Fake Buick Drums??

[ratster]

Anyone ever run those fake Buick brake drums? I know how everyone feels about drums on here. I'm doing a car that has to have disc brakes on it. We just want the look. Who else sells them other then SoCal?

[PEDDRO]

There's mob in New Zealand that does them for about a third the price of SoCals.....any kiwis out there that can dispel my myth???

[fab32]

The company that makes them for So Cal is called Functional Fakes. I have a set that I got from them for the front of my '32 5w project. I'll check in the shop and see if there is any information to contact them. As I recall the price was WAY LESS than So Cal gets for them.

Frank

[Dirty2]

I would like to see them a little cheaper also!!!

[HOTRODPRIMER]

Frank,have ya got a photo of them on the 5-window? HRP

[PEDDRO]

Rowdy's Rod Shop (http://www.rowdysrodshop.com/)

NZ$1200! or about US$847

.....although the site does say somethin' about moving to Cape Town!?!

[Killer]

Functional Fakes
(909) 592-5511
297 West Allen Ave
San Dimas, CA 91773

[Boones]

Dont you have to run the big money Wilwood brakes and not normal disk calibers.. (that was what I was told)...

[fab32]

Finally found the box they were shipped in. Don't know if this info is current as I've had these brakes over 1 1/2 years.
Functional Fakes
297 W. Allen Ave.
San Dimas, CA 91773

Hope this helps.

Frank

[fab32]

HRP, Don't have them installed as of yet. Fuelpump had them on the front of his '32 5w. He sold the car but I can't imagine him NOT having a picture of his. I'll see if I can get him to post a picture if he has one.

Frank

[PEDDRO]

Any idea of the cost of the Functional Fakes? And do they only take Wilwood brakes?

The kiwi type take many types of calipers.

[ratster]

sorry to bring this back up. i need more info Functional Fakes, cost and how good are they?

[scootermcrad]

sorry to bring this back up. i need more info Functional Fakes, cost and how good are they?
They're disc brakes, so they WILL stop you pretty good. The only problem is getting over the facts of what the product is... disc brakes. What will you be puting them on? If it's a low-weight car, some big ass 12" early Ford brakes will do you just fine. If these are going on a full fendered heavy car, you might want the functional fakes along with a boosted M/C. Just depends on you and your bank account. Functional fakes are expensive man! If someone didn't know otherwise, you might not be able to tell they're on there. They look very similar.

[ratster]

I already have disc brakes on my 27 Essex roadster. I like to stop fast and in my own lane. I have no problem with disc brakes, i drive my roadster around 10k a year. So Cal wants over $1600.

[krylon32]

Sell him Wilson Weldings Lincoln fronts with Buick drums and Johns Ford rears with new Buick style drums. He'll thank you later.

[daveyboy56]

So Whats The Price!!!!!!!!

[59BuickWagon]

** SPAM ALERT **

O'Brien Truckers (yea me) bought Rowdy's tooling and is making that cast aluminum backing plate with scoop and partial Buick drum or full Buick style drum cover. The idea with the partial drum is that it bolts to the backing plate so there is no balancing issue and it also doesn't encapsulate the rotor/caliper so there is no overheating problem either. Our caliper bracket puts the caliper in the front right behind the scoop so it stays cooler and you don't have the ugly bulge at the top of the backing plate to allow room for the caliper.

Cost? Complete set up for 37-41 round spindles with two backing plates, two scoops, two partial drums plus the Wilwood 10.75 rotors, calipers, hubs and hardware - $1595 unpolished and $1795 polished. The full drum covers are $375 each unpolished - they're drilled for 4 1/2" and 4 3/4" bolt patterns and dynamically balanced.

And that's before your 10% Alliance Member discount.

Spam alert over.......

Dennis

[daveyboy56]

To much for this KID !!

[David Totten]

I have installed a set of SoCals and found one problem they are very hard to bleed because the bleed screw is on the bottom instead of the top had to take them apart to bleed. but they do look nice. And do cost a lot.

[redoxide]

you can get the covers on E bay for $100 and they are OK quality. dude on there sells all manner of hot rod dress up stuff at a fraction of the retail..trades as meg-light.. wont help you with the working parts of the brakes though..

["Doc" Parsons]

They are still just FAKE'S

[old kid]

if a brake stops a car it aint a fake brake.

[BigBlockMopar]

I have installed a set of SoCals and found one problem they are very hard to bleed because the bleed screw is on the bottom instead of the top had to take them apart to bleed. but they do look nice. And do cost a lot.

