Technical Traditional style front drum brakes.

Blues4U
I think It's only me that has used the H word about disk brakes. If I didn't make myself clear I meant to say I hate the look of disk brakes on a fenderless traditional styled rod. I did put disks on the front of my 48 Plymouth and I love them. Yes the L word. But then I don't have to look at them whenever I go out in the garage. Somethings you just can't live with. A few years ago we had our kitchen remodeled. Beautiful knotty pine cabinets. The installers were just about finished when one said this wall is a little out of square. I said "don't worry about it". Words that I would live to regret. Every time I went into the kitchen I could see it. It drove me nuts. Two lower 4 ft. cabinets one on each side of the stove out of square. While my wife was away one weekend I tore them out chiseled out 1/4" of floor tile grout on each and straitened them up. Yes 1/4" on 4 feet is all it took. I can now go into the kitchen and not get pissed off.
Anyway I'll bet that was what Larry felt every time he looked at his roadster. Just not right.
Gary

 

Where i live there is alot of rain in the summers to.
And discs tend to rust just over night when they got wet.
And then it shakes in your steeringwheel when you hit the brakes.
Thats why i dont like them whatever i see them or not.
But its cool to see all styles of brake thats is avalible out there.

 

I'm struggling with this very same decision at the moment on my current build. I 'adopted' a stalled project and one of the previous owners bought the Speedway 5x5.5 disc brake setup for the car. He used it for mockup only so there's no miles on it but I've got a set of reconditioned '56 F100 front brakes in my stash I was thinking of using instead. The speedway setup has the flat plate steering arms, and uses heims for the tie rod and drag link. I know this isn't traditional by any means but its all there and complete..what to do?.

 

Back in 1959,I used a 1948 Ford front axle assm. and still use the same,They work great ,my rod is bearly 1800lbs with gas an ass. They are not the Lin. selfenterjizing but that would be even better,but still stops very well. I can lock all 4 up if I over do it. I don't use Buick Fin Drum,they would not fit into the 14in. Alum Slots anyway . Lots of times I see front rims off set way out too clear Buick Fin drums or to show off more of Buick fin drum= bad idea to do that,what happens is it makes car steer bad an brake badly as well,can add too or even make deathwobble,all by the tire being too far away/out more then it should be{note drawing]. My own brake set up on my old rod cooled by holes an scoops more cuz I thought that looked sexy then that they ever get hot,I'm still driving the same way,,The drawing even though its not a soild axle kingpin,the same thing holds ture about scrub. Point is as the scrub gets to be bigger with more rim outset ,that extra lever acts badly on your front end steering.

 

I actually liked the fact that you put disk brakes on this car. I just thought it was cool that you had a great look but weren't overly concerned with period parts or whatever. I do prefer the looks of old drums though. Trying to decide what to do on my project.

 

Looks like I will be ordering up the MT Products ( Boling Brothers ) front brakes.
Going to go with the stainless steel screened vented backing plates, exactly as pictured here.
Just have to scrape a few more $ together after the Christmas season and get shipping figured out.
Larry

 

I am going to have to pick some stuff up in Lethbridge sometime in the New Year. If you had the stuff shipped to Sweet Grass I could probably pop down and pick it up when I am there makes shipping way cheaper.

 

Good move, I see the Boling Brothers display at local shows and their stuff looks really nice.

 

Thanks Ian, let me know when that might be and we can see if it works for timing.
I'll have to find where my son has stuff shipped to, I know there is a warehouse type place there that receives stuff like that.
I'll also do a comparison on shipping right to me here at home.
Larry

 

Ok will do. There are two places there but they are in the same parking lot so no difference in getting to them. I use Montana Shipping Outlet but I think they are about the same.

 

Today I made the first step. Mike at Boling brothers had recommended a master cylinder the type they use on their own chassis.
A Ford unit from Speedway. 1" bore.
It will be a bolt on replacement for the one I have now.
Since I had a Speedway gift card left over from before I ordered up the MC.

 

Larry
I really like the look of those brakes. You won't regret your decision to do this. Every time you look at your rod now you won't have to say I should have, I could have. All will look "right" now.
Bottom line you guys that don't mind the look of disk brakes. When you go out and look at your car and it has disk brakes and it looks right to you than it is. Those of us that think it looks wrong would notice it every time we looked at it. Just I noticed the 1/4" off square the cabinets were every time I went into my kitchen.
Gary

 

I think you are making the right choice Larry, you would have always regretted the disks in the back of your mind! Can't wait to see your awesome truck with the final finishes. Easily one of the best builds on the HAMB right now!

 

You are right Gary. My car isn't even finished yet and the disc brakes I thought would be ok are just bugging me.
Maybe it's having the axle 3 1/2" in front of the grille the discs are really out there in your face.
It's an odd thing really because I did not set out to build a totally period correct hot rod.
For instance I am going to use the rear coil overs that I have.
Just think, it didn't take me as long to make this decision as it did before I bought the quickchange

Thanks for the kind words Fargo.
Larry

 

I'm not sure that any of us hate disc brakes, I personally don't think that GM metrics scream high performance. To me personally floaters just don't scream performance, they do scream grocery getter though.

The mention of '70s brakes was made by me, it is an affordable option and I did not mention 3/4 ton brakes I mentioned a common drum brake that was offered on 1/2 tons and wagons. There is no real difference from the brakes offered in the late '50s and early '60s on Ford trucks other than availability and self adjusters and you can convert to self adjusters on the early brakes with off the shelf parts because they are essentially the same brakes.

This is not to qualify what I said but just simple information for the masses.

On a '60s styled performance car I think that discs fit right in, but they fit in better if you use a multi piston fixed caliper like what was used in the early to mid '60s. Bendix, and Hurst/Airheart was what would have been most commonly used. It was not something that I recall seeing commonly on the street but if they were using them on dragsters they would have filtered down. A couple of American cars had discs optional by about '64, and at least one car had them standard. Non of them were floaters, they were all fixed calipers, which means that they were twin piston at the very least and some of the optional brakes were 4 piston brakes.

On a light car that is not being pushed to its limits drum brakes work just fine and a drum brake in good shape and properly vented does not fade very often if at all. Perhaps in a panic stop one may notice fade and that only happens if you freak out and jam on the brakes. If you feather the brakes like one should the vehicle will come to a stop without noticeable fade. That does take some practice but it goes back to the learning curve that is required to move from an '05 Civic to an old heap like we drive.

OK back to your regularly scheduled programming.

 

My apologies again for derailing the thread. I'd like to respond to some of the things mentioned, but that would only further derail the discussion. Dude wants drum brakes on his ride, he should have them, end of story.

 

Beaner
I think it was me that mentioned '50s 3/4 ton brakes when I "name dropped" the Neal East story. I think now he was talking about rear brakes and putting them on a banjo diff.
Yeah Larry I remember you debating the quick change. This brake thing decision has to be a lot cheaper than that. Whatever you started out to build, with the Y block you have a traditional hot rod.
You know I'm not really against disk brakes on all hot rods. On one trip to Bonn. I ran across this guy with a 32 roadster. It was built with one of those bodies that the top folds down into the body. It had independent suspension all around, new Corvette running gear and four wheel disk brakes. Started talking to the owner. I forgot really how much but he had put several tens of thousand miles on it in the last couple of years. Think he said he had driven to every state but Hawaii. Nice rod. Wish I had taken a picture of it.

Gary

 

Sent you a message Ian.

 

I'm excited. just got word that my MT Lincoln brakes have arrived at the depot in Montana.
I should have them within the next week.
And I already have a buyer for the Magnum axle company disc kit.
Another picture of the complete setup with the vented backing plate kit I bought.
Larry

 

I just got 2 boxes full of brakes brought up to me by K13 from the shipping depot in Montana.
Awesome. Thanks Ian.
I'll open them up and will find my new MT products Lincoln drum brakes.
Goodbye front discs

 

Absolutely beautiful parts

 

Wow nice shit. I approve for what's that worth. My approval and five bucks will get you a cup of coffee at Starbucks.

Gary

 

I like the look and they do stop your Hot Rod.

 

I am using '48 Ford brakes with these aluminum backing plates. In my opinion, Buick drums look "heavy" on the front end of some findeless cars.

 

Then it's a good thing I don't have the finned Buick drums.

 

Looking at your parts Larry I see they are maybe a half inch wider than '40-'48 Ford (that I have) and are self energizing. My roadster is probably the about the same weight as yours and I'm sure I did everything wrong on the installation of my brakes. My single master cylinder is mounted lower than the wheel cylinders, I didn't turn the drums and I didn't arc (arch?) the shoes and still it stops fine. I had my roadster out Wednesday on a winding road that I like to drive. I had to make a panic stop around a blind corner because of a road crew working and even then with my slightly spongy brake pedal because of the master cylinder location It stopped just fine. I'm sure your roadster will have all the brakes you need with those parts and still look bitchin.
Side note I read an article about bus braking that talked about weather it was better to keep your brakes on slightly going down hill or let it speed up and then put them on hard. They came to the conclusion that it made no difference.
Gary

 

Larry those brakes are dope man. I am glad you finally found something that you can live with and being as cool as they are is just an added caveat.

 

Thanks Gary and everyone else too.
I went ahead and let MT ( Boling Brothers) know that I got the parts and also what I had been told about turning the drums and arch grinding the shoes. ( Stuff that is not needed and that I won't be doing after this response )

Larry,
First I'm glad you like the brakes and thank you for the "review" on the Hamb, I went over and checked it out. As far as all the extra stuff Early V8 Garage is talking about you're good in installing them as is. We are the manufacture these brakes and we install these kits all the time and also these hubs and drums are built to better tolerances than the originals. I would say just follow the instructions and make sure the centering procedure is done since that will give you the correct alignment for the hubs and drums. If you have anymore questions feel free to email us or give us a call.
Thanks again
Mike


128 W. Apia St.
Lindsay, CA 93247
(559)562-5840




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Time to say goodbye to the disc brakes
Had to make some thick washers to make up for the backing plates being thinner than the disc brake plates, that allows the bolts to be tightened into the steering arms without bottoming out.
I have one more task, the wheel studs aren't quite long enough due to the drums thickness, I'll have to source some longer ones.
Larry

 

I'm a disc fan, but those do look great! I may have to check these fellows out. Hmm....