Projects The bucket of ugly! A de-uglifying thread...

I'll bet you're glad you changed the steering box not too long ago.

 

Damn right Jalopy45!

 

I'm glad you were able to maneuver your way to safety, Louvers. Nothing like a near miss to make you appreciate life and living. I remember thinking, after my wreck, that if my life flashed before my eyes it sure was quick and boring.

 

Was this a dual master and if so did you find any reason for the total failure?

I have heard that while the rear end mounted discs make a good parking brake, they are not effective as an emergency brake. Have you looked into this aspect of them?

Besides the lack of a residual check valve in the disc section outlet, I thought there were also some internal functional differences between a drum/drum and disc/drum masters. Anyone know for sure?

 

Thanks Blue One! That'll do except the lack of a residual check in the front brake circuit. I really appreciate that, but I'm still gonna sit down and spend some happy time with my giant new/old catalog and see if I can find a drum/drum alternative. When I do I'll post it here and then we will have numbers for both a disc brake front and drum rear, and a four wheels drum system that can be referenced quickly. Thanks again!

Man, mine didn't have time to flash this time, and last time it did I remembered that it was ANYTHING but boring! I honestly had no contingency plans beyond 24 or so, 'cause I figured at that point a race car, jealous husband, motorcycle, huge wave, strangly transistioned pool I was skating in, or an act of God would have gotten me! Most of the above tried at one point or another, but here I am pushing 50... I think I am subconsciously trying too hard to live that old wheeze about sliding into my grave sideways and leaving a completely used up corpse behind laughing the whole way. Sometimes I think I'm trying too hard!

 

I forgot to tell you guys that I spent a good part of the day today runnin' around in a down pour about town. Our first day in 70 that had any rain and it was a doozy! it really was my first time in this car in any sort of hard rain, and it wasn't too bad. The only part that sucked was the spray off those ribbed front tires when I turned!!!

 

Damn, meant to warn you that was coming! It started raining here with a small shower Thur., then it poured yesterday and today! There is a company in Long Beach (Well, used to be in Long Beach, looks like they might have moved to Whittier) I use called Power Brake Service Co, Inc. They custom built me my last master cylinder while I waited, price was reasonable too. Can't get better customer service than that! I've never had a problem with anything they've built for me or the shop either. Hard, to find that kind of quality and service these days. Their numbers are (562) 436-4111 and (800) 504-1060. Give them a call and I bet they'll know exactly what you need.

Posted using the Full Custom H.A.M.B. App!

 

Everything I've read or heard about the GM version of caliper with the handbrake function built in has put them down as meeting the law but being poor at best in performance.
My T has a WS6 Trans Am disc brake rearend and its an ugly setup to even look at, with the calipers on opposite sides of the discs.
Fitz says the brakes were marginal as a park brake so I'm intending to change it back to a drum setup...or if that isn't possible, maybe to a later S10 disc setup with an internal shoe type park brake.
Haven't pulled it apart yet but I'm REALLY hoping drums and backing plates will bolt right up.
Fingers crossed!
We don't need discs back there. Especially if it effects emergency brake capability!

 

Hey Rich B, I left off an answer for the last part of your question last night, sorry.

The main differences between a disc/drum and a drum/drum master beyond the residual check valve situation is that usually a drum/drum type has reservoir bowl that are the same size. Disc/drum usually has two different sizes, as a disc caliper requires more fluid volume to actuate that a drum brakes wheel cylinder. Sometime there are other variations, such as stepped or dual size bores, things like that, but those are pretty few and far between.

Hackerbuilt,

I think Rich B was asking about pinion mounted discs as a parking brake under these cars. I have to agree though, I have a pair of the Cadillac Eldorado rear disc brake caliper w/parking brake (a variation of the same thing you have under your Trans Am) under my Plymouth and they are so close to worthless it's not funny! They will soon be replaced by Wilwood ultra lights and a second mount welded on for a mechanical caliper for a parking brake... Bet that will STILL be lighter than the Caddy stuff!

 

Hey! I almost forgot to tell you guys - the Bucket of Ugly is now a TV star!!! I have gotten about 3000 calls this week to tell me that the "T" is the first car shown on the current TV ads for next weekends Good Guy's Spring Nationals! I have yet to see it myself, but I'm sure it was filmed on the Saturday at the November event when my uncle was driving it around... Anybody an internet genius that knows how to find and link stuff like that so I can see it? If so, post it here!!!

 

My daughter had a 73 Dart Swinger with 4W drum brakes and a split system master as her first car. Don't know the bore size but you might look it up.

 

Haha...no Trans Am for me...that rear is under my T which is why the caliper positioning bothers me so much.
Right out in the open!

Didn't realize it was a pinion brake being talked about though.
I made one up for my Landcruiser with a 205 transfer case and it works ok. I used a lever under the body to give some additional leverage to the pullout handle setup the LC has. Even with that extra leverage its a hard pull to get it to hold solid.
It's still a project...no road use yet, so the jury is still out on its true effectiveness.
The self-energizing effect from modern drum setups is pretty obvious when you consider how well they hold compared to a disc with no self-energization in a parking situation!

 

I think I will be able to run inline residual check valves to solve that.

It should work fine with the front discs and rear drums. As well the rear drums on my Maverick 8" will allow for a regular parking-emergency brake.
I have the Lokar trans mount brake lever and Lokar cables that can be cut to length and will make the e-brake solution easy.

God knows I have plenty of other things to fab and work out.

 

Good Guys Ad
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CGnxlzlOlbg
Ya gotta be quick

 

Quick, no kidding. I think I saw it for all of 2.5 seconds Maybe less

 

Yep, but it IS famous now!

Steve

 

Chip now you are famous. Your picture is Nation wide not just on the wall at the police station

 

This summer we retrofitted disc brakes with GM metric calipers on the front a '70s built "T" bucket and used the 15/16" Pinto manual master; worked great, easy to dial in, and reasonable pedal effort.

The rebuilt master we picked up did have a residual valve in the drum brake port. so we only had to use a 2 PSI valve for the discs.

 

So, I read this to Miss Judy as she breezed into the room a second ago... Her reaction? "What the herr you not terring me? You picture on the wall at what porrice station?! Where!!! Why you not terr me such thing. Why someone say something rike that to you?!..."

Go back to watching the Oscars, sweetheart, it'll take care of itself...

 

Absolutely an external residual will work just fine! I'm just kinda picky about running lines and stuff, so that is why I'm going to search a drum type with them in the master... I'm just sort of weird that way, ya know?

 

That is cool that the T got into the commercial!

 

Here is a screen capture of the blink and you miss it shot of your car.


Click to enlarge.

 

Thanks man!

 

The bucket of famous.

 

Makes one wonder what the tirade would have sounded like if she had been with you on you joy ride...

 

You should have heard her the day I made her drive it!

 

I promised somebody picture of hauling "endlessearth's" driveshaft home from the driveshaft shop. I shot this Recreation the other day after I got home. You should have seen me doing it AGAIN 4 times while we messed with getting the proper slip yoke... In the rain this weekend... A friend of mine suggested it need W/T badges.

 

You should have flown a pennant from that shaft. Something piratical perhaps.

 

Hey, Chip;

& you couldn't be bothered to do a quick film/sound on the phone, for us?

Methinks thou art slipping a bit... .

*We'd've* enjoyed it... .

& what is it they say? Any publicity is good? .

Marcus...

 

Methinks this monkey and his 3 year old phone isn't tech enough to figure out how to do that deal!