Don't you think maybe you swapped the left and right calipers the wrong way around?
I've never seen such a 'fake' setup upclose so maybe I'm on a limb here, but I cannot believe a manufacturer will make a system with a bleeder-screw on the wrong side of the caliper.

[krylon32]

You cannot properly bleed the SO-CAL brakes without removing the caliper, even though there are bleeders on both ends of the caliper. We take them loose and put a short piece of 1X4 between the pads and bleed away.

[Roupe]

You cannot properly bleed the SO-CAL brakes without removing the caliper, even though there are bleeders on both ends of the caliper. We take them loose and put a short piece of 1X4 between the pads and bleed away.

That is correct, they are a pain to bleed but if you only do it once its not that bad. I put them on my car about 2 years ago and they stop very well. If I remember right the bleeding problem is cause by the fact that they mounted the caliper in a position that allows the brake hose to exit at the top of the backing plate to give it the correct looks of a Ford backing plate but then the position of the caliper causes the bleeding problem.

[DrJ]

Fake parts are for fake hotrods.

[Jeff Norwell]

And whats a fake hotrod?

[hatch]

I usually never drive over 110MPH through my neighborhood......so good brakes aren't really needed.....screw those kids on bikes, they don't own the road.

[Jeff Norwell]

I agree Hatch..... cause death is so traditional
ha ha :)

[TINGLER]

I have a fake gasser.

Ratster has pots and pans on his front axle.

The Greazies used to be fake, but they broke up.

I'm in the Poor Boys c.c. now......Ratster was too. Poor Boys for life!

Ratster said, "Poor Boys for a month!" :D

Everyone in Tennessee is fake because we aren't as cool as the west coast rat rodders.


Fake

Fake

Fake.


Ratster, I'm going to AAA my car down to your house and have a fake race. Call AAA and we'll haul our cars to the dragstrip and then see if we can talk the AAA drivers to haul our cars down the strip.

Now that's fake.

:D :D

[TINGLER]

Ratster's car is the green '27 Essex with the purple flames.

Just want to show a pic so you guys know who you're talking to.

http://www.tinglerart.com/images/GREAZIES1.jpg

[Plowboy]

I am running a set of Dennis's brakes on my new fake bubbletop hotrod.

Someday, when I grow up, I want to build a real hotrod accepted by the masses with nothing but the right parts so I can fit in and be different like everbody else.

[Jeff Norwell]

I am running a set of Dennis's brakes on my new fake bubbletop hotrod.

Someday, when I grow up, I want to build a real hotrod accepted by the masses with nothing but the right parts so I can fit in and be different like everbody else.










HA HA HAHAHAHAHAH......Oh fuck ..thats funny!!!!!:D

[SinisterCustom]

Ratsters car is the only "non-black" car in the line-up......is he the club's "chainer"...... hahaha!

Cool "fake".......

[DrJ]

And whats a fake hotrod?

I've heard some people refer to them as "Street Rods".. :rolleyes: :D

Not me of course, I call any hotrod with a license plate a Street Rod. :cool:


Unless you can demonstrate that those fake drums over disc brakes somehow make the heat dissipate from the rotors faster than just the rotor hangin out in the air flow, I dont think they belong on what's supposed to be an enhanced performance car.

[ratster]

ha ha I had for gotten about bringing this back up to the top. Thank Tingler for reminding me. I'm just to fake ha ha

Thanks Dennis for the SPAM I'll be getting hold of you.

I'm also going to be pulling a small tear drop trailer and will be needing a better brake. Nothing wrong with drums, i have them on the 57 it stop OK, most of the time.

** SPAM ALERT **

O'Brien Truckers (yea me) bought Rowdy's tooling and is making that cast aluminum backing plate with scoop and partial Buick drum or full Buick style drum cover. The idea with the partial drum is that it bolts to the backing plate so there is no balancing issue and it also doesn't encapsulate the rotor/caliper so there is no overheating problem either. Our caliper bracket puts the caliper in the front right behind the scoop so it stays cooler and you don't have the ugly bulge at the top of the backing plate to allow room for the caliper.

Cost? Complete set up for 37-41 round spindles with two backing plates, two scoops, two partial drums plus the Wilwood 10.75 rotors, calipers, hubs and hardware - $1595 unpolished and $1795 polished. The full drum covers are $375 each unpolished - they're drilled for 4 1/2" and 4 3/4" bolt patterns and dynamically balanced.

And that's before your 10% Alliance Member discount.

Spam alert over.......

Dennis

[59BuickWagon]

Unless you can demonstrate that those fake drums over disc brakes somehow make the heat dissipate from the rotors faster than just the rotor hangin out in the air flow, I dont think they belong on what's supposed to be an enhanced performance car.

