OK, drove over the mountains from Prescott to Jerome, AZ and when I got home the master cylinder was dry. No evidence of leak at the wheel cylinders, so it must be the master. Weeeelllll, I'd had the drums off and guess 50% front, 60% rear but have heard some weird grinding and squeeling from the rear (not a rock, its consistent), so figured on doing them no matter what. Decided screw it, let's put some serious brakes on. I had a '66 Caddy Calais two door HT and went all through the massive drum brakes on that beast. 3" wide shoes, 12" drums, TONS of brakes, right? Well, 3 turns into Oak Creek Canyon south of Flagstaff, they faded immediately and the limitations of drum brakes became glaringly apparent. Screw that, ordered a new booster and dual reservoir MC from Booster Dewey hisself, AND Scarebird's kit and all the components. Rotors with hubs, calipers, shoes, bearings, seals, hoses AND all new components (shoes, wheel cylinders, hardware kits) for the rears. I sure hope the drums are turnable or I might be putting disks on the rear as well. Can't seem to find new drums anywhere. Only question I have is…… WHAT COLOR DO I PAINT THE CALIPERS?!? I've got 15" Buick Road wheels on this LeSabre and I hope the calipers clear as I do NOT want to explain to the Financial Director of the World why I have to buy new 17's and bitchin' tires… Wish me luck, I'll take tons of pics and maybe do a (nother) write up. Hunter
Paint them a reddish brown, or no paint at all. Results the same. J/K, personally I'd paint them in a dark color. I don't think that the USS Le Sabre should be showing bright colors behind the wheels. Good move on the discs; as far as I'm concerned, ALL cars should have at least front disc brakes. You'll get two sides to that argument all day long, though.
On the disk side, I'm with you SteeveeDee. There's a GOOD reason they don't put drums on the front of ANYTHING anymore. Hell, I had a 1960 MGA that had disks on the front. The BRITISH were doing it years before Detroit fercryingoutloud. End of argument as far as I'm concerned. Besides, that last ride over the mountains cured me of the urge to re-do the drums up front... I was kidding about shocking pink on the calipers. Gloss black it is. Thanks for the reply. Hunter
As I understand it drum brakes are very good BUT they don't dissipate heat fast enough and the end result going over a mountain is overheated non functional brakes. That in a nutshell is the major selling point for discs. I'm sticking with my drums (all rebuilt) for now but one good mountain one day might change my mind.
