I decided to take the 66 out for a ride tonight, hopped on the Garden State Parkway to give her some highway time. As I'm cruising along in the right lane, a stupid f***ing ricer that wants to weave through traffic cuts me off and I hit the brakes. The brakes felt fine at first, but then felt like they were sinking. The ricer continued on its way, I would have pursued if I hadn't realized I was driving an all steel projectile with no brakes at 60 MPH. I thought there might be enough left for me to get off at the next exit if I downshifted, so I got off and slowed to about 20 MPH when the brakes completely gave out. There was no e-brake on the car when I bought it so that was out of the question, and pumping the brakes was completely useless. I was heading towards a 2-lane road with heavy traffic moving both directions, so I swerved around the stopped cars at the traffic light and took the grass, narrowly missing 2 signs. I managed to cut in between 2 cars travelling down the road (RT 27 in Metuchen) and tried hopping the curb, which slowed me down to about 15 MPH since I was pretty much going downhill at the time and quickly approaching a red light. I swerved into a gas station on the corner, made 2 laps around the pumps with the tires squealing trying to scrub off speed which helped but not much, and had to hit the concrete wall of the station to stop. I was at least smart enough to kinda sideswipe the wall, and a concrete block sticking out of the wall took hold of the fender eyebrow and stopped me. The station owner ran up to me thinking I was a crazy drunk, and after I explained that the car had no brakes at all his jaw dropped. No damage to the wall, but I killed my right fender and dented the bumper up with some scrapes along the edge of it. I just got the car towed home and checked it out, the rear line on the axle blew which let all the fluid run out. Now I need to fix the brakes and try to find another rust-free right fender, and a new bumper. The bumper doesn't bother me too much as I needed a new one anyway, but I think I'm in for an experience trying to find a fender:af: Looks like I have to sell off parts that I was keeping for later to fix the damage now. I'm done venting now....
Wow Artie Thats a scary situation. my 66 has the original single master system and i had talked myself into leaving it stock but after reading what happened to you i think i'm going to say screw the stock look and at the very least i'll go with a 67 dual setup and quite possibly a 69-72 disc brake assy. i hope you have success finding a fender and bumper. Bob
Glad you are OK Artie. Asking you how much you must hate ricers now would certianly be a dumb question I guess.:Brow: You should consider upgrading to a dual master cylinder hydraulic system. I know how you must have felt.......once in my old '66 about 25 years ago, I popped a front brake hose and was heading straight toward a semi. My parking brake worked though, as I fishtailed toward the thing stopping just in the nick of time. Brake lines should be made of stainless in the first place. I hope you have some good luck finding a fender. :bglasses:
Thankfully you're OK Artie. Cars can be fixed! That really sucks though. Thats just another nail in the coffin for single reservoir systems in my book. It happened to me once a long time ago in my 63 Impala, and I swore that day I would never have a single reservoir system again..... and I DON'T. The upgrade is simple and cheap enough, that it's just not worth not doing it.
At least your ok and you didn't hit anything else or anybody. Cars can be replaced. Good luck with the fender
I will be looking into the dual master upgrade next...I REFUSE to drive this car with a single system again! Even more aggravating is that I have to sell off some of my "stash" of rare parts to pay for the extra stuff I need now. Maybe I can find someone who will trade the brake and body parts I need in exchange for my '67 3-speed auto console and shifter with tacho No: You guys are right, I didn't get hurt and didn't hurt anyone else so maybe it wasn't so bad. It does make me wonder what could have happened if this happened while approaching a school zone, or if somebody blew a stop sign. Too much risk for me to even think about right now. I'm in the middle of a 12-pack now trying to relax, then tomorrow I can start hunting for parts:rant: I can honestly say that this Buick is probably the toughest car I ever owned...the gap between the fender and the door is still exactly the same even after the fender stopped the car. If I hit a wall in my vette as hard as I did in the Buick it would probably be totalled...
Artie: Glad you're safe. Put in that dual master; did it to my '65 Sportwagon last year, it's easy and cheap and all new parts are orderable from a brake supplier, no need to scrounge. -Steve
Arte: Email me direct. I have what you need if we can figure a way to get it to you and I am more than willing to do some trading. Mike
Artie glad it didn't turn out any worse. While your under there get that emergency brake working too. Steve could you post what you used to convert to a dual? Sounds like it would be a wise investment for me too. These all manual drum brakes can really get you attention at times. Artie there are two 66 Skylark verts for sale in the Syracuse, NY area. Rust free not a chance they have been sitting in a field for *%$%^'s but if your interested they are posted on the BCA website.
ou: :ball: I just GAVE a complete conversion kit to a local friend for his 66 LeMans last weekend. He's about ready to get the car on the road with a hopped up 400 in it, and I bugged and bugged him for months to upgrade his brake system, and finally offered to give him the parts for free because I felt so strongly about the danger of the single reservoir system.
