iv got 63 falcon and wanted to put the disc set up on it . i stared reading the different web sites and sal that the drums breaks have more stopping power , if this is true then why go to dis breaks.

No that isn't true at all. My God just drive the Falcon at 60 MPH and try to make a panic stop, the drums will disappear and leave you 20 MPH still to get rid of.

My standing comment of that period is how did those of us who were in high school and college then ever live thru 400 plus horsepower cars rolling on 2 ply, 4 ply rated, bias ply tires and drum brakes. By all rights, a whole generation should have been killed in their cars before we got to Vietnam.

Bogie

 

For sure.....I remember almost need a change of pants a number of times trying to stop my 55 Chevy.......... ain:

I think that disks from the early 70s Mavericks are a good fit......

 

drum brakes do work more efficiently ( mechanical advantage, rather than pure brake fluid preassure ), but there plagued with overheating and brake fade due to there design.... They will panic stop, but don't expect much else, they'll fade out down hills.I find them adaquate to a point, but if your going to be putting in a V8. go discs

 

Yep they will panic stop alright, You will be in a panic wondering if the thing is going to stop or not, And if they are not right you might end up in a ditch if you have to do a panic stop. But seriously i have seen drum brakes work ok but they are nothing compared to a disc setup IMO. When a set of drums are working they are not up to par with disc and once the drum brakes go bad change them to disc you can't go wrong you will have better stopping and better drive ability. I will change any ride i have that has drum brakes to disc no matter how new they are thats just me though. The best thing i have done to my 67 camaro was when i converted it to a disc set-up. JMO. But to each his own i guess. Cole

 

lincoln varsailles

see i was looking for a rear end and came across the lincoln varsailles rear end that is a disc rear end the forum that i was reading http//www.mustange monthly.com had an write up about these rear ends that the drum had more breaking power then the disc and, i thought well if the drums have more breaking power then why go disc

 

brakes

the real problem is the drum brakes on the falcon are too small for performance you will need when you increase horsepower... Years ago I put ford station wagon brakes on the front of my willys, the wagon brakes were a lot bigger than the original willys, they came off the wagon I used for the 9 " rear, drive shaft and trans hooked to a nail head buick. today an upgrade to discs is easier than upgrading to bigger drums. I would do the maverick-mustang ,granade etc ford family parts instead of going to a 4 bolt hub disc conversion.

 

disc vs drum.

most drum brakes installed on cars for the last 50 years are self energiging . once you push down on the pedal you get more breaking power than foot pedal force on the pedal.. the graph of braking force vs foot pedal is a curve, most disc brakes brakes graph closer to a straight line. disc brakes allow better cooling and less brake fade, a result of the design differences , 4 wheel disc's give a better brake feel. balancing a conversion to discs requires the right master cylinder, pedal ratio, a prop valve,... changing tire sizes affects brake balance .. things to think about.

 

iv got 63 falcon and wanted to put the disc set up on it . i stared reading the different web sites and sal that the drums breaks have more stopping power , if this is true then why go to dis breaks.

Right, and everything on the internet is true...

Ask yourself, if this statement really were true, why do Ferrari, Porsche, and every race car made use only disc brakes?

 

In defense of drum brakes, A Cobra with 4-wheel drum brakes did hold the record for 0 to 100 to 0 performance....That is until the Dodge Viper came along.

But, in general for all the reasons stated in previous posts, plus a few more, Discs are better and safer for everyday driving, IMO.

 

In defense of drum brakes, A Cobra with 4-wheel drum brakes did hold the record for 0 to 100 to 0 performance....That is until the Dodge Viper came along.

Please post a picture of a Cobra with drum brakes. You can't.

 

In defense of drum brakes, A Cobra with 4-wheel drum brakes...

Never had 'em. The original specs called for by Shelby was for 4-wheel disc brakes.

The rear disc brakes were to be inboard, these were dropped in favor for outboard brakes because of the heat generated by the inboard set-up heated the diff's oil seals to the point of failure. This was in 1962.

 

I guess if you are driving a dump truck then drum brakes are the ticket. Why do the nascars have disc brakes ? They only use what is the best ... :welcome:

 

My thoughts between drum brakes, and disc brakes.

Some people most likely base their opinion of drum brakes being superior to disc brakes, on their holding power when parked...parking brake applied.... They do hold better than the newer disc brake caliper mounted parking brake systems.

That being said; You can take a 10", 11"..........brake drum, as an example, and put an inside micrometer inside of it, with enough adjustment to hold it in, and pick up that brake drum. Have the inside micrometer at 6 & 12 o'clock positions. Now squeeze the brake drum with your hands at 3 & 9 o'clock. The inside micrometer will loosen and fall out.

I know, because I have done this, and I only weigh 140 pounds.

Imagine the brake pressure applied by the parking brake cable, to a hot brake drum, and imagine how out of round the brake drums have become. This alone will hold them tighter.

Once you start driving again, the brake shoes, and heat applied, will make the brake drums round again.

The disc brake caliper mounted parking brake systems cannot warp a rotor like this, or hold as well. Only the disc brake systems with a 'hat' style rotor, and a separate set of parking brake shoes inside, will hold as well.

Stephen

 

iv got 63 falcon and wanted to put the disc set up on it . i stared reading the different web sites and sal that the drums breaks have more stopping power , if this is true then why go to dis breaks.

I had a 69 Falcon Futura that had all drums as well. What a pig to try and stop that one in a hurry! It was great if you liked uncontrollable sliding! When I got my '72 Firebird I think it had disc and drum (?) but it was sooo much better for stopping.

My standing comment of that period is how did those of us who were in high school and college then ever live thru 400 plus horsepower cars rolling on 2 ply, 4 ply rated, bias ply tires and drum brakes. By all rights, a whole generation should have been killed in their cars before we got to Vietnam.

