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Time to Rebuild the Brakes |
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flejl 
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Joined: Nov/15/2021 Location: PA Status: Offline Points: 531 |
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 Topic: Time to Rebuild the BrakesPosted: Sep/05/2025 at 4:24pm |
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Next up in the resurrection of my 71 Javelin is the brakes and the car is still fighting against waking up from its long sleep.
The car has four-wheel power drum brakes, nothing really special for a 71 SST with a 304 V8, but it was really complete and for a Northeast US car in original condition, not allot of rust.
When I bought the car, all four wheels were locked up tight, so I had it brought to my house on a flatbed wrecker and placed it on wheel dollies so I could roll it around. I eventually got around to getting the wheels and brake drums off and adjusted the drums in so the car would roll around. Over this past weekend, I went back and pulled each wheel, cleaned up the surface rust on the inside of each drum, adjusted the brake shoes back out some so they are "close enough" and if everything had been working correctly, they were ready to back up a few times and let the self-adjusters do their thing but the brake pedal went to the floor. A few days later I had some free time, so I started going through the brake bleeding process and eventually found a bad brake line going from the front of the car to the rear brakes and a rear non-working passenger side wheel cylinder to go with all of the rusted hardware I found when I adjusted the brakes. With all of that said, it's time to order parts. I am planning to order hardware kits for each wheel, wheel cylinders, brake shoes, brake hoses, front wheel bearing seals, and brake hard line. For now, I plan to hold off on replacing the drums since the car will not be on the road for a while and I am trying to avoid getting the wife cranky over my old car addiction funding. I am planning to order 25-50" of brake line, cutting, bending, and "flaring" the ends myself since I have done this before on a smaller scale to do repairs in the distant past. I am planning to use "AGS Poly Armour 3/16in x 25ft PVF Steel Brake Line" that I can order by the foot instead of the older type of steel line I had used in the past and I was wondering if anyone hear had used it and what they may think about it. Here is a link to a local auto parts store that has it in stock for reference. Please let me know your thoughts. Thank You |
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ramblinrev
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Joined: Dec/28/2008 Location: Wisconsin Status: Offline Points: 12975 |
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Posted: Sep/05/2025 at 7:56pm |
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Replace, all 4 wheel cylinders, and the master cylinder....which it sounds like you plan to do. And don't forget the flexible hose at the rear axle. If you're making your own lines, buy a roll of the nickle/copper stuff that is easy to work with. Get new riveted brake shoes. And good luck! Brakes are kindof important! And power drum brakes on these work plenty well, when all is done right.
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74 Hornet Hatchback X twins (since 1977)
62 American Convertible (still worth the $50 I spent in 1973!) AMCRC #513, AMO #384 70 AMX 360 4-speed (since 1981) |
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scott
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Joined: Jul/10/2007 Location: Wildwood Pa. Status: Offline Points: 3760 |
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Posted: Sep/06/2025 at 7:31am |
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No to the poly armor, yes to the nickle copper brake line. Much easier to work with the nickle copper. Replace all the steel lines. If one is bad the others are not far behind. If your current drums are not horribly rusted or worn you may be able to have them turned & reuse them. I much prefer a decades old drum as opposed to a new imported drum of questionable quality. Hard part is finding a shop that can turn them, brake lathes & shops that have them are disappearing.
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Mopar_guy
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Posted: Sep/06/2025 at 8:34am |
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I use that brake line on most stuff. The nickle copper is easier to work with if you've not done it before. I agree that all the lines should be replaced including all of the hoses. They can be rusted on the inside from years of sitting. All the wheel cylinders need to be replaced but you mentioned in another thread that you want to put discs on the front. IMO, now's the time to do it. Why waste time and money to fix the drum brakes only to throw it all away later? Do it once and do it right so you don't have to worry about it later.
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flejl
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Posted: Sep/06/2025 at 10:20am |
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I am trying to decide to go front disc or not, one day I think front disc, the next day no... 40+ years ago I had a 68 Javelin SST with power drum brakes and what I remember the brakes on the car were great after I rebuilt everything, as a side note, it was also the car that convinced me to wear seat belts after I swapped from the common at the time bias ply tires to radial tire. With the 343 I rebuilt and 15" aluminum wheels the car handled like it was on rails, stopped on a dime, and with enough power it scared the cr@p out of me since up until that point I never had anything that handled like that. Back to today, I try to plan the work out based upon how I work (slow), so I can order the parts and manage the costs so not to shock the wife to much at one time. Right now, I am thinking I will do the complete back brakes first, including the lines, hoses, wheel and master cylinders, hardware, more or less a complete replacement, then move to the front of the car. If/when I go to front disc brakes, it will not be for a while so right now future cost is less of a concern. I almost forgot, is this the stuff you guys are recommending? Edited by flejl - Sep/06/2025 at 10:23am |
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Mopar_guy
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Posted: Sep/06/2025 at 12:41pm |
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If you're going to keep it off the interstates, drum brakes will be fine. There's no way in heck that I would drive a car on the interstate with drum brakes.
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Sonic Silver
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Posted: Sep/06/2025 at 12:47pm |
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flejl
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Posted: Sep/06/2025 at 1:25pm |
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Believe me, I appreciate the input. I am giving serious considerations to a front disc upgrade to my current Javelin, but I need to think a little. For what it is worth, drum brakes do not make a car a death trap. If the brakes are in good shape and adjusted correctly, they work well. Way back in my younger days when I was stationed at Camp LeJeune,NC I had a 66 Ford Fairlane 500 with what I would call a mildly updated 390 that I routinely ran up the east coast at speeds that collected ALLOT of speeding tickets and all it had was drum brakes. I more or less did the same thing from Cherry Point, NC later on before getting out of the Marines with my 68 Javelin with the 343, both with drum brakes and bias ply tires. I also should add that one late Friday night while on my way home a friend and I were running up I95 around Richmond if I recall correctly running side by side and let's say he ended up being pulled over by a VA State trooper and I did not; his ticket said he was doing 147mph and like i said we were running side by side... Drum brakes work if you maintain them correctly. I agree disk brakes have advantages and all of us have become spoiled with things like disk brakes, radial tires, ABS, backup cameras, and collision avoidance systems, but we will not all die without them. Just my opinion. |
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Sonic Silver
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Posted: Sep/06/2025 at 2:30pm |
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When I bought my AMX in 1970, I drove it everywhere as it was my only transportation. The traffic was not nearly as heavy then. Also, I don't think cars darted in and out of bumper to bumper traffic at 85 mph then. At least, not around here. I think that I have gotten older and wiser. By the way, I have never been in an accident with another car and that goes back almost 60 years.
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Mopar_guy
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Posted: Sep/06/2025 at 2:40pm |
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Mopar_guy wrote: