Drums on the rear?

[fbody_mike]

Ok, I gotta ask, because recently I have ran across 3 great looking muscle cars that were "finished". They are never finished I know. One was a Malibu, the others were 1st gen Camaros. All of these cars had big wheels, great paint, cool interior, updated suspension, very pro-tour looking. They also had 13" rotors with huge calipers on the front, but had the stock drums on the rear. Which were very noticable with the open nature of the wheels. I keep trying to figure out why someone would leave that aspect to the end, or I am just being some kinda snob. I never turned my nose up, more like I was just scratching my head.

[Bigblue73]

Your not being a snob at all. You know the way it should be and the reasons why.

[Matt@BOS]

Well, you really only do around 30 percent of your braking with the rear brakes so I think it tends to get upgraded later in the game for people that have drivable projects. If you want, you could ask the famous Doug Renner who owns one of the aforementioned cars that you were talking about. He might be famous but he's pretty down to earth. His screen name is "DFRESH," maybe he'll chime in.

Matt

[jknight16]

Funny thing about rear brakes in my project. My goals for my car were simple enough that rear disk brakes really weren't a requirement. However, the fact that I am a youngen, and absolutely hated working on drum brakes, was more than enough motivation for me to bump rear disk brakes up on the priority list.

Sure they work better, but for me, I was just glad to never have to work on drum brakes again!!

[holden_lioness]

Guess the thing about it is being able to build a car to individual taste/choice. Personally I would go discs all round.............

[DFRESH]

Geez---you boys are forgetting one thing here-----MONEY. I suppose priorites also plays a part in this as well. Sometimes there just isn't enough funds for many of us to do all things at once. 14in brakes front and rear on my car runs close to 4k. I elected to do one improvement at a time on mine due to keeping the car on the road, and for lack of funds. I can't drop 10k at a time on it now with a bigger house, kids, wife and the race car--blah, blah, blah. Same ole story. Would my preference be to have all 4 discs on the car at the same time----ya. Sometimes the car tells me what it wants instead----my split block for instance, and demands the next round of funding goes somewhere else. Now should I put those rear brakes on the car first, or replace my motor. To keep the car running and on the road, I will now divert the funds to the motor and keep attending events and taking abuse from people who feel that gaps and lack of matching rear discs are a crime and should be punishable. Most of these cars are done in stages, many of the stages last much longer due to funding (lack of).

As luck would have it, I now have my Fab 9 housing, third member (thanks to John Parsons and II Much) and brakes are coming. The split block is a problem however.

I guess I would remind everyone that this is the kind of stuff, believe it or not, that keeps people from coming out to events and enjoying their cars. "Well I don't have disc brakes on the rear so I don't want to run the car". I've heard plenty of people say these things and they mean it. It's either that, or they are concerned that the car won't fit in with the others because they don't have racing seats in it, or because it still has the stock steering wheel. That's only for appearances sake and not enough of a reason (IMO) not to have fun with the car. If I waited until my car was the way I wanted it, it would still be sitting in the garage and I would never have met all the very cool people I have thus far.

Doug

[class67]

Well, you really only do around 30 percent of your braking with the rear brakes so I think it tends to get upgraded later in the game for people that have drivable projects. If you want, you could ask the famous Doug Renner who owns one of the aforementioned cars that you were talking about. He might be famous but he's pretty down to earth. His screen name is "DFRESH," maybe he'll chime in.

Matt

Those are "Baer drums" on Dougs car, right?...lol

[DFRESH]

Those are "Baer drums" on Dougs car, right?...lol

LOL--that's right---"One off Bear SELF ENERGIZING" drums. I forgot about that from the Pleasanton event--good memory Steve---

Doug

[Mingus]

Bigblue73 wrote: "Your not being a snob at all. You know the way it should be and the reasons why."
Okay, I guess I'll bite, what's the way it should be and the reasons why?
BTW, my Cutlass doesn't have rear discs (or paint, or an LS, or an O/D tranny, or a new rearend) yet because I decided I wanted an '09 Challenger. So I just keep driving it and having fun with the "wrong" stuff on it.

[twosaturns]

perhaps because swapping engines and installing front brakes is somewhat less daunting to some then doing a rear conversion; setting up the parking brake, maybe pulling axles, etc.
in regards to 69MSA's comment, I always thought that 80% or more of the braking was done w/ the fronts. regardless, drums were (and still are) used on the rears because it's easier and cheaper to do it that way, for hot rodders and the manufacturers.
maybe some guys don't figure its worth the expense for what they feel is just appearances sake.

[Mr. Anderson]

My elky isn't going to have rear discs right away. The big-arse stock drums on the 9" will be plenty to stop the car, but honestly I've just got plenty of other things that need the funds. Eventually...both front and rear brakes will get major upgrades, but as someone above said, we're looking about about $4k in the really nice stuff (that I want!)...I don't have that much in my engine! For now, my (relatively puny) drilled/slotted 12" front rotors and Willwood dual-piston GM replacement calipers, and 2" wide Ford rear drums will have to do.

