building a model a coupe. sbc,4 speed,9'' rear on 32 rails. I have a pair of 12 spoke spinde mount mag. wheels. no way to mount rotors. my question is, any of you guys not running front brakes? they sure look cool. good/ bad?
People do foolish things all of the time. Some are lucky enough to not get killed, or kill anyone else. Why gamble, given the stakes?
You just know someone is going to come on and say they are not using front brakes and the car stops great, but the reality is, sometimes the guy in front of you stops short or you get on wet pavement. That is when you really need all the braking you can get. Your insurance carrier might also take a dim view of not having them, as well as the cops. If you ever get in an accident guess who they are going to blame ? Don
The problem is, of course, weight transfer during braking. Under braking the weight shifts onto the front wheels and off the rear wheels: no good if all your brakes are on the latter. Barring transient effects this is purely a function of deceleration, vehicle mass, wheelbase, and CG height. Worst of all is, therefore, a fast, heavy car with a short wheelbase and a high centre of gravity, for instance a phantom/replica AWB car with all the creature comforts for the street, or in fact any street-driven "gasser"-style car. Unfortunately those are exactly the cars where the temptation to run no front brakes is greatest. The same characteristics that put all the weight on the rear wheels on launch put all the weight on the front wheels during braking. It is possible to set up a chassis to give a bit of pro-dive and pro-squat under deceleration, which will lower the CG a bit under braking. The effect is small (and the transient response might be opposite) but this might allow brakes of slightly nearer-equal power than otherwise. A long, low, light car with a pronounced rearward weight bias and this sort of geometry might just want more powerful brakes on the rear than on the front, but no front brakes is stretching it a bit.
not unless your running a stock model T. there must be a way to get brakes on it. u got any pics of your set up? what about a little rotor and motorcycle caliper, i've seen some T's done this way.
There is a way to mount brakes. A pal mounted a set of older cycle rotors to his spindle mounts. Small but they were at least brakes. The calipers were some nice looking finned units. Not traditional but very trick looking.
Pete and Jakes used to have a disc brake kit for 12 spokes. Also, check with Wilwood. Posted using the Full Custom H.A.M.B. App!
My T was originally built with just rear brakes, using a WS6 disc brake Trans-Am rearend. When fitzee bought it and got it out he only used it a couple of times before adding Disc brakes to the front. I remember him saying he found it odd to hear the rear tires howl while feeling no noticeable braking force trying to stop you. He had been slowing down to pull in his driveway during an initial test run but continued on down the road past several other driveways before the car finally stopped. No thanks......that crap isn't fun.
If your spindle mounts are in good shape I'd bet you coulds sell them for close to not more then a new set of 12 spokes they sell now that bolt on like any other wheel. I personally don't like seeing disk brakes behind 12 spoke wheels but I wouldn't run without front brakes on the street.
60% of your braking power is in the front. You will be mixing it up in traffic with a vehicle that has the stopping power of a Schwinn. Not a question of whether you will get hurt, but how soon. I will tell you how important front brakes are. At one time nobody had front brakes. When the first front brakes came out, they put a red triangle on the back fender that said "four wheel brakes" so following cars could back off. These were 1920's cars with 3 inch wide tires, 40 HP engines and mechanical brakes the size of a snuff tin. Imagine what would happen if you were following a transport and it locked up its brakes in a panic stop at 60MPH.
Yes ! you need front brakes, and yes! you can put brakes on the old 12 spokes with a little work. Will you have 60% braking ? No ! Your not going to get 60% out of a 3" tread tire and only, 4 5/16 bolts holding the brake disk on and 1 5/8 brake pad. You need good back brakes and rear tires as well. Just think how cool looking your 12 spoke would look smashed under the ass of another car. Toxic Waste
guys, I'm listening to everyone.thanks for the imput. I remember seeing dw's blown sbc a coupe, with spoke wheels.looked like mc wheels,running around Austin, a couple of years ago. this is why I'm asking...my wheels are original American racing 12 spoke magnisum. never been mounted! the flange on the back side of the wheel only has about 1/4'' of material. that is why I said no way to mount a rotor. yes I have 4 piston calipers,12'' rotors on rear. I will check on a brake kit w/ pj. I will try to post a pic of my wheels... thanks guys
You can stop a "stock model T" with your feet ! Lol if there's enough meet around the flange you can adapt a rotor to them. The scary thing is the tiny bolts vs leverage of the brakes x weight of car. With brakes like that, it's more of a technicality "yes it has front brakes, see?" Instead of actually providing the stopping power needed.
