The lights are not too bright!!, it's still 6v, maybe there's better bulbs? But I do think a disc conversion would be sensible, looking for recommendations on a complete kit Thanks Ian
The front brakes on 52-54 Fords were also used on big block 1967-69 Mustangs and have a huge contact area, what you don't have is self adjusting brakes or a dual master cylinder like they did,Advance Auto now has Ceramic lined brake shoes which will give you about 25% less drum wear and brake fade.Here's how to fix that for about 1/3 the cost of disc brakes: http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/threads/self-adjusting-brakes-for-a-54.899224/ And:
Maybe I need to check the adjustment on my brakes, do seem to have a little too much pedal movement Ian
Make sure your master cylinder is operating properly. The originals are single-piston. When mine went out it was pretty scary.
Yeah, The master cylinder from a 67 mustang with manual drum/drum brakes is pretty much bolt on. All you need to do is change a few lines out. Theres a video on Youtube about it and more info in the FAQ thread in this group.
Almost any member that has done it including myself finds a noticeable difference in stopping,you should Do Both mods though as you are only talking about less than $100 in parts,not sure about shipping to the UK as that is something to shop around for, you will notice in both links the part numbers are listed for you.
If you ever spring a leak in your system you will be very happy that at least one end of the cars brakes are still working. By all means do it.
Just this weekend I did all new wheel cylinders. I had an old one leaking and changed them all. I ***ure you that it was a scary sight to look at the inner guts of my old parts. Muck n yuck all over, pistons that dont travel, rust, hell I dont know how the car was braking... But it did... Check everything. Master c, wheel c, lines, hoses, fluid.. Regards
I switched to dual master cylinder last year for safety and peace of mind, but another thing with brakes that might not 've been mentioned is to have a good working parking (emergency) brake, especially in cars with a manual transmission.
I just finished up the dual master/front disc conversion on my '59. I took the parking brake completely apart & cleaned up everything, never-seized it where it needed it. My front cable was frozen, got a new one for around $45 and got it back in & adjusted. Safety was in my mind and also with an engine with more power, it better have good brakes.
I'm pretty sure I still have all the parts for self adjusting brakes, if someone wants them pm me, you can have them for shipping costs. Ralph
Cool beans! How do you want to handle it? I work at Nissan so I p*** by the 'Boro on the way to and from. I could meet you someplace.
It's only because of the different size of the fittings on the late master cylinder I used them when I did mine about a year before the video was made.A lot of the big box Auto parts stores won't know jack about the fittings,Ace Hardware actually has a huge br*** fitting selection.
I had a hell of a time finding the fittings for mine. I ended up having to order them from speedway motors. The ones at the local hardware stores were not inverted flare fittings so they never seemed to fit quite tight enough. It was a real pain to figure out the exact size fittings I needed, and none of the local auto parts places had them either. I think the one for the front bowl of the MC was the tough one. Also my stock brake pedal pushrod did not work with the new MC as it was too short. Maybe the MC I used was different from what everybody else used, but my swap was a bit more difficult than the video made it seem. Also note that the new MC takes up more space than the old one, so if you have anything bolted to the firewall near the MC it may need to get moved. I had a hydraulic clutch MC that had to get completely redone and relocated which was a real pain and an additional expense. I'm glad its over with and now I have the peace of mind of knowing I have the 2 resevoirs. I have an MC go bad once in my car while driving and it was no fun.
I have had brakes go out on me twice in my life, once through the garage door and once into a barrier, it NOT fun. The guy I bought my merc from told me it had new brakes, they worked . when I reworked the rear end(axle bearings, etc.) I had the replace wheel cylinders due to car sitting(were fairly new) reinstalled the existing shoes, new spring kit, the self adjust upgrade and all done. And now on to the front.... WAY ugly!! I'm going to have to replace all the above, I wonder how the car was stopping. guess it was holding pressure, the car did stop, not on dime, maybe on a large(extremely large) area rug?
Any fittings/adapters for any plumbing systems on our cars...www.purechoicemotorsports.com They are in Lake Havasu, AZ. I got some metric to an brake line fittings from them for the Mustang hydroboost. Lots of other stuff I got there as well..... hoses and fittings for fuel, A/C, brake, ****** cooling, metric to AN for PS, etc etc
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