That's why I offer them with a partial drum that leaves the rotor and caliper "hangin' out in the air flow". The caliper is mounted in the front in the scoop so it gets plenty of air flow (unless you're stopped:rolleyes: ). The partial drum is bolted to the cast aluminum "backing plate" so there's no balancing problem and they're obviously lighter than a full drum so there's less unsprung weight. Oh, and the bleed screws are on the top.

Just trying to offer a better fake.

Dennis

[Harrison]

Ratster,

Why not just fix what you have?

You must be wanting to dress it up some. Otherwise, your tight ass wouldn't drop the $$ on pretty brakes. Or is someone threatening your "Club Chanier" position? :p

JH

[HELLBILLY]

God I hate when this comes up every now and then.. me living in Tennessee makes it now seem much more important and one of the hardest things for most people to deal with in this traditional lifestyle is brakes. They seem to have a mind of their own and rear up at the worst possible times. For many of us it feels as if we were slaves to our own brakes. We feel like puppets on a string at our brakes beck and call. However it is not drum brakes alone that are the root of these feelings… they are that of wanting drum brakes but having discs.
To first understand this it is important to know the difference between real and fake brakes. Without this understanding none of it will make any sense and just add confusion to your lifestyle. As a result, Real brakes are best defined as “Drum Brakes” In simple terms this means Traditional!
On the other hand, Fake Brakes are defined as “the feelings or sensations caused as a result of our unwillingness to use drum brakes for whatever reason.” Much more difficult to understand, however when we use the same example as above it becomes… I want the looks of drum ..but I want to go with discs… this makes us want to lash out!
Drum and disc brakes come from the same place, are triggered in the same manner and work identical. The reality however is that drum brakes are REAL and are a means of defiance so we do not have to feel something we do not want to feel. This is really why for most people they feel they are puppets to their own brakes… their want of drum brakes have taken hostage of their lives and taken over!
This however does not need to be the reality of our lives. Some of us have the means to buy the fake brakes..some don't, so really its all a matter of what YOU want...drums? discs? Or fake drum discs? You have the power and the ability to decide. Of course no one said the job would be easy or simple. What we can say however is that it will allow you to feel alive and become so much happier and content in your own traditional lifestyle then you can even begin to imagine right now!
The first step in freeing ourselves of this burden is to understand why it happens in the first place. When we know the root of a problem we can begin to fix it. Sadly the root of this problem is the belief that we are not capable of dealing with our friends stares at our disc brakes. This presents a rather major first problem in that we need to feel we are capable of not caring what other people think in our own lives, I myself am Bi...... I have real drums and discs.

[ratster]

Jim, my brakes work good, I'm just a chainer at heart haha I hate the looks of disc brakes.



Ratster,

Why not just fix what you have?

You must be wanting to dress it up some. Otherwise, your tight ass wouldn't drop the $$ on pretty brakes. Or is someone threatening your "Club Chanier" position? :p

JH

[Cyclone Kevin]

Disc brakes have been around since the warplane days of the hockey puck type brake pad. I have a set of aviation calipers as well as the 5 on 5 & 1/2" bolt circle rotors made by Cragar in the mid 50's up into the late 60's.
Disc brakes are not a new thing. Just different style.
Back in the mid 70's Eric Vaughn did a econo type kit that mated a set of Kelsey Hayes 4 piston calipers and 5 on 4 &1/2" bolt circle rotors onto early Ford spindles(donor brake set up could be found off a 65-7 Mustang or 67 Cougar with said option) It used a fruit jar type m/cyl as well as 65 & up vette prop valve. This set is over 42 years old design wise and is very traditional IMHO.
The FF's seem to do the job visually & as of this post I am now hip to the O'Brien's versions. I think safety comes 1st, Have you ever had a set of 39-48 Ford brake fade, I'm here to tell ya It ain't no fun!!!!!!

[scootermcrad]

