[Shop-talk] 1965 Mustang Brakes
John Miller
jem at milleredp.com
Sun Jun 26 11:30:05 MDT 2011
> Ok, crappy answer. But as I've said here before, I really don't get into
> old cars. I have been impressed with some of the resto-mod stuff where
> they've updated all the mechanicals. And the new V8s Ford and GM are
> turning out? Wow! How'd they do that? You're supposed to have to ditch
> the push rods to make that happen?!
Not hardly; the pushrod GM LS-family motors are in general more compact,
more powerful, cheaper to build, and comparable on BSFC to their OHC
Ford counterparts.
> Sounds like something better to bounce off a Mustang list. Popular as
> Stang's are, there's probably something out there with a list of good
> parts & upgrades, or info on what's easy to grab from the junkyard for
> an update?
The 10in Mustang/Falcon/etc. drum brakes are pretty bad, in my
experience, I recall in my younger days mine would not have brakes for
half a block after driving through a puddle.
That said, brake lining materials have come a long, long way in the past
forty years. Old-fashioned organic lining material worked well when
cold but barely worked at all when hot; many older-style metallic
linings worked very well hot but barely worked at all when cold (as well
as being remarkably noisy.)
You can do better these days. Call Porterfield
(http://www.porterfield-brakes.com) and tell them what you need - I've
had good luck with their R-4S lining material having good 'bite' when
cold (it's also a very good street disc pad) and they may have other
options for you as well (they do a lot of drum-brake linings for vintage
racers, etc.)
John.
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