C1 Brake Drum Finish

[Sheldon S.]

I have been trying to figure out what the correct finish should be on my brake drums for my 56. The JM says they should be painted black. But when i go on the Discussion board a lot of experienced people are saying they are natural. What should they be?

Thanks in advance
Sheldon

[Gary C.]

Re: C1 Brake Drum Finish

Sheldon,

Installed brake drums were painted with the anti vibration springs installed. When disassembling a C1 there's a marked difference on the brake drum when the anti vibration spring is removed which shows the drum and spring were painted as a unit.

Gary
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[Joe R.]

Re: C1 Brake Drum Finish

Here's a picture of NOS brake drums. You can draw your own opinion but remember this are not production but replacement as there is no springs as they were sold separate from the drums. Also they were round instead of flat as in production units.

JR

[Sheldon S.]

Re: C1 Brake Drum Finish

Thanks for the info and Pics. I don,t quite follow what was flat in production vs service replacement. Are you referring to the spring was different?

Sheldon

[Gary C.]

Re: C1 Brake Drum Finish

Sheldon,

The entire from suspension was an assembly and painted as an assembly per the blueprints.

John Hinckley drummed this into my brain - if there are no individual parts shown in the AIM, Section 3, sheet 1.0

Gary
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[Joe R.]

Re: C1 Brake Drum Finish

Thanks for the info and Pics. I don,t quite follow what was flat in production vs service replacement. Are you referring to the spring was different?

Sheldon

Sheldon, yes referring to the spring. Here's a pic of the replacement springs.

JR

[Sheldon S.]

Re: C1 Brake Drum Finish

Joe, do you have a picture of a production spring looked like.

[Frank D.]

Re: C1 Brake Drum Finish

Joe, do you have a picture of a production spring looked like.

Here are the front drums for my 61 I purchased from Fuelie Dave 5 years back - I can't say if they are NOS but they were NICE:

[Chris S.]

Re: C1 Brake Drum Finish

The entire front suspension assembly was assembled as a unit/sub unit
Then painted
Then installed
Nolans book shows couple examples of the entire assembly

[Troy P.]

Re: C1 Brake Drum Finish

I've done quite a few original Chevy cars and trucks and have never run into a "flat" spring. So I'm very interested in your statement. Please expound on this subject with photo, if available.

[Richard G.]

Re: C1 Brake Drum Finish

This is a picture of the flat wound spring.
This one is 1963 vintage.


Rick

[Troy P.]

Re: C1 Brake Drum Finish

I just checked my very early 63 and found one side has the spring like you show and the more common different round wire spring on the other side. Perhaps a transition car?

Two other things of note:
1. Although one spring is wound with flat "wire" the spring is still round in shape on my car.
2. I never noticed before but unlike all my C1s the rear brake drums do not have a groove for a spring.

C1s have a groove in all 4 brake drums and that leads to confusion as to how many springs a car should have. According to the AIM for 56-57 there was a 3694209 spring on the front but not on the rear. The 55 passenger car AIM similarly shows the springs only on the front. However, a NCRS heavyweight is sticking to the belief that at least 53s had anti-chatter springs front and rear.

The 63 AIM does not show a spring as the front hub with brake drum arrived as an assembly.

[Gary C.]

Re: C1 Brake Drum Finish

Interesting spring. My '64 which had less than 30k miles on it, had the round springs on front drums.

Over the years have had more than half a dozen '57's and they all had round springs on the front drums. Same goes for the multiple Tri 5 Chevy's I've owned.

Gary
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[Sheldon S.]

Re: C1 Brake Drum Finish

So when I read the judging manual it clearly says under front brake drums that there is a spring in the grove. When i read about the rear drums it says that standard brake drums have a groove for a anti chatter spring to fit into and the spring can be seen from underneath. So if having car judged do I put springs on all four drums or just the front. My car only has two springs and I just assumed two had been taken off at some point in time. I was about to buy 2 more but maybe not now.

Sheldon
Thanks

[David S.]

Re: C1 Brake Drum Finish

Sheldon I suggest you do as the judging manual states. Anti-Chater springs on all four brake drums.
Dave