Thread: Brake question for Don(or anyone)

Tweet

I'm considering changing the front brakes on my T. I have the Volare rotor/GM caliper setup now. The main reason for the change is because it's big, VERY heavy and ugly.

My choices so far are:

Wilwood Black Gold disc brake kit which is actually the cheapest.

39 Lincoln self energizing drum brakes. This will force a change in front rims due to the bolt pattern, but look more old school.

Theoretically the discs should give better stopping and fade resistance, but the drums are pretty big(12") and should give reduced pedal pressure due to the self energizing feature.

I know Don has driven T's with both types. How do they compare in stopping power,contol and ride?

Looking for opinions and suggestions. Other options?

Mike

Really depends a lot on the look you are after Mike. Since I like old timey looking cars, I always use the old standby, 40-48 Ford brakes with Buick drums. Dan is going to use the Wilson Welding '39 Lincoln front brakes on his '29 and they offer some real advantages like modern components and being self energizing.

As for stopping power, some will dispute this, but my old Ford brakes stop on the proverbial dime. Maybe the fact that the cars are light have something to do with it, or maybe that I have all new components and have them adjusted right enters into it, but they do. They take very little pedal pressure, and if I really need to stop they do it like right now.

We recently removed the GM discs from Don's T and replaced them with the Wilwood discs, and that made a tremendous difference in the handling of his car. The GM discs seemed to have a little more stopping power, but weighed like 3 times as much. I think all that weight on the front end was too much rotating mass and was contributing to the death wobble problem he was having. Total Performance told us we wouldn't like the GM brakes, and they were right. I know lots of guys run them and have good luck, but we didn't.

The only thing Don noticed is that the car now wants to pull through a red light when sitting there with it in gear. It could be his radical cam and not enough torque convertor (we have to pull the tranny out to go back to TCI so we may bump up from 2800 to 3200 while we are at it) The GM discs seemed to hold it ok, but the Wilwoods don't seem to have that same ability. The Wilwoods do look a lot cleaner and weigh hardly anything at all, so unsprung weight is way down. They also narrowed his front track by about one inch per side.

Hope this info helps you make a decision.

Don

Thanks Don

Good info on the Wilwoods. I would have guessed they had killer holding power. Go figure!

I'm leaning toward the 39 Lincolns for the look. Wish I could find some decent Buick drums. They sure do look cool. I don't have access to a decent sized lathe anymore, so I would need a set that had already been converted to the Ford setup($$$$$ ).

The SoCal fake setup looks OK(just OK) but it's WAY out of my price range and is just a Wilwood setup.

Is your son going to run Buick drums?

Thanks again.

Mike

Yeah, he is going with a set I had squirrelled away and gave to him. Since the hubs that mount on the outside are hard to find, he bought a set of hubs from Wilson Welding. They really make it easy and work well. If you go that route, buy the little $ 5.00 jig they sell to drill the proper bolt pattern into the Buick drums. We didn't know they existed at the time and a local machine shop ripped us to the tune of $ 170 to drill 10 holes.

I have to find and buy a set of Buick drums now to redo my '27. I used the drums off of it to use on my '23. Darned things have gotten crazy on price......I paid $ 50 for one set and $ 25 for the other set years ago, now they are like $400 a set if you can find ones with no broken fins and with the ability to be turned.

BTW, we went with the two puck Wilwoods on the recommendation of Speedway. I think the four puck might have more stopping power, but they said on a light T it was overkill, so we didn't get them. Maybe we should have.

Don

I saw those hubs for sale at Thompson's Garage. Glad you told me about the jig. $170 does sound pretty high for drilling the drums.

I called Wilson's Welding about the Buick drum repros they're supposed to be working on, but they aren't ready yet.

Thompson's has a kit that has everything to add Lincoln brakes(drums, hubs everything). The 46 drum brake stuff I already have is pretty much shot! Might be able to salvage the hubs.

Looks like anything that resembles a "budget" on this project has pretty much disappeared!

Mike

Wilson Welding stuff is all top notch, but for some reason they have been promising to have the Buick drum reproductions out for several years now. I think the problem is finding someone or some way to bond the steel liner to the aluminum drum, at least that is what I think they told me one time.

If you are a member of the HAMB you can use the Alliance discount through one of their vendors to save maybe 10% or so. Dan has saved the $ 50 fee for the membership 40 times over I bet.

Don

Well the deed is done!

I'm getting the Lincoln brake kit from Thompson's. They use Wilson's Welding backing plates.

Of course 2 new wheels with the correct bolt pattern are on the way too.

Looks like I've got a few parts to sell!

You know with all the parts I have laying around I bet I could put a cheap car together........................

Mike