God I hate when this comes up every now and then.. me living in Tennessee makes it now seem much more important and one of the hardest things for most people to deal with in this traditional lifestyle is brakes. They seem to have a mind of their own and rear up at the worst possible times. For many of us it feels as if we were slaves to our own brakes. We feel like puppets on a string at our brakes beck and call. However it is not drum brakes alone that are the root of these feelings… they are that of wanting drum brakes but having discs.
To first understand this it is important to know the difference between real and fake brakes. Without this understanding none of it will make any sense and just add confusion to your lifestyle. As a result, Real brakes are best defined as “Drum Brakes” In simple terms this means Traditional!
On the other hand, Fake Brakes are defined as “the feelings or sensations caused as a result of our unwillingness to use drum brakes for whatever reason.” Much more difficult to understand, however when we use the same example as above it becomes… I want the looks of drum ..but I want to go with discs… this makes us want to lash out!
Drum and disc brakes come from the same place, are triggered in the same manner and work identical. The reality however is that drum brakes are REAL and are a means of defiance so we do not have to feel something we do not want to feel. This is really why for most people they feel they are puppets to their own brakes… their want of drum brakes have taken hostage of their lives and taken over!
This however does not need to be the reality of our lives. Some of us have the means to buy the fake brakes..some don't, so really its all a matter of what YOU want...drums? discs? Or fake drum discs? You have the power and the ability to decide. Of course no one said the job would be easy or simple. What we can say however is that it will allow you to feel alive and become so much happier and content in your own traditional lifestyle then you can even begin to imagine right now!
The first step in freeing ourselves of this burden is to understand why it happens in the first place. When we know the root of a problem we can begin to fix it. Sadly the root of this problem is the belief that we are not capable of dealing with our friends stares at our disc brakes. This presents a rather major first problem in that we need to feel we are capable of not caring what other people think in our own lives, I myself am Bi...... I have real drums and discs.

WOW! That was a masterpiece write up...

Run what you like and what you can afford Clint. If that's the car they're going on, she's not too heavy.

[blue collar guy]

I'll start this off by saying I have a set of wilson welding brakes on my coupe thoudands of trouble free miles stops on a dime. But I'm bulding a fairly tradional looking car that will run 9.90s on pump gas and should have good street manners. It's a choped 30 sedan station wagon roof. it sits on the ground looks good . But I wanted to make sure this car stoped as good as it go's. Se I decided to build my own set of disc brakes with buick drum covers. It was not cheep or easy but they turned out good and cost me less than a grand. Scott

[HELLBILLY]

WOW! That was a masterpiece write up...

Run what you like and what you can afford Clint. If that's the car they're going on, she's not too heavy.

Thanks, the traditional lifestyle is all about the feelings and emotions man ...... you feel it? Feels good don't it.

[Gator]

Here's that fake drag race. Maybe you should paint over 'The JOKER' on the back and make it 'The FAKER' HaHa!

http://i37.photobucket.com/albums/e72/mojogator/jokerdrag.jpg

[RilleCustoms]

I'll start this off by saying I have a set of wilson welding brakes on my coupe thoudands of trouble free miles stops on a dime. But I'm bulding a fairly tradional looking car that will run 9.90s on pump gas and should have good street manners. It's a choped 30 sedan station wagon roof. it sits on the ground looks good . But I wanted to make sure this car stoped as good as it go's. Se I decided to build my own set of disc brakes with buick drum covers. It was not cheep or easy but they turned out good and cost me less than a grand. Scott Hey Scott , could you give us all a run down on the parts you used and what you did to do your convert , Thanks Steve

[RotHod]

eh give it maybe 10 years and disks will be cool, trendy and traditional again. Maybe then we can afford to buy the drum brakes again.

[joeybsyc]

I'm considering buying a set of the So Cal brakes, but am wondering what the maximum backspacing I can have on my wheels and still clear the fins on the drum? My current wheels are 15x6 with 3 3/4" backspacing, which I'm thinking may be too much to clear the drums.. this pic looks like a 4" or maybe 5" wide wheel, (judging by how narrow the tire is) which would only have 2 1/4" backspacing...
http://i83.photobucket.com/albums/j293/joebarr/DSC02841.jpg

just wondering if I will need to order another pair of wheels too... anyone have any experience with this?

[chaddilac]

check the tech section.... juice backing plate covers, cheaper than the buick covers!

[RJP]

I don't use front brakes at all, so that ends the disc/drum debate. When I find myself feeling the need to stop the car, I just toss the fake ardun/hemi heads, fake quickchange cover, and rocket olds valve covers over the side like an anchor. Gotta be prepared for this style of stopping, but it does keep it traditional.

[fuel pump]

They are still just FAKE'S

So are breast implants but still like looking at them:p :eek:

[Jimv]

I have installed a set of SoCals and found one problem they are very hard to bleed because the bleed screw is on the bottom instead of the top had to take them apart to bleed. but they do look nice. And do cost a lot.

sounds like ya got them on the wrong sides!! I never heard of bleeders on the bottom.
JimV

[D-Russ]

Here's a thread I posted a little while ago.

http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=184568&highlight=easy+disc+brake

40 backing plates = $38 (for the pair)

complete GM disc brake kit = $199

16 gauge scrap and welding gas and wire = $10

rattle can gloss black = $6

TOTAL = about $250



check the tech section.... juice backing plate covers, cheaper than the buick covers!