Hi gents (ladies as well?), I've got the incredible privilege of doing some work to the Kurtis Tommy Lee Speedster. It has just come back from participating in the Colorado Grand tour and the owner has some things he wants to change on the car before the next one. High on the priority list is better brakes. 300hp in a 2200 lb car and bad brakes is not a comfortable drive. For those that don't know the car, here is a little history. http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=436014&highlight=tommy+lee It was built on a '36 Ford chassis which should have (and may well have) come with mechanical brakes. It now has hydraulic brakes (likely installed when the car was rebuilt) but I'm not sure exactly what it's got. I will determine that once we get it in the air and get some wheels off. My question is this. How strong is this front end? We are looking at adapting some Wilwood disc brakes but are concerned about folding the front suspension under the car under severe braking. What say the experts?
Leave it alone. The brakes are capable of sliding the tires. It is as piece of history. Leave it alone.
In the interest of improving the stopping power while not destroying the historical (visual) aspect, fit a set of Lincoln Zephyr self energizing Bendix brakes. Big improvement; looks like it belongs; new repro stuff commercially available.
I like this idea. It's an extremely historical car, but if the owner wants to drive it, it's a good idea to be able to stop it! Just take photos of everything before you take 'em off, and save everything (obviously) for the future...
Locking up the brakes isn't the most effective way of stopping, from what I've heard. Particularly hard on tires. The car is driven and driven hard at times. It's capable of 100+ mph and sees that on occasion. Pulling it down from those speeds and having the brakes fade to nothing when you're still going 60 or 70 isn't an awe-inspiring experience. Sub-par brakes are not an option. They will be upgraded.
A 35-40 ford front end will take whatever you throw at it in terms of strength. Just update to the Lincoln brakes as mentioned or find the rare Kinmont disc brakes and keep it period perfect.
Until I get wheels off etc, I don't know what it currently has. It's possible Don Alcala put Lincoln brakes on it when he rebuilt the car. In terms of visual, the brakes, regardless of what they are, are not visible from the outside. One would have to climb under the car to see them. With regards to historical "correctness", this car was rescued from a scrapyard and completely rebuilt. While Frank Kurtis was consulted, it's relatively unknown exactly what is correct and what is not. It's not like there's another one to compare it to. Having said that, it's not going to get airbags and 20" wheels either. The bottom line is the owner would like a car that's fun and safe to drive.
I've driven the tommy lee special many times and never had any trouble stopping it. I know with the old 318 engine they took it to the dry lakes, pulled the Cord front fenders, ran 147mph, put the fenders back on and drove it back to LA. If look under the front fenders the old light crank mechanism is still intact. It wouldn't be hard tp,ale the lights work from the driver's seat. Why couldn't leave thebrakes the way they are and add a small power brake booster.
Thanks for the response. Brakes were upgraded to Lincoln brakes last summer and now work much better. Why upgrade? The old brakes didn't work and the new ones do. Having to stand on the pedal until you're convinced something is going to bend is not a comforting feeling when you're buzzing along at 95mph in some canyon in Colorado. These Lincoln brakes do the job with much less drama. When you have your wife with you and are driving a moderately expensive and rare car, less drama is always better. Front and rear fenders on the passenger side are off right now as we have just mounted the "street" exhaust. A number of us have crawled this car top to bottom and front to back. We know how the headlights work...
I loved tinkering with that car. Thanks for answering. Did you locate the original street pipes, or build them from scratch? I never drove the car past 75 or 80 cause we we on city streets, but it sure was was fun up to that speed.
These are the original street pipes... It'll be a whole lot more fun when we get some carbs on it. The single Marvel tractor carb on it now only flows enough for about 125hp worth of air. The set of Winfields ought to free up about 150 more hp anyway. Wheee...
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