Technical 57 Chevy power brake question

Just repeating what I read in a couple of different places, I think the
Speedway catalog was one of them.

 

All depends on wheel cylinder construction. There is a lot of misinformation on brake systems. Probably the reason there is so many “why don’t my brakes work” threads


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To backup what 57Fargo said: I had a 1959 Ford F250 that I converted to a dual master cylinder. Replaced the wheel cylinders and flex lines at the same time. It would occasionally suck air into a wheel cylinder (usually the fronts) and the brakes would pull to the side. Bleed the wheel cylinders and it would stop straight. I put a 10 PSI valve in the front brake circuit and an adjustable proportioning valve in the rear brake circuit. Drove it for several more years without any more brake problems.

 

I drove a 57 Chevy with factory power brakes for years with 4 wheel drums. Even pulled a trailer a few times with no issues.
The disc brake conversion was easy on the last one I did. Took about an hour per side.

 

There were power drums long before there were power discs. I would run it that way and never give it a second thought. You do want to make sure that your drum brakes are not wore slap out if you expect them to work though.

 

Just switch out the master for a late 60's early 70' s Chevelle drum/ drum master, no other add ons needed.

 

With some drum/disc conversions I figure out when the make and model of car I am working on switched to disc and sometimes you can change the disc spindles over and everything else can follow. Did this on a 63 Cadillac used 69 Cadillac disc set up as I think it was the first disc brake year .
Everything was a direct bolt on. I used the master, proportioning valve,spindles etc. Reused basically only the spindles and backing plates and other stuff - the rest I exchanged for cores.
It is getting really hard (impossible)to find parts cars. But when you copy the way the factory did things it usually works well.
I have a 58 Edsel and it’s common knowledge that 58-64 Fords can use early 70s Ford disc brake set ups- but its hard to find a donor car. Oftentimes oem drum rims won’t fit disc rims so take those also.

 

Another vote from the 'it'll be fine' crowd. I had a '51 Chevy 3800 wrecker once upon a time, and the garage that ran it back in the day added a Hydrovac, with all the stock components. The truck stopped great.