Rebuilder for '64 J65 metallic brake shoes

[Michael J.]

I have a set I need restored, cores are good, anyone know who does these? Thanks for any info.

[Stuart F.]

Re: Rebuilder for '64 J65 metallic brake shoes

Michael;

I too have a set from my 63 sitting in boxes. When it came time for me to fix my brakes, I checked all over and every possible source, and finally gave up and bought some matrix ceramic shoes and installation kits from an outfit in Texas. Not sure if they are still around, but I do like their product. Once I got them broke in (400+miles), they seem to stop nearly as good without fade, and do so even when cold.

My understanding was that the EPA put the stop to the pad material.

Stu Fox

[Michael J.]

Re: Rebuilder for '64 J65 metallic brake shoes

Thanks Stu, I was hoping someone did them, but I will look around further.

[Duke W.]

Re: Rebuilder for '64 J65 metallic brake shoes

Even it you could get the original friction material, I don't think I'd recommend it. There are newer materials that will provide equal braking power and fade resistance without the wide variation in pedal effort. Do a google search for CarboTech Engineering and give them a call.

Duke

[Michael J.]

Re: Rebuilder for '64 J65 metallic brake shoes

Thanks Duke, I was just trying to get it original as I restore things, but I guess maybe it is not that important (since nobody can see it but me, even if I care), and if nobody is doing this, there may be a reason, so new tech is probably it.

[Wayne M.]

Re: Rebuilder for '64 J65 metallic brake shoes

Michael;

...I checked all over and every possible source, and finally gave up and bought some matrix ceramic shoes and installation kits from an outfit in Texas. Not sure if they are still around, but I do like their product. Once I got them broke in (400+miles), they seem to stop nearly as good without fade, and do so even when cold.

My understanding was that the EPA put the stop to the pad material.

Stu Fox

Mike, Stu --- here's an NOS front & rear set that I sold/gave to a local friend and he put them on eBay; got much less that I would have expected.

Stu -- wasn't it the asbestos lining that the EPA didn't allow ?

[Michael J.]

Re: Rebuilder for '64 J65 metallic brake shoes

Thanks Wayne, I have also been looking for some like that. The only thing I found recently was this set (he has fronts too) from some company called Lakewood, advertised as NOS, but not GM, pretty pricy too:

http://www.ebay.com/itm/281922367784?_trksid=p2055119.m1438.l2649&ssPageName=STRK%3AMEBIDX%3AIT

[Duke W.]

Re: Rebuilder for '64 J65 metallic brake shoes

Asbestos was outlawed in the 1970s due to an overwhelming body of evidence that it was carcinogenic, however, I don't think the J-65 shoes contained any asbestos. My understanding is the friction material is powered iron, perhaps mixed with some sort of binding agent, then compressed and cooked. The material is effecitively "full metallic".

When it came time for brake work, most people went to a local brake shop, and by that time many of the cars were probably on a second or subsequent owner, who didn't even know what metallic linings were, so GMPD sold very few new J-65 shoes.

When I overhauled my SWC's J-65 system in the mid seventies, I was able to buy all the J-65 parts - shoes, drums, and spring kits from GMPD. The shoes arrived in the brown boxes like in one of Wayne's photos, which had probably been sitting in a warehouse since not long after my SWC was built. Maybe Joe L. can tell us when GM switched to the white boxes with the blue GM logo.

Interestingly, at 115K miles with some hard use including maybe a thousand miles of race track hot lapping, the shoes had plenty of material left, but the drums were nearly worn to the limit, so I decided to completely overhaul the system and make it as new.

In the past, a number of owners have found original J-65 parts on their cars with plenty of remaining material on the drums and shoes, so my recommendation was to carefully mark the position of all parts, clean them up and reinstall with just new or overhauled hydraulic components, and they would probably last for many tens of thousands of miles more.

Since J-65 components can't be "seen", it doesn't make any sense to me to pay big bucks for OE J-65 parts, and there are better modern friction materials that can be installed on the shoes that offer the fade resistance of the original linings, but without the widely variable Cf.

Duke

[Stuart F.]

Re: Rebuilder for '64 J65 metallic brake shoes

I too thought that there was little sense in the EPA having an impact on the metallic pad material, but that was the answer I got from a number of sources. I just didn't pursue it any further because I was not too keen on the brakes anyway for my street use. When I pulled the drums on several occasions I always found at least one or two pads rusted loose and floating. When I finally made the change a few years back I ended up using my original drums, all four cleaned up with just a minor truing cut (about 42,000 miles). I'm much happier with my matrix ceramic linings now. If I were to improve them further it might be in the sizing of the m.c. Vs. the wheel cylinders, but I looked long and hard to find a correct dated m.c. After mine was lifted by a Corvette shop in Downer Grove, IL (long story).

Stu Fox

[David B.]

Re: Rebuilder for '64 J65 metallic brake shoes

From the world of little known facts that anyone may or may not want to know. The first attempt to use metallic brake lining material by Chevrolet Engineering occurred in 1956. Extensive attempts to correct poor braking conditions while testing at Sebring led Chevrolet Engineers to contact the Aviation Division of the Bendix Corporation. What Engineers came up with was a lining similar to that used on aircraft called cerametallic. The lining used on front 2 1/2" and rear 2" shoes was spot welded to the shoe that carried the Bendix name. Looking at a new pair they were surprisingly thin and because of their content had a bronze metal look. After several laps of use they worked fairly well. The only problem was as previously mentioned by Duke they tore up the HD drums rather quickly. Because of their characteristic of not being able to stop a car safely until sufficiently heated up they were not recommended for street use. Later versions of this type brake shoe were developed to the point that the brake lining content would not be as destructive on the drum assembly hence the metallic lining.

[Chris S.]

Re: Rebuilder for '64 J65 metallic brake shoes

White post will reline shoes - You might want to talk to them about the materials they use or what they could use.....
White post did mine and all my wheel cylinders

[Michael J.]

Re: Rebuilder for '64 J65 metallic brake shoes

Thanks all, I will check into some of these options, sounds like many ways to go on this.