63 metallic brake drum springs

[John D.]

Sorry to bother you with another 63 question. Feel bad for those of you that don't have a '63. all these questions must be un-nerving. But car almost together.
Metallic brake car car-not power brakes though. Not been on the road since 1970. It has round springs on the outside of front drums-not the typical flat ones I have heard so much about. I have been told that some '63 metallic brake cars used the so called rounded spring on the front drums. But the typical brake drum outer spring is flat. I remember that the springs and drums were rusty first time restored 25 plus years ago. Didn't appear that chassis had ever been apart. Still had original metallic lining on and it was in good shape. 38,000 miles. Understand that '64's could or should have rounded springs. But my march 4th 63 has them also. At this point leaving them on but is it the real deal on did an early bubba change them. car #9900 plus. One more qt. Is it true that the springs were only used on the front drums and not the rear drums even though all 4 drums had the groove for the outer springs. Man this stuff is confusing. Thanks, John

[Joe L.]

Re: 63 metallic brake drum springs

John------

I would consider it HIGHLY unlikely that anyone replaced the springs considering the rest is as you described. I could see someone NOT replacing the springs (e.g. if they has "seperated" from the drums for whatever reason) and, in that case, you would have found no springs installed. The very last thing that I would expect is for a "klutz"-type guy to have repllaced these springs if they were found missing. What would have been the "incentive" to do so?

As far as I know, the springs were used only for the front J-65 brake drums and not the rear drums.

[Clem Z.]

don't know about the springs but i know

mrs clem could not stop those old non power metallic brake corvettes when she got to the stop sign at the end of the street. good thing there was not much traffic back in those days. i told her ride the brakes when you leave the driveway to put a little heat in them and it will stop at the stop sign.

[John D.]

Re: 63 metallic brake drum springs

Hi Joe, Again thanks for your answer. I appreciate it and we are going on to next step. Thanks Bob Jorjorian for your imput also. You and Joe agree on this issue. Clem, My other '63 that I used to drive alot also had the j-65 brakes and they were scary. Not long ago Dr. Mike made a post about the above being an old wives tale. But this old guy remembers hitting a pickup rear bumper on Pittsburgh street in Greensburg because when I put the brakes on it seemed the car went faster. Wasn't damaged much but quite embarrassing. Didn't hurt the truck. Fixed it by installing a 1" bore master cylinder instead of original 7/8 and it was like power brakes. Good trick for drivers today. Used the '64 taxi cab style master cylinder and it looks quite similar to '63. Bought one years ago from Armand Filler of Thousand Oaks, CA. Don't hear his name mentioned any more. Used to write a lot of great articles for "the Restorer". Long time ago.
Thanks again. Promise no qts tomorrow. Car is 90% together and it's getting exciting. Dave Cardina is doing a wonderful job. Very few repro stuff except for blue spring. Goodnight, John