63 brake questions

[Stuart F.]

Re: 63 brake questions

Jim;

Perhaps we can all agree that which ever fluid you choose, and for what ever reason you make that choice, the system has to be maintained with periodic fluid change and flush, at intervals based on your application and experience.

Yours is a good first hand observation and I greatly appreciate your opinion.

Stu Fox

[Jim L.]

Re: 63 brake questions

Perhaps we can all agree that which ever fluid you choose, and for what ever reason you make that choice, the system has to be maintained with periodic fluid change and flush, at intervals based on your application and experience.

Stuart,

I'm basically a very lazy person. I hate doing the same thing twice. So, the initial appeal of DOT 5 fluid was that I could convert once and be done.

It's worked out that way.

That wheel cylinder I removed after 20 years of service hadn't failed. It was a 1-1/8 cylinder and I simply wanted to go back to the correct 1-3/16 size on my '60.

In racing, everyone (except me) bleeds their brakes prior to every race. I thought, this is silly. DOT 5 and I can do this once. I raced for 5 years without doing anything to the brake fluid. I would have gone longer but one of the hard lines got damaged and, of course, after replacing it I had to re-bleed the brakes.

The only downside to DOT 5 that I've ever found is that it requires extreme patience and sloth-like movement velocities when installing it. Don't load up on Peets coffee and then try to convert to DOT 5. Get beyond the initial install, and if it was done correctly, you can forget about it.

Yeah, I like DOT 5.

Regards,

Jim

[Stuart F.]

Re: 63 brake questions

Jim;

Since it appears you have had a lot of experience racing vintage Vettes with drum brakes, do you mind telling us what linings and drums you are using?

When I did my brake overhaul this past year, I replaced my sintered metallic linings with Matrix Ceramic ones from Praise Dyno Brakes of Texas. Have you ever tried their material? (my metallics were loosing pads [chipped, erroded, and floaters] at about 44k miles and I searched for replacements for several years w/o economic success).

Stu Fox

[Jim L.]

Re: 63 brake questions

Jim;

Since it appears you have had a lot of experience racing vintage Vettes with drum brakes, do you mind telling us what linings and drums you are using?

When I did my brake overhaul this past year, I replaced my sintered metallic linings with Matrix Ceramic ones from Praise Dyno Brakes of Texas. Have you ever tried their material? (my metallics were loosing pads [chipped, erroded, and floaters] at about 44k miles and I searched for replacements for several years w/o economic success).

Stu Fox

Hi again, Stuart,

We should probably either take this one off line or move to another thread so we don't end up hijacking the OPs thread (any more than I've already done, that is).

I'll try to be brief:

Both of our two track cars run 4 wheel discs, one manual system, one power assisted. The brakes on both cars are of my own design. Nothing here would apply to a drum-brake vintage racer.

However, in addition to those two brake systems, I am also deep into finding a solution to the perpetualy vexing problem of a satisfactory brake system for those brave souls who vintage race C1s. I've done half a dozen at-speed laps in an airbox 57 and, wow, people actually depend on those brakes to stop???????

To date, I've developed what I call Big(ger) Brakes that fit a C1 and I use these on my '60 on a daily basis. This is a wider shoe/finned drum combination. I'm not sure I'd go racing with this set up, but in developing this system, I learned a lot that I can apply towards a system that is raceable.

I'm aware of Praise Dyno Brake but I don't have any first hand knowledge about their product. One friend installed their brakes on his '62 and loves it. From another, I've heard that their Matrix Ceramic shoes are repackaged Raybestos shoes, nothing special. I don't know one way or another. What's your take on them?

You wanna move this to a new thread?

Jim

[Perry M.]

Re: 63 brake questions

So, back to my original question. What should the brake bleeders look like? The ones I took off used a 5/16'' wrench and the hole was smooth (no threads). Should it have threads to accept a screw to keep dirt out or some other kind of cap? If I do go with the NAPA brand, the part you can see will have to be correct. Also, what do you guys use for replacement brake shoes?

[Harry S.]

Re: 63 brake questions

Perry, you can order original style bleeders from Long Island Corvette. www.licorvette.com.

Also, believe it or not, original brake shoes are still available. They come up on ebay often. They are the same shoes that were used on the full size Impala for 63, 64 and I think 65.