How hard should it be to stop the car with manual drum brakes?

Grizzly (10/15/2011)

Nate,

I'm wondering if you have increased the amount of pressure require as you now have two pistons ie, one for each circuit, that you have doubled the pressure required to stop because you have effectively halved your hydraulic ratio.

I'd do an internet search and try to find out how to calculate hydraulic ratios. I know that the lever ratio's used for your ford are high for power assisted but are low for racing setups that do not use boosters. I checked this out before upgrading my brakes.

My ex wife used to drive my 56 with non assisted drum brakes and she could barley reach the pedals. she used to wriggle forward to floor the accelerator. She only complained about the steering. (and everything else in life) I found that the car braked well with drums even better that some 70's era cars with power disks. the pedal was never hard although it sometimes needed some muscle to stop quickly.

You may have made a mistake. Personally I would have gone with one of old irsh daves master booster setup there are plenty of posts on these including a current one in technical. For $170 do yourself a favor and upgrade your brakes.

cheers

Warren

Nate, here are some random thoughts i have re your brakes and may not apply to your layout. On some customlines there is a little short rubber brake hose between orig m/cyl and metal brake line, if there, it could be closing on application, restricting flow, but unlikely if you have replumbed to dual circuit m/cyl. OR if using old orig shoes, they could be hardened up now and reccommend going to new relined shoes with current material as mentioned/ is there a pic of the m/cyl and plumbing as it may help. it seems strange 6' or 5' that you have to apply so much pressure for little result. OR Is the rear brake hose clear, they often get hard or soft and can restrict flow to rears and haveing front do all the work. I recently had lincoln brakes pull to left and from expeirence thought the RH side is not working and WAS as i thought blocked RHF brake hose, changed it and 100% perfect.

Keep up your progress.

yyyy

AussieBill YYYY Forever Y Block YYYY

Down Under, Australia

Author	Message
Jeff	Posted 14 Years Ago
Supercharged Group: Forum Members Last Active: Last Year Posts: 121, Visits: 1.6K	One item that may have been overlooked is the brake lining material. With harder brake material the linings last but braking performance is sacrificed. I live in the Vancouver WA/Portland OR area and have access to a great business called Ott's Friction Supply. They turn drums, reline shoes and arc the shoes to the drums. They have options as to the friction material being used. My two bits. Jeff Jeff Petersen
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aussiebill	Posted 14 Years Ago
Supercharged Group: Forum Members Last Active: 5 Years Ago Posts: 1.8K, Visits: 11.4K	Grizzly (10/15/2011) Nate, I'm wondering if you have increased the amount of pressure require as you now have two pistons ie, one for each circuit, that you have doubled the pressure required to stop because you have effectively halved your hydraulic ratio. I'd do an internet search and try to find out how to calculate hydraulic ratios. I know that the lever ratio's used for your ford are high for power assisted but are low for racing setups that do not use boosters. I checked this out before upgrading my brakes. My ex wife used to drive my 56 with non assisted drum brakes and she could barley reach the pedals. she used to wriggle forward to floor the accelerator. She only complained about the steering. (and everything else in life) I found that the car braked well with drums even better that some 70's era cars with power disks. the pedal was never hard although it sometimes needed some muscle to stop quickly. You may have made a mistake. Personally I would have gone with one of old irsh daves master booster setup there are plenty of posts on these including a current one in technical. For $170 do yourself a favor and upgrade your brakes. cheers Warren Nate, here are some random thoughts i have re your brakes and may not apply to your layout. On some customlines there is a little short rubber brake hose between orig m/cyl and metal brake line, if there, it could be closing on application, restricting flow, but unlikely if you have replumbed to dual circuit m/cyl. OR if using old orig shoes, they could be hardened up now and reccommend going to new relined shoes with current material as mentioned/ is there a pic of the m/cyl and plumbing as it may help. it seems strange 6' or 5' that you have to apply so much pressure for little result. OR Is the rear brake hose clear, they often get hard or soft and can restrict flow to rears and haveing front do all the work. I recently had lincoln brakes pull to left and from expeirence thought the RH side is not working and WAS as i thought blocked RHF brake hose, changed it and 100% perfect. Keep up your progress. yyyy AussieBill YYYY Forever Y Block YYYY Down Under, Australia
	Reply Quote
ejstith	Posted 14 Years Ago
Supercharged Group: Forum Members Last Active: 11 Years Ago Posts: 494, Visits: 1.0K	I have manual drum brakes & the original master cylinder & it stops fine. I mean it's not power brakes but maybe I just revert to "back in the day" when they were all like that... *Doing Fords for 45 years. '56 Customline Victoria* E.J. in Havana FL
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How hard should it be to stop the car with manual drum brakes?

How hard should it be to stop the car with manual drum brakes?

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