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Brake and wheel upgrade issues, 1960 American

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tomj View Drop Down
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote tomj Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Topic: Brake and wheel upgrade issues, 1960 American
    Posted: Jan/11/2022 at 12:31am
I'd asked about wheel sizes but I was making some bad assumptions so I thought I'd lay out the whole problem and see if anyone has suggestions...

I have a 1960 American wagon, pretty much dead stock, but a '65 195.6 OHV and '62 M35 automatic. Everything else is stock including the 9 x 2 drum brakes.


My top priority is to retain AMC wheels that are 15" (I have 28" tall tires to make the gearing work) and also top priority is to keep the AMC dog dish hup caps. I always end up compromising this and always regret it. IN THIS CASE I have two Rambler, one Nash, and one Hudson hubcap, all four identical except the letter in the center! R, N, H! I'm not giving this up!!!

I made the 9 x 2 drums work because they were decently maintained and I had lots of more pressing needs. I figured I'd put Scarebird disc setup on it "later" (spring 2022). But after 3, 4 months of driving on them including heavy rain, I'm finding the 9 x 2 manual drums to be adequate, so I'm no longer assuming I need to do the Scarebird conversion -- which is not straightforward on this car because the master cylinder setup has to be changed, and that's not easy.

(For background: On 1960 and earlier, the master cylinder is under the floor, not on the firewall. It's a weird narrow thing that fits inside a stamped steel bracket bolted to the pan underneath, the pedal arcs downward like a 1940's car.  Putting a modern two-circuit master on is a bunch of fabricating That's not a problem for me. In fact I located and bought an EMPI 21mm (13/16") master cyl that's about perfect.)


So as I see it I have three sort-of choices for brake upgrade:

* Keep stock-ish 9 x 2 setup (I can do the drum-drilling thing, that works great). This seems the obvious easy path except -- there are literally no new 9 x 2 front drums with the 2-7/16" hole made. Raybestos 2500R. (Rears are 2501R, smaller hole, don't work.) I have some used-OK ones with meat left.

* Find "late model" AMC 15" wheels that fit on the larger 9 x 2.5 drums -- I built a lovely set of 9 x 2.5 high-performance and perfect ventilated drum brakes, all ready to bolt on to the car -- but the old Rambler wheels don't fit the drums! AMC modified the wheels for the wider drums. (Later wheels work on older drums, but not vice versa.) The wheels seem very hard to find. ANd they'd need to be trued probably but I'll accept that.

* Modify/fabricate a new master cylinder system for the EMPI master cyl (with lovely remote reservoirs) and go Scarebird. I'm gonna verify that the old wheels fit on the Scarebird setup this week (test-fit onto the roadster). This path is a lot of work and money and seems needless except that it means I have store-bought replacement parts under 15" wheels with my hubcaps.


Looking for advice on how to weasel out of this self-inflicted problem.


1960 Rambler Super two-door wagon, OHV auto
1961 Roadster American, 195.6 OHV, T5
http://www.ramblerLore.com

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tomj View Drop Down
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote tomj Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: Jan/23/2022 at 2:54pm
Lol, crickets.

Somehow sensibility overcame me, and I'm sticking with the 9 x 2" drum system. 

CH Topping will make me a set of grippy shoes on a worn core set I saved and turn a set of drums to match them for not a lot of money. I will drill the drums for ventilation as I've done before with great success. They can get new drums for about $100 each, pricey for drums but system-wise, no change and I will have more-than-adequate brakes. 

So for about $400 I'll have ventilated drums, custom grippy shoes fitted to the drums, a new master cylinder in the car as spare, and no invasive changes to the chassis.

I do have the EMPI 21mm master cyl here should I need to hack it up later.

1960 Rambler Super two-door wagon, OHV auto
1961 Roadster American, 195.6 OHV, T5
http://www.ramblerLore.com

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