Need advice, Brake system dilema......

[69chargerboy]

I just had my 440ci and 727 trans rebuilt and I want to put it in my 68 Coronet 440 which have manual drum brakes. Will the car ever stop with all that weight in the front? Or would it be wise to invest into a single diaphragm power brake booster, or disc brake set-up? I've never driven a big-block car with manual drum brakes before. Any suggestions?

[BRS]

Most Mopars during those years came with manual drum brakes. The car will stop fine......just not as good as the new cars with 4 wheel discs and ABS. You can, without much trouble, change to a power setup with a disc conversion on the front. That will allow the car to stop a lot better but it will lighten up your wallet. The other thing you have to think about when putting a power setup on is the vacuum situation on your engine. If your running a big cam the engine might not produce enough vacuum to activate the booster. So now you will have to install a vacuum pump ($200.00 - $300.00 for an electric pump).

If your using the car as a daily driver in the city I would spend the money on a front conversion kit. If your just going cruising once in a while then keep the drums.

[myk]

I've never driven a big-block car with manual drum brakes before. Any suggestions?

I suggest that if you ever want to stand a chance in hell of stopping that thing "when" and "where" you need to then upgrade to power discs. 

You've put all of this money into the drivetrain, now it's time to update and improve the other areas of the car also.  The bottom line is that non-power drum brakes are primitive, unsafe and do not belong on today's roads...

[Mike DC]

 
The original drum brakes are tolerable on low-traffic rural roads.  Tolerable.  But I find the old 4-wheel drums to be absolutely scary in modern suburbia. 


It's not that you or I can't handle a 4-wheel-drum car safely. (We both probably can.)  The problem is the OTHER idiots out there basically set the tone of the starting & stopping on most jammed-up modern roads no matter how safely we'd rather be doing it.  And they've all spent the last 25 years driving power-assisted discs.  A lot of modern drivers are using 2/3rds of their car's entire stopping power NORMALLY just out of daily frustration.
 
 

[tuckyman]

It isn't that hard to change to reliable Mopar parts.  I have several conversions using the F body spindles with great results. Then you can hit the brakes and not worry about which way you are going.