Why can't anyone have a technical discussion on this board without a bunch of smart as remarks? It's getting rediculous guy. I run front brakes on my street driven gasser sure and I probly wouldn't drive it without them but I am not gonna be jerk to this cat about his setup. Also let's not mention the miles I've riden on a rigid no front brake bobber and I have never hit a pole or the back of a truck. But I guess all the nay sayers about that are on the other board(jockey journal)
You can mount rotors to the spindle mounts. No front brakes on something as heavy makes me want to know where you are driving so I can go some place else. Well lets get this correct, a bobber is a chick not a motor cycle. Unless your locked down, but its not gay if you're in the joint. Sorry I hate it when someone calls my scoot a bobber, my bike doesn't suck. Ok I havn't read all the remarks so if there is a pissing match going on I am oblivious to it. But just to put things in perspective, anyone on the board is going to be hard pressed to build a coupe that weighs less that 1500 lbs and most are going to be in the 2500-3000 lb range. There is a lot of difference in a bike that weights 400-700 lbs and a car that weights say 2000-3000 lbs. I too have put a lot of miles on over the last 40 or so years on bikles that only had a rear brake and I seldom use my front brake now except as a hill holder or when I am in bumper to bumper traffic. But to compair a bike to a car is apples to oranges. While either one is not going to be classed totally unsafe, it less safe, perhaps not prudent is a good term. You have to drive defensivly on a bike or in a car that only has rear brakes.
I just re-read this whole thread and even reading between the lines I can not for the life of me see what you are describing?????????????? To the OP, those unmolested wheels are worth a ton to someone building a period race car. Sell em and get something that you can mount brakes on. PM DW as to what he did.
Muffler Man, I agree with you about how much better your car would look without front brakes and you could possibly get it to stop with rears only. After driving it a while, If you didn't wreck it, I think you would end up putting front breaks on it to make it more user friendly or get rid of it to keep from having to put front brakes on.
Beeno, we can't argue logically with the irrational folks. Lol Schwinn only has rear brakes too right?
I would believe that if you get in an accident with injuries and don't have front brakes, you would be in for a major law suit. Ago
My point is why has this board become so jaded. Why can't ppl just post a reply with a simple statment about ther opinion on a subject matter without make some smart remark about how your gonna hit a pole or don't drive behind me? Saying things like that come across as condasending to me if I am the only one that feels this way then I am sorry for the comosion. And the only reason I brought up my bobbed(and yes I call it a bobber) is not to compare a heavey car to a light bike but to compare the state of precaustion the is taken when risen a motorccle of that configuration is the same as that of a car with nofron brakes.
On an A with a SBC I would run front brakes. The car im building now WILL NOT have front brakes, but it is also much much smaller with a less powerful engine. My whole car is planned to be around the 1,000lb mark... hopefully.
I think your "point" is based on your own preconceived notions about the board and its members. The self-fulfilling prophecy that you are working on is a false definition you interpreted to be true from the beginning. This situation is evoking a new behaviour which makes the original false conception come 'true'. This specious validity of the self-fulfilling prophecy perpetuates a reign of error. For the prophet (flathead) will cite the actual course of events as proof that he was right from the very beginning. If you think you are about to enter a room full of assholes, and then act like everyone in the room is an asshole, tell everyone in the room that they are an asshole, guess what happens? Don't you have something more important to work on than a board full of jaded smartasses?
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