Can i run drums on all 4 on my 54 chevy 150 with a 350 engine and a 700r4 transmission??? a little bird said i was gonna have a hard time stopping ...
No worse than a '54 Chevy with a six and powerglide. I do think the front disk conversion on my '62 Lark was money very well spent.
If it's a cruiser and don't plan on driving at 100 mph all the time you will be fine. Just keep them adjusted and up to par condition wise...
just have to be prepared for the jerks with disk brakes who panic stop in front of you. other than that, you're good.
i have all four drum brakes on my 54. ive even taken it past a hundred on a few occations on an empty freeway at 3 a.m. it stops fine. panic stops do suck especially if you brakes are out of adjustment and your car pulls. but regular cruising and leaving enough stopping space is good.
I thought of converting to front discs on my 64 Acadian, then thought why bother, is it worth the time and money. As long as you drive normally and maintain the brakes they should be fine.
Just 1 hour ago, I had a little old lady dart out in the street to cross the road in front of my 51 Ford (4 wheel drum) and I damn near locked`em up for her. They worked great, and I didn't turn someone's Grandma into roadkill. All my cars have had 4 wheel drum brakes over the years... and I drove/drive the piss out of them. Drum brakes are very effective. Just remember to avoid riding them, because they can fade easily. They used to be your only option back in the day. No reason they can't stop you now.
What he said x's2... Ya need to drive as cool as you are, pay attention to the assholes around you and leave room to do what ya gotta do. I got stock drums on the front and little tiny Nova ones on the rear. Almost 20 years now. You could later on add a split M/C and booster in you don't like it. Frank
Yep, I have 4-drums on my Galaxie (obviously NOT a light car, or underpowered), keep 'em adjusted. I would put it's stopping power up against any 4-wheel disc car. Run 'em and tell everyone else to shut the hell up. Discs don't stop ANY better, they just don't suffer fade (which I've never encountered with my drums, but I don't ride 'em like an old lady either). I keep 'em adjusted. No pull, stops on a dime. Stops JUST AS WELL as cars I do have/had with 4 wheel discs. Plus they're not ugly like discs. The Model A will sport 4 drums, refer back to my ugly comment. (sorry, I'm in a pissy mood... I just lost an EBay auction because the reserve wasn't met. And I bid a Franklin more than I shoulda. And I really wanted it bad too...)
I had a '60 Pontiac with manual 4-wheel drums all around for a DD in the mid-90s and never had a problem with it. You might add some later self-adjusting hardware to them to save yourself some hassle, is all (like '62 parts for the rear will work fine). Heck Chevy used the same brakes in the rear all the way to '64 anyways, and a '64 Impala weighs a lot more than a '50 of any stripe.
Now, that is one thing I DO plan on doing, I have a single pot master cylinder and frankly, that DOES scare the shit outta me, especially how much my little boy likes my cars. But it'll be easy to swap to a dual-pot (no power brakes, and I don't miss 'em... Plus my engine doesn't make enough vacuum for them to run without a canister or vacuum pump or something).
I've got full drums on a 9000000lb 59 olds mobile... rebuilt them all and it stops perfect with a manual master cylinder!
I have drum brakes all around on my 55. They have served the car fine for over 50 years. Smartest choice? Probably not, but they are 100% rebuilt and work just fine. I will be adding a dual master cylinder this winter though... On the other hand, it might depend on who is driving. The manual drum brakes do not bother me in the slightest, but I would not put my wife or kids in the car with them as they are used to vehicles with discs and antilocks. It would be a bad equation... I will also say that I did hit the brakes fairly hard after a little run well into the 100 mph plus range and when they just sort of glazed over and the car really didn't slow down, I did decide that maybe I should curb such driving or consider finally adding at least some front discs, or possibly higher performance pads.
I wonder why they even invented disc brakes? Must have been a reason. Before drums they had mechanical brakes. They worked just fine. I guess all things are relative in relation to stopping distance.
I'd put $100 down that my bigass Galaxie with drums could "out-stop" my Lincoln (or for that matter, my old Exploder Sport) with 4 bigass ABS disc brakes. Like I said though, don't like that single-pot... But a Ford dual-pot that'll work ain't exactly hard to come by.
Disc brakes, i'd bet was a marketing gimic. The manufactures wanted to sell to the masses that read about them on euro cars. And I'd bet that they are cheaper for the factory to buy and install than drums. A lot less parts and pieces. About Vacuum...Ther's normally a check valve in the booster to hold the highest vac that occurs. And you ain't gonna be stepping on them with WOT and no vac. By the time you hit the brakes, the throttle is closed and the vac is high.
I run all drums on both my 63 C-10 with a built 400 and 4 speed and also on my daily driver 60 dodge dart the dart only has a slant 6 so it tops out around 90 but the car still weighs about 4000 lbs and I haven't had a problem yet even in California traffic.
A good friend of mine runs a 426 max wedge in a '62 Plymouth Fury with 4 wheel drums. He uses the turn-around at the strip, but swears he's never had a problem with them on the track or the road. Keep them adjusted, don't tailgate, and you'll be fine. And if you are going to ride her ass, at least pull her hair.
Drums brakes are always "PLAN AHEAD" brakes, even back when they were on every car on the road. But the speed limits were lower, and there wasn't as many stop signs and traffic signals to deal with. I've never had any reason to run discs on my older daily drivers. That's not saying I didn't want to upgrade to discs, just saying I never had the money to and really did just fine with the stock drum brakes. A '49-54 Chevy is a relatively light car, easy to handle, and the stock brakes work pretty well. Alot of people assume a power steering conversion, disc brakes, and a mustang II suspension is the only way to get these cars to sit low, stop good, and steer easy. But it's been proven that the stock suspension can be modified for next to nothing with spring/spindle/ball joint modifications and even airbags in the stock control arms. As is with the factory manual steering and a set of bias ply tires, it steers like it already has power steering, obviously different with radials, but still capable of not being a hassle. And the stock brakes are fully capable of stopping the vehicle as they should, as long as the operator considers the speed, distance, road conditions, tire type, etc etc etc. A good upgrade to the stock drum brakes is to rid of the stock single outlet master cylinder and replace it with a dual outlet master cylinder. I did a Tech write-up with details...it's really simple, and a hell of a way to make the stock drums 10 times more efficient for daily driving on modern roads. Link on article below: http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=367041&highlight=tech+dual+master
Dunno 'bout race cars, but around here you'd be hard pressed to find a set of disc brakes on a coal truck, air drum brakes galore (and the oh-so-annoying Jake brakes) on those big bastards, definitely need some serious stopping power. Seem to get them stopped OK, thankfully, especially when you see one of those big heavy sons 'a bitches charging down a hill behind you or coming towards you in a turn with the 3rd axle dropped. That'll make your butt pucker up every time.
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