While that was a bit before my time I have the same sentiments...and all without wearing seat belts and little police enforcement of drinking and driving! :evil:
__________________________
rock crusher

 

Drums are good for 4-5 hard stops before fading. Millions of cars were built with drums and the drums served them very well. A set of drums matched to the car will stop it just as well as discs. Discs only advantage is their resistance to fade, but just how many hard stops do you make a day? I've driven hundreds of thousands of miles with drums and the only time I suffered fade was pulling a heavily loaded trailer with no trailer brakes ( the wire to the brakes broke). Even then, it was not a problem. The gotta have discs thing is just a part of the gotta have the latest and greatest thing. MO

 

....A Cobra with 4-wheel drum brakes....

Never had 'em.

post a picture of a Cobra with drum brakes.....

Oops. You guys are right. I'm wrong. That's what I get for believing what someone once told me without checking.

Sorry, my bad.

 

Drums are good for 4-5 hard stops before fading. Millions of cars were built with drums and the drums served them very well. A set of drums matched to the car will stop it just as well as discs. Discs only advantage is their resistance to fade, but just how many hard stops do you make a day? I've driven hundreds of thousands of miles with drums and the only time I suffered fade was pulling a heavily loaded trailer with no trailer brakes ( the wire to the brakes broke). Even then, it was not a problem. The gotta have discs thing is just a part of the gotta have the latest and greatest thing. MO

happened to me with my '65 Rambler American.. I never felt the braking inadaquate except this issue.. coming down a steep hill 1 day ( T intersection at the bottom of somewhat major cnty rd ).. for what ever reason, I wasn't thinking and didn't shift down into low and was just using brakes. as I felt them fade out, I did shift it down but I was still going a little too fast and the brakes were too far gone to do much... at the bottom, I could not stop. hitting the brakes did nothing. I coasted to a stop just at the line... the brakes were cool enough to make a normal stop just fine about 1/4 mile down the road at a diffrent intersection

 

happened to me with my '65 Rambler American.. I never felt the braking inadaquate except this issue.. coming down a steep hill 1 day ( T intersection at the bottom of somewhat major cnty rd ).. for what ever reason, I wasn't thinking and didn't shift down into low and was just using brakes. as I felt them fade out, I did shift it down but I was still going a little too fast and the brakes were too far gone to do much... at the bottom, I could not stop. hitting the brakes did nothing. I coasted to a stop just at the line... the brakes were cool enough to make a normal stop just fine about 1/4 mile down the road at a diffrent intersection

i had the very same problem in my 70 catalina it has disks up front was coming down a hill at 65 coming up on an intersection and blew a rear wheel cylinder n had fading with the disks almost didnt stop weather you have disks or drum you still risk fade

 

just try and stop after putting 1 front tire into a BIG puddle at 50 mph. than a panic stop,,SPIN,,,out of control..saftey is the biggest reason everyone does it,, not to look cool,,(can't see them any way) or just to spend a few bucks.. DO you think NASCAR still uses drums??? why not?? SAFTEY!!!

 

weather you have disks or drum you still risk fade

Yes, as brake friction material gets hot it usually becomes less effective (some metallic and ceramic linings excepted). The fundamental difference between drums and discs with respect to fade is the fact that drums apply the linings from the INSIDE. As the drum heats up, it expands, moving it away from the linings. As a rotor heats up and expands, it moves TOWARDS the linings.

 

fading brakes

I remember going from carson city nev up the hill driving a truck fully loaded . 4 hours up and 17 minutes back down empty. 40 years later forest fires shut down interstste 80 so we rerouted down that crazy road fully loaded. . the brakes were smoking when we got to the bottom but we knew what to expect ant were geared down.

 

Safety is exactly why i converted my camaro to disc brakes,My son When he was sixteen he wanted to drive my car to school, But the brakes where so bad it was just to dangerous, it pulled so hard under pressure it would throw you off the road, I knew i could replace all the old drum stuff , But i know there is better stopping and safer system and easier maintanice with disc set-up. JMO. Cole

 

You can build a drum brake system to near the safety point of a disc brake system, but it takes more work and money, or the right combination of parts. I put bigger 64 Rambler Classic brakes on my 61 Rambler American and it would stop as good as it did later with a disc brake upgrade. The drums never heated up enough that fade was a real issue, but there was some fade. I went from 9"x1.5" drums to 9"x2" with larger wheel cylinders too. All i did in the back was swap to the larger Classic rear wheel cylinders. Balanced everything out pretty good, and worked great! I still upgraded to discs on later 61-63 Americans, and don't recommend the drum setup because discs are so much easier. I just happened to have a rusted out 64 Classic handy...

 

You can build a drum brake system to near the safety point of a disc brake system, but it takes more work and money, or the right combination of parts. I put bigger 64 Rambler Classic brakes on my 61 Rambler American and it would stop as good as it did later with a disc brake upgrade. The drums never heated up enough that fade was a real issue, but there was some fade. I went from 9"x1.5" drums to 9"x2" with larger wheel cylinders too. All i did in the back was swap to the larger Classic rear wheel cylinders. Balanced everything out pretty good, and worked great! I still upgraded to discs on later 61-63 Americans, and don't recommend the drum setup because discs are so much easier. I just happened to have a rusted out 64 Classic handy...

I was planning to use the Chevy disc brake setup from a Blazer. The offroad guys do it all the time and claim the backing plate hole can be enlarged to fit over the 9" bearing and all new parts for $100.00 ...

 

I was planning to use the Chevy disc brake setup from a Blazer. The offroad guys do it all the time and claim the backing plate hole can be enlarged to fit over the 9" bearing and all new parts for $100.00 ...

Common in the circle track world too, Fredbaker :thumbup: