Muscle Car Brakes (MCB) Drum brake upgrade.

[Corey R.]

Has anyone heard of this company, or for that matter upgraded their drum brakes in a similar manner?

This kit states they use 31 lb springs and a high volume wheel cylinder compared to 13 lb stock springs.

I am in the middle of installing a new power disc conversion up front, and noticed the rear drums could use sprucing up as well. Large front and rear discs are not an option due to 15 inch wheels.

I'm not expecting C5 stopping power, but any improvement would be appreciated.

http://www.musclecarbrakes.com/bib6772camaro.html


Muscle Car Brakes all new Brake In A Box comes complete with both pair of High Performance Matrix Ceramic Disc Pads and Matrix Ceramic Brake Shoes, 31 LB Heavy Trick Spring Kit, Star Wheel Self Adjuster Combo Kit plus Rear High Volume Wheel Cylinders for less pedal pressure. In addition, Brake In A Box gives you a 2 to 1 better braking than OEM over the counter brakes. Brake In A Box is a direct replacement available for most pre-72 model GM, Ford & Chrysler cars and light trucks. Self adjusters may not be available on some older models.

[Corey R.]

Bueller? Ferris Bueller? Anyone?

[csouth]

I don't think many here are upgrading their drums, just removing them for disks. I see you only have 15" wheels, so you may want to consider '77 Seville rear calipers. I believe S10 Blazer rear discs will work too, plenty of those in the pull it yards and threads online.

[Corey R.]

I have looked at those. I honestly don't feel like pulling the axles to install the backing plates required for the smaller disc setups. I may get around to it one day, but I would rather get the car back on the road and not get into another part of this hornet's nest.

[Apogee]

The factory drums work just fine...I tend not to trust marketing information that claims a 2 to 1 improvement relative to the OE brakes. What are they referencing? Double the brake torque so the rear brakes will lock up twice as fast? I'm not sure how that's a good thing. If you're just looking to rehab the brakes, I'd probably run an OE rebuild kit as they're dirt cheap and effective.

If your application needs more rear brake bias, then increasing the rear wheel cylinder bore diameters would be a good way to increase it, as would more aggressive CoF's with the shoes, but most don't in my experience. You can get performance shoes from a variety of sources, however you still have a heat saturation issue with most drums which don't cool as effectively as discs. I've seen a few vintage guys get creative with ducts and cooling holes through the backing plates, but there's really only so much you can do.

Tobin
KORE3

[Corey R.]

I appreciate your input, Tobin. I will most likely just grab some stock parts from NAPA.

[Skip Fix]

From personal experience some of the more aggressive semi metallic drum shoes took awhile to warm up and stop in the cold first morning stop on a street car when I had them on my 78 TA when it was still disc/drum. Maybe they have improved that over the years with newer materials.