One more disc brake conversion post.

[rikubot]

I look forward to it! That write up on the grill was great. Bookmarked for sure. And of course it came out better than new. I'm afraid to take mine out and see all the broken tabs but your guide will be a sweet reference. When I was about 14 I did a small repair on mine while my car was out of commission. It's still holding up, by the grace of God haha.

I've decided just to do a new booster for my drums for a couple reasons: money, the price started shootin up a little too fast. And 2, I kinda want to see how well these drums work with a good booster. I think it's the last piece of the puzzle as far as getting my braking a bit better.

Sorry guys that are curiously waiting for info on the swap! I really am torn in a few different directions. As of right now, all I have is a used disc master, which I'm eerie to use because I've read horror stories of failed masters. I read that you should buy them new...

Anyway, I would love to still hear everyone's thoughts and advice as I do plan on doing it this summer.

[b5blue]

  New disk masters are no big deal to get and not costly. (If not going for 100 point resto.) Drums will work fine boosted or not, I ran many miles on mine that way. I went out of my way to install 11 3/4 factory disk, an aspect that delayed the swap many years.
  Things to consider from what I learned are how deep is the brake repair going to go? Replacing lines and hoses? How good are the front drums/hubs/spindles? I was hesitant to give up boost till the 2nd booster died. From info here I was encouraged and found boost not really needed. I've run drum not boosted by just swapping out the Z bar stuff to an adjustable push rod and changing the master backing plate. Later swapped to disk with new (not rebuilt.) master and installed all new lines.
  Here is my advise, if just refreshing drums linings (minimal stuff.) swap to manual as master is same. If doing a big overhaul with front end bushings and lines/hoses/ball joints or whatever swap to modest price disks during the process and cost is next to nothing as your replacing much with same labor in the end. Save the Z bar stuff under the dash and LATER...if you miss the super sensitive boosted brake you can easy add it back.
  It's easy to get lost in options for the swap, there is so much you can do so many ways. I waited till doing front end work anyway and needed overhaul of entire brake system before hitting all of it at one time. I swapped to disk about a year ago with ditching boost the year before and now don't even notice the changes. (The booster costs about as much as the disk swap.)   

[c00nhunterjoe]

Having a booster will not make the drums stop any more then not having it. The master cylinder will put out the same pressure either way.

[b5blue]

Right.    It's the drums ability to handle high load stopping repeatedly that degrades. Otherwise in good condition they work well generally for just cruising. 

[Mike DC]

 
I've driven with manual drums lots of times.  It works fine but I never liked it.  Give me power-assisted brakes any day. 

[Mopar Nut]

I've driven with manual drums lots of times.  It works fine but I never liked it.  Give me power-assisted brakes any day. 

[rikubot]

Keep this thread going, guys. Lotta good stuff going on and I love hearing everyone's opinions.

[c00nhunterjoe]

Runs 9.90 @ 155mph 3 seconds on the throttle stop, capable of 8.0s over 160mph and has manual brakes using the mc below.
http://m.summitracing.com/parts/str-b3359ta



Runs 10.20s with the same manual brake setup

[rikubot]

Looks like you've built a monster. Drums or disc on that thing?

[c00nhunterjoe]

Father in law's cars. Discs.

[rikubot]

Cool, I figured it was. Last night i ordered a power booster remanufactued off eBay just to get me stopping better for now. It seems incredibly east to install, am I correct in assuming this? First warm day, I gotta throw some paint on it and slap in my freshened up gauge cluster. Colorado is killin my car buzz as of late 

[Dino]

Yes it's very easy to install...as long as you don't have a dash in your car.   

The top nuts, at least one of them, are a bear to get to but with the cluster out it'll be easy enough.   

[rikubot]

Thanks for the heads up, Dino. With my luck, I'd have installed the cluster before the booster. So you said I should paint the booster and brake stuff black?

[Dino]

That's how the factory did it.  I think it was a semi gloss black.  That's for disc brake boosters and mc' though.  If you have a drum booster it's cadmium yellow and  the mc's were natural/grey with a cadmium cover.

There's some pics on the site here.  Eastwood sells a 3 stage paint kit to replicate the zinc look.

[rikubot]

Dang, I didn't know they had different colors for disc and drum. Is zinc coating a thing? Sounds expensive. I'm gonna look into that cadmium and three part paint process.

[Dino]

You could have the parts plated but I have no clue what it costs.  You can also buy a kit to plate the parts yourself, Eastwood among others sells this for around $75 if I recall.  This is the 3 part paint system.  It's not the same as plating but if you're good with paint you can have a very nice finish.

http://www.eastwood.com/eastwood-golden-cad-system.html

For smaller parts, like the vacuum can fitting, I use a mix of Duplicolor Metalcast yellow and a few very light dustings of gold.  I wouldn't try that on bigger parts though but it works great on bolts.  I did the horn bracket bolts this way as well.

[rikubot]

It's like second Christmas when you post photos. Looks great. I'll probably end up doing that Eastwood process. I think it looks really cool. Only think I don't like is the raw stuff because humidity will eventually brown it back out after you blast it. What to you use for bare metal simulation?

[Dino]

You mean the natural cast iron on the mc?  Eastwood sells a cast iron grey for mc's which is brake fluid resistant.  Give it a few thin coats of that and you're set.

[rikubot]

I'm having troubles posting pics again...

[Dino]

If they are larger than 22kb resize them here.  http://webresizer.com/resizer/

Next to 'new size' give them a width of 1280 and see if it's good, if it's still above 200kb then try 1024.  Make sure you give it an original name. 

[rikubot]

Damn I don't know how to rename files on the iPad. I am somewhat computer saavy EXCEPT when it comes to this site haha. Keeps telling "same file name"... I'll fix it when I get on my desktop. It's just a firewall with a real fresh brake setup. Kinda looks gold where it should be zinc. My engine bay is real ugly right now and I'm trying to think of some easy ways to pretty it up. I have M/T valve covers and an aftermarket air cleaner, and I think I wanna go back to the factory looking stuff. Do you have pics of your motor on here?

[Dino]

Nothing you want to see.   

The engine looked horrible, lots of paint missing.  It's currently bare with the heads off.  It'll look stock when I'm done with it.

There's no easy way to make the engine bay look clean.  If the paint's messed up then a respray is pretty much mandatory.  No bolt on pieces will make it look better, but that's my opinion.  I wanted an easier way to make my bay look better as well but there's only one way to do this.  Pull everything out and start scrubbing!

[Dino]

Nothing you want to see.   

The engine looked horrible, lots of paint missing.  It's currently bare with the heads off.  It'll look stock when I'm done with it.

There's no easy way to make the engine bay look clean.  If the paint's messed up then a respray is pretty much mandatory.  No bolt on pieces will make it look better, but that's my opinion.  I wanted an easier way to make my bay look better as well but there's only one way to do this.  Pull everything out and start scrubbing!

[rikubot]

Yes it's very easy to install...as long as you don't have a dash in your car.  

The top nuts, at least one of them, are a bear to get to but with the cluster out it'll be easy enough.  

And tips on how to get the bolt off the linkage on the rod that comes out of the booster?

[Dino]

Why yes I do.  You take that particular bolt out when the booster is on your bench.  Remove only the bolt that holds the linkage to the pedal and remove the booster with the linkage attached.