coupe update - dumped with mechanical brakes!

Here is the last thread on the coupe in case you missed it.
http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=521560

It's a bone-stocker but I wanted to go late 1930's traditional hot rod. Yes, that meant keeping the mechanical brakes. I'm not too worried though because I won't be braking any speed limits with the banger and I rebuild the brakes internally.

I wanted the car low, but didn't think it was possible to do so with mechanical brakes until I found this photo on here (sorry, i saved it months ago and don't know who to credit):



After months of scouring, I found a set of '32 spindles and kingpins as well as a set of '32 perches to go on my newly dropped axle. But, when I assembled it all it ended up looking like this:



Finally, with a little heating and bending I got it to clear. I figured it was safer to heat it and bend it than to cut it and weld it:



The final front end looked pretty damn good in my opinion:



I used a reversed eye spring and coupled it with a set of '35 16's wrapped in 6.00's and 7.00's (so I wouldn't have too much rubber rake) and finished it with a late Model T spring with three leaves removed. I think I done good ...





It sure looks better than this:



So, that's my traditional coupe update. Now if I can find a relatively inexpensive pair of 81's it'll be back on the road ...

 

Looks good, get some better pics though

That first pic is Elrod's I belive

 

Super Bitchin'


Tim

 

time for a new set of underwear.
​

 

Totally kool bud

 

looks really good

 

Mechanical brakes? Ever come down off a freeway ramp with them?

 

As a kid i had a Model A with mech barkes........youy might as well drag your feet out the door going down a hill.......advise you re-think for safety's sake

 

a properly restored mechanical brake will stop a stock powered car fine.

 

i drove my bone stock A few weeks ago , and really, the brakes aren't that bad. They are totally rebuild and adjusted. Nice thing about mech. brakes is you always got brakes!

 

i've driven them with properly adjusted brakes and they stop fine. i won't be racing around in it and plan to add equalizers as soon as i can afford them. don't forget, they ran mechanical brakes without a problem for decades before juice brakes.

 

U bastrads! I'm tired of all these coupe builds! Someone give me some money(that my wife doesn't find out about), so I can update my 300 yr old coupe build thread!
Lookin good bro!

 

the times were different when mechanical brakes were the norm. Now there is more traffic, road rage etc.

Brakes arent something you "get around to" doing when you can afford it.

Please dont follow me

 

Nice workmanship, but ... why not put on hydraulics? I was not around back in the late thirties, the era you are building to, but I would guess that by then, it would have been more likely that the hot rod would have hydraulics than it would be likely to have that beautifully dropped axle and reversed spring eyes. I may be wrong about that, but mechanical brakes driving in a dominantly disc brake world are in my opinion unsafe, even if they have adequate stopping power in non emergency situations.

 

X2

Frank

 

X3 If youre gonna run a dropped axle (that im pretty sure wasnt avalible till the late 40's early 50's) might as well be safe with the hydro brakes its no longer a 30's rod anyway. IMHO

 

My mechanical brakes stop as good as any juice drum brake. Drum brakes suck if you drive like a asshole when they get hot you have no brakes. Drive it like your on a bike and every old lady is out to get you and you will be fine

That said when I put a dropped axle in my car I will be running juice brakes

 

I'm pretty sure that a stock model A stops better than a huge 1979 Ford truck with 44 inch tires. Even though the ford has disks......

 

I liked this. I have had A's mechanical and juice brakes and there is no much difference when both are done properly. The mechs will lock the wheels quite easily on sudden stop. Keep 'em always adjusted properly and you'll be fine. The floater kits available sure improve the shoe contact. You may also add some cooling holes or scoops.

As mentioned before the heat fades the brakes and then the heavy foot doesn't help but even juices aren't not that good. Later model heavy drum brake cars suck too. Booster helps a bit.

On this avatar car here I used mechs few years no sweat and of course it's better now with Wilson Welding aluminum fronts and MT Car products Bendix rears with late 60's GM dual master cylinder. Good pedal feel and stops.

Take a look on this site if the mechanical brake improvement interests.
http://www.flatheadted.com/modules.php?name=ShoppingSystem&op=product&prodcode=DEADSTOPDELUXE

 

well I am glad theres a picture of it, so i know what it looks like and so i know not to be in front of you.. should be fine.. after all they worked right back in the day

 

Looks good.
I have a good friend who works on nothing but stock A's. His 31 coupe will lock up the wheels no problem. If you build them right, they will stop.

 

Bet not!!!!

 

That one sits about perfect.

You need to be sure that your clevis (SP pural) and clevis pins are always up in shape and that your E brake is always functional and you'll be fine. The main thing that fails on mechanicals is the clevis or clevis pin.

Anyway sits perfect. I like it.

 

safety of steel, from pedal to wheel!

 

The Ford juice brakes up until '48 that had the solid anchor point (non self energizing) were no better than the mechanicals IF the mechanical brakes are up in good shape and adjusted properly. All of the old weak mechanical brake stories come from when people would drag out an old ford that hadn't run for 30 years and try to drive it without restoring the brake system. In fact, alot of old timers considered the mechanical brakes to be safer because of the fact that with the single pot master cylinder if a hose blows you have nothing. Oh, and one other thing, all of this pertains to the ROD actuated brakes. The cable operated system was bad news.

 

^^^Damn right cable operated mechanical brakes are bad news as I found on my '33 Willys - how the hell do you get all four cables to stretch the same amount at the same time consistently?

 

i'm willing to bet most of the people saying they don't work have never driven a car with properly adjusted mechanical brakes. i don't want to really get into an argument, but i was driving the car around with them before i dumped it and they work just fine. in fact, they stop better than a lot of the customer cars i have driven with improperly adjusted juice brakes!
as far as the period goes, i found pictures of heated and dropped axles dating back to the 1920's, so i know they were available. i'm not going full hot rod on it, so i like the detail of the them.

 

I'm somewhat old but for some reason never got to drive an A with stock brakes. My real old friends who have stock A's have always told me that they can lock all four tires at will. ...so I won't argue with you, ...or them

 

Damn that shop looks familiar....car looks better in person than your shitty pics, I think it sits perfect.

 

yep. IF properly adjusted though, you're right. quite a different "feel" but they will lock right up.