Aluminum Kelsey-Hayes 45-fin brake drum NOT BUICK!!!!!

[Blownolds]

Up for sale is a single 45-fin aluminum KELSEY-HAYES aluminum brake drum. PLEASE NOTE THAT THIS DRUM IS DIFFERENT FROM THE BUICK DRUMS!! It is shown next to a Buick drum in the second photo. And yes, I am offering it this one time for $75 plus shipping to blow it out the door.... a great price for a rare part that could be perfect for that project car.

This Kelsey-Hayes finned aluminum brake drum came off of a '62 full-size Pontiac (Catalina I seem to recall) that had lots of cop-car high-performance chassis components. Might have been an old cop car, who knows.

This brake drum is similar to the '58-64 Buick 45-fin aluminum brake drums that hot-rodders have used for decades on early Fords. It also has 45 fins and also the 5x5 bolt pattern. But it is quite different! The differences between it and the Buick drum:

--the Buick drum is for 12x2-1/2 brakes, while the K-H drum is for 11x3 brakes
--the hub is different (doesn't stick out as far from the drum surface, due to the wider actual part of the drum), plus it has a smaller bearing than the Buick.
--the Buick drum's total diameter at the fins is 15-3/8", while the K-H drum is only 15-1/16.

I have been into old car stuff for many years and had never evenheard of these drums until I found this possible ex-cop car '62 Poncho in a junkyard a few years back (car is long gone, don't ask for other parts). This brake drum is cast with a small "K-H 50280" on it, if that helps any. My suspicion is that this drum is possibly intended to fit some sort of a rare Kelsey-Hayes wheel, something that would have been a rare factory option. Perhaps these are Super-Duty drums? You guys will know what this is.

There are NO broken fins whatsoever.

What with the Buick 45-fin drums now trading at $175-200/pr plus shipping, and this rare Kelsey-Hayes aluminum drum being probably 100 times harder to obtain, I am going to offer this single drum up for just $75 plus shipping, as a blow-it-out-the-door kind of deal.

If you need it, then don't hesitate to jump on this one.

E-mail me DIRECT at blown394olds@yahoo.com if you want to buy it. Please do not PM me, I don't use that system much.

[Duntov]

Those are used on the 1958 -1963 Pontiac Police - Ambulance HD Brake opton (front) . The 1958-1962 Police and Ambulance brake drums use ball bearings and the rare and sought after 1963 version uses tapered roller bearings. The 1958-62 aluminum front drums should be converted to roller bearings. Unfortunately, the oversize conversion race for the roller bearings has gone the way of the Do-Do bird. Timken can still make the oversize roller bearing races for $700 a pair. You must use use 15" wheels to clear the fins and the front brakes must have the police and ambulance brake backing plates. Or you can machine the lip off the regular production backing plates and clearance edge of the aluminum brake drums. My 1963 Pontiac Catalina 421 HO has the Police Option with NEW aluminum brake drums. I found a new pair from a guy that did not have the 15" wheels and special police and ambulance backing plates so he sold the aluminum drums cheap.

History:
The 1958 - 1963 Pontiac Catalinas for NASCAR used 15" reinforced police wheels due to the NASCAR requirements for additional brake cooling but they were not equipped with the aluminum drums. NASCAR did not approve of aluminum brake drums because it was not proven to be a particularly strong aluminum alloy. The process for installing steel liners in the 356 cast aluminum alloy drums has never been perfected due to the introduction of 4-wheel disc brakes. The strength of the 356 aluminum alloy used for aluminum drums with steel liners is compared to being one step above molded plastic! In 1985-87 Buick would not install rear aluminum brake drums on the Turbocharged Grand Nationals that were equipped with an RPO G80 "Gov-Loc" locking differential.

The 1962-1963 NHRA Pontiac Catalinas in A/FX and S/S classes used standard 14" wheels on the rear because M&H Racemaster recommended 14" wheels with their bias ply cheater slicks. The 14" 4-ply cheater slicks seemed to work better with more sidewall between the wheel and the pavement. That all changed when 15" 2-ply wrinkle wall drag slicks were introduced. The NHRA Pontiacs in A/FX and S/S used 15" police wheels up front but with standard cast iron brake drums that were lightened with cooling holes and turned to the maximum discard diameter. Stopping the race cars was not a problem at NHRA sanctioned drag strips with adequate shut-down area so police brakes with aluminum drums were not necessary.......except at the infamous NHRA sanctioned dragstrip at Temple Academy Raceway near Temple Texas! That strip did not have enough shut down area so it was later converted to 1/8 mile drag racing in the 11 second or quicker classes.