[LeighP]

I'm going with 1LE front disc conversion on my 71 firebird to get 12" discs....and the 11 drum kit for the rear....all new parts including finned drums and high performance friction material....for my application, I can't see the need to convert to discs on the back. It doesn't fit my intended use or my budget.

[twosaturns]

what people feel they 'need' is ever changing and quite amusing. back in the day when I built my nova (early '90s) people thought I was weird because I wanted it to handle. I got the car from my brother when it still had 4wheel non-powered drums and no front swaybar!
I did a budget rebuild w/ an addco 1" bar, graphite A arm bushings and a front power disc conversion using OEM parts.
needless to say, it was a night and day difference. I was very happy w/ the result.
now though, everyone 'needs' 17" wheels, 14" brakes, coil overs, 3link, etc.

all that stuff is cool, but a lot of fun can be had w/ less.

[ho428]

I understand the build stages, been there, done and doing that, but Mike originally said these cars were "finished"
If that's the case I'd be leary buying one if they spent 30-40-50+k on a car with 13" high end fronts and left the OEM drums on the rear.
It'd make me wonder what else they scrimped on.

[fbody_mike]

I understand the build stages, been there, done and doing that, but Mike originally said these cars were "finished"
If that's the case I'd be leary buying one if they spent 30-40-50+k on a car with 13" high end fronts and left the OEM drums on the rear.
It'd make me wonder what else they scrimped on.

Correct, the three cars I had mentioned were very modded, and it appeared the rear drums were the only items not be touched. It is just the huge aftermarket front brakes with stock drums on the rear that had me scratching my head.

I understand running project cars, my car is a forever work in progress, and the only time I had it off the road for a long period is when it was in paint jail.

[DFRESH]

Correct, the three cars I had mentioned were very modded,

Well, that certainly excludes my car as being one of them---

Doug

[vintageracer]

With some of the compounds offered by Andy Porterfield and others for rear brake shoes drum brakes in the rear may not be so bad! If you do some calculations looking at swept area and other paramaters there are rear drum brakes that are a lot better than some rear disc brakes.

Look at Ford rear drums versus rear disc brakes offered by Ford. You can bolt on a set of Galaxie drums on a 9 inch rearend. The Galaxie drums are 12 inches x 2 1/2 inches is size. A set of Explorer, SVO and other rear disc brakes are a lot smaller in diameter with a lot less clamping power and smaller swept area for the pads on the rotors than the Galaxie drum brakes. These "stock" rear Ford disc brakes are not nearly as good as the big Galaxie drum brake. Add a good set of Porterfield Carbon Kevlar brake shoes and the Galaxie drums are a great set of brakes for road racing. Just ask a lot of GT 350 racers who still run the big Galaxie rear brakes.

Got an A body Chevelle or a G body car? Get a set of rear drums off a mid-70's Malibu wagon, Cutlass etc. 11 inch rear drums versus the stock 9 inch rear drums factory installed on your car. Again, add good brake shoes and you have a rear drum brake setup that as good or better than the other GM junkyard rear disc brake options available that's much easier to install and will stop better. Remember, most your braking comes from the front brakes.

Granted most of the kits available from Baer, Willwood, Alcon and others are much better than stock parts but many of the aftermarket kits PT guys install on the rear of their car are nothing more than stock rear GM/Ford brake calipers/rotors adapted to the stock rear-end with cailper mounts/abutments. You certainly will have rear disc brakes but that does not mean they are as good or better than drum brakes that are available at the JY that will bolt on a their rearend for a LOT less money than a rear disc brake kit from the aftermarket or JY. Just try to make the parking brake work with some of these kits or JY disc brake parts. With the BIG drum brakes the parking brake issue is a snap!

We all know that in stock condition even performance cars from the Big 3 were WAY in-adequate with the brakes installed on their cars. That continued well into this century. Only recently have the Big 3 adopted or made available as an option bigger, better brakes yet many in the PT community still install stock disc brake sets on their 10 bolt, 12 bolt and 9 inch rearends.

The biggest reason to have rear disc brakes is that they look GOOD and everybody THINKS a performance car must have rear disc brakes to stop good. While that's really not true try to tell that to the masses!

[LONE*STAR]

DFRESH is right... This attitude is what has kept my car in the Garage for 5 years I never have fun with a car that was capable of hitting the street after the motor was completed 4 years ago... but it wasn't good enough for me until I hydroboosted it with corvette brake components....blah blah blah whatever the next thing was/is.

I want this thing on the street so bad I don't even think ill put anything else in it except the front window.

[LM7_67]

I'll be in a very similar situation soon (large front brakes with OE drum rears). Would I like to upgrade the drums? Absolutely! Am I going to continue to have an awesome time with my car until I can afford the brakes I want? Absolutely! I don't think any of the guys with drum rears consider that part of their car finished. It's just one of those things you can live with until time & funds allow the upgrade.

[LowBuckX]

My rear discs cost less than a complete drum rebuild would cost. But rear drums on others cars dont bother me what bothers me is Big motor big rims 4 wheels drum...