Artie, Glad you got that thing stopped safely! Sounds like you kept a cool head in a very bad situation... I've had some scary situations with those stock brakes on my '66's...My drivers are upgraded to disk setups. Highly recommended. I did a 67 master cylinder swap years ago. You'll need a '67-up junction block, a bushing for it....(the '66 rear brake line is smaller dia than the '67), and the proper pedal-to-master cyl rod. I can loan you a fender if you get in a bind for one...
Artie, I had chest pains, everytime I had to stop quick with my manual brake, 4 wheel drum setup. you never knew which way you were going to go. Finally, I did the p-s-t disc brake (power) conversion, and now its great. best thousand bucks I've spent on the car so far. I do have a front bumper (extra) but no fenders. good luck. Frank
Doug: I had a buddy at Midas do the work for me, but supplied him the master; the only other stuff used was generic brakeline (he supplied) and a few little brass fittings, for which he shagged me to NAPA. I got the master from: Brake and Equipment Warehouse, Inc. 455 Harrison St., NE Minneapolis, MN 55413 (612) 378-3141/1-800-233-4053 I don't remember what model the unit was for, but seems to me it was maybe a '67 Impala. Just walked right up to their counter and told them what I wanted to do and in which model ('65 Sportwagon 300 4v ST300 power brakes) and they fished it out of their books. My invoice dated 5/08/03 shows part number MC36233, for which they charged me $55.11 plus tax. I also bought a proportioning valve, but ended up not needing it and returning it. My Midas buddy just plumbed it all up and it worked like a charm. Good luck! -Steve.
Artie, I'm glad you're okay, and amazed that you had been able to keep such a cool head in such a dangerous situation, as an aside though, when you where in the gas satation why didn't you just throw it into park?
I tried that, the parking brake pawl in my st-300 just wasn't up to the task. It didn't catch, I only heard the sickening sound of it trying to. It did catch to prevent me from bouncing back off the wall, however. I have power drums all around, with a manual setup I don't think the line would have blown because of lower line pressures. I really think it's time to upgrade to a front disc setup, especially with the high population of people in NJ that shouldn't have a license or even be behind the wheel of a car. I don't think I'll have to worry about adapters to reduce the lines, I'll just run new larger lines from front to rear. I do have a lift to do all the work on, and will probably throw in the 8.2 posi rear I've got in my '66 Lark. I saw the conversion from PST, but there's others out there and at this point I would rather just have whatever is the best stopping setup out there. Keep in mind that I will be racing this car every weekend throughout the season and not having brakes after going through the traps would be catastrophic to say the least. Who's got recommendations for the BEST stopping setup? Thanks
Whew, sorry to hear about that... I had this happen in my 67 about a week after I got it. There's a helpful light on the dash that comes up JUST when your brakes are completely shot... it might as well just be a little picture of a crashed car! Go wih the dual master cyl at the minimum, and get the parking brake fixed!
Guys, I've got the same fear of loss of braking with my LeSabre. Is it really as simple as getting a 1967 Master Cylinder, adapting the rear line to come straight to the cylinder, and then manufacturing a line to go from the cylinder to the front distribution block? Are they anymore splitters, prop valves, metering, etc, involved?
I had the same thing happen to me when I owned a 58 Plymouth Belvedere. Luckily I was on a sidestreet and was moving slow enough to use the parking brake to stop (these cars have the parking brake drum on the trans tailstock and they are useless at high speeds!). I converted to a dual setup and felt much safer each time I went out. BTW, did you know a dual MC from a 69 Roadrunner was a direct bolt on?! Todd
You need a proportioning valve. Any factory dual master system that I have ever seen has one. Basically, it's purpose is to prevent unequal pressure between the front and rear brakes, that would cause nosedives or rear wheel lockups upon application of the brakes. This valve also acts as a switch to light the dash light when unequal pressures are present. Like if the master is bad or if you pop a brake hose. Even air in the lines will make the light come on. You just have to connect the single wire to the parking brake switch to connect it.:bglasses:
