Drum Brakes
 

Is there a company that makes brake shoes for racing? I'd like to put primary shoes everywhere with good lining material.

Re: Drum Brakes
 

I had good luck with premium ABEX organic linings on stock shoes from Ott's Friction Supply in Oregon, contact:
john andreotti <andreotti@ottsfrictionsupply.com>

I also have a set of the Velvetouch linings I bought 30-some years ago, but they don't work so well until heated up, so the line lock doesn't do much. . .

Re: Drum Brakes
 

I would think you would want to put secondary shoes everywhere. Drum brakes retract so there's no drag anyway.. $.02

Re: Drum Brakes
 

see if you can find a reliner that does metallic brake shoes---they do not work cold but stopping at the top end is improved the hotter they get the better they work

Re: Drum Brakes
 

try CTbrakes.com they can reline your shoes ---about $75 per axle thats what they are quoting now---might be more but give em a call--

Re: Drum Brakes
 

I run drums all the way around and I've had pretty good luck with Raybestos riveted shoes. I noticed that when I removed weight to move from E to D/SA, my car stopped a fair amount better even though it's only about 175 lbs. lighter. I would not recommend using aluminum drums since I developed cracks in mine and went back to cast iron. My .02.

Re: Drum Brakes
 

Thanks for the replies. This is a foot brake car and sometimes it pushes the car forward when I'm staged and the rpm's are too high. I sometimes run an index class with a .400 pro tree and I need the R's pretty high. I'm thinking the extra primary shoes would help to hold it better.

Re: Drum Brakes
 

I remember Car Craft or Hot Rod Magazine did an article on a brake manufacturer out of Texas that made a brake shoe with 30% better stopping power than a normal brake shoe. Just can't think of the name of the company.

Re: Drum Brakes
 

Check shoe adjustment. I run my fairly loose for reduced brake drag, but that will happen if they get too loose.

Re: Drum Brakes
 

The primary or leading shoe is the shorter shoe and the secondary or trailing shoe is the longer shoe.........

Re: Drum Brakes
 

You're right Bob not sure how I did that. I'm thinking 4 longer shoes on the rear.

Re: Drum Brakes
 

I've had good luck with Muscle Car Brakes. They offer a "Brakes-in-a-box" kit for most pre-72 GM, Ford and Mopar vehicles.

http://www.musclecarbrakes.com/index.html

I installed them on my Belair 'wagon with new aftermarket HD drums and have had no issues with staging or stopping.

Lew

Re: Drum Brakes
 

get the rears lined with a material used for forklifts, I beleive the material was ab or something to that affect. Use on rear and they will hold as well as disc.
Mark

Re: Drum Brakes
 

I also use these on my rear drum brakes. I think this is the co. that njk53 was eluding to, in his post........
They work fine for me.........

Re: Drum Brakes
 

I remember one time looking at a company called Praise Dyno Brake that alot of drum brake racers were using. I think they were kevlar or something?

They were pricey but there were guys running deep nines with them with confidence.

Re: Drum Brakes
 

Praise Dyno Brake and Muscle Car Brakes, "Brakes-in-a-box" are one and the same.....

Re: Praise dyno brakes beware!!!!!
 

PM me if you are thinking about buying Praise dyno- muscle car brakes.some of us have had problems with their stuff!!

Re: Praise dyno brakes beware!!!!!
 

X2
That stuff is junk, and the hardware is repackaged autoparts store stuff. I had issues with the shoes cracking. I called up and they told me they were for easy street driving, not racing!! On top of all of that, the stoping power was not as good. I was not happy with my experience using that stuff at all
A very good racer told me that if you buy brand new GM shoes ( for GM cars) and have good uncut drums. ( minimum diameter ) you will have the best holding and stoping power possible out of drums.
My father in law, who was a junior stk racer and super stock racer told me about using brakes made from sintered iron. I have never seen those for sale

Re: Drum Brakes
 

Check out Stainless Steel Brake Corp. "ssbrakes.com", they make four piston competition disc brake kits for the early muscle cars. I though drum front brakrs were the only way to get my Stocker to stage properly; changed my mind after installing one of their kit and saved 4 pounds over the OEM drums. Just my two cents!

Re: Drum Brakes
 

Had the same problem. Bought several different sets of top qualty shoes and the car wouldn't saty in the burnout box. Finally realized the shoes didn't get hot enough to hold. Have some cheap (look like cardboard) shoes on now and they work fine but fortunately I don run at any real short tracks. Never thought about using 2 larger shoes but might give that a try.

Re: Praise dyno brakes beware!!!!!
 

I really appreciate you sharing your experiences. I called Muscle Car Brakes and I was considering them. The guy on the phone was pretty convincing. I asked if they would reline my cores and he told me that all of their stuff was on brand new metal. He also told me they have 30lb return springs instead of the 13's that he thinks I have. You think GM has brakes for a 70 Nova?

Re: Drum Brakes
 

I've had no problems with drum brakes all around, both on my '70 Nova and now my '67 Camaro in E/SA w/396. I believe the size is only 9 1/2" x 2 1/2", the original 6 cylinder brake setup, and all the parts were new- drums, springs, wheel and master cylinders, lines, hoses, the works. The stuff was straight from the auto parts store, nothing fancy. Car holds fine on the line at 3500 on the converter, can stop with no problems on the top end. The Nova was 3570 lbs with driver, Camaro is 3420 lbs., running upper 10's at 121.
My 2 cents is the expensive shoes are intended to stop better on heavy, prolonged and repeated braking, when they get hot. Quite possible that the cheap shoes work just fine for what we do, stopping once with lots of room to do it. Might be different on a very short track where you need to really stand on the brakes all the way down to the turnoff...
Grant Eldridge
E/SA 6650

Re: Drum Brakes
 

i run a 1968 mustang 428cj , 4 speed, 10.60 @ 129 . 3450 with driver. with the stock 4 wheel drum brakes. i dont really like how it stops sometimes and have been thinking about going with strange discs on the front and the factory drums on the back. what do you guys think of the strange front brakes? ron b

Re: Drum Brakes
 

I know this is an old thread. But it is holding relevance to me currently. I am looking at replacing rear brake shoes and buying 2 sets as to use the secondary shoes of each set only. This is my 70 Chevelle for 10.0 index and bracket racing. It's the last repair I'm making and I'm ready to go. I see Mark Yacavone mentioned you can do it and it's what I had planned to experiment with but brakes are most important to our cars. 3800 pound stock suspension. It is built sticker like with the dream cause stockers are way cool. Chris

Re: Drum Brakes
 

waste of time, been there, done that, marginally better. The fix is either converting to 11" drums or disc brakes.

I tired it all with my Chevelle...new drums, aluminum drums, 4 secondary shoes, aftermarket disc brakes replacing the factory disc brakes up front and finally 11" rear brakes which fixed staging issues as well better braking down track.

Re: Drum Brakes
 

Thanks Ed
I will look into both options
I have strange c clip eliminators with their 35 spline axles. I think the center hub is different diameter than stock as I had to open up drum to fit it over.
Lot to think about.

Re: Drum Brakes
 

When I built my car I set it up to footbrake. I have a Ford 9" in the back and used 2 sets of shoes so i could have all long lining covered shoes. Then I took the wheel cyls and with the help of a local parts store found the largest diameter wheel cyls that fit my backing plates. When footbraking the rear drums have great holding power as they are self energized, the shoes try to rotate against the drum which in turn forces them out harder as the lead shoe grabs. Also basic hydraulic principles, the larger the wheel cyl bore the more the hydraulic line pressure is pushing the shoes.

Re: Drum Brakes
 

This is similar to what I have doing for years on various GM G body cars. On the rear, I use the longer shoes with cheap soft non metallic linings and larger wheel cylinders from a mid 80's manual brake Chevy S-10.

Re: Drum Brakes
 

Watch out putting long shoe on front, it might energize to much and lock up. That short shoe is done for a reason.

Re: Drum Brakes
 

Don't forget to check the backing plates for mounting hole distortion. We had to change ours out after two or three years of using a two-step,

Re: Drum Brakes
 

Thanks for all the info. This is a good informative thread. I am calling both strange and master power brakes. My friend w a similar car has 11 inch drums and no problems. Just no good parts yards near here any more. Anyone use the strange kits on rear? They offer both slotted and solid rotors. Will see what strange says tho.
Thanks again for the schooling throughout this thread.

Re: Drum Brakes
 

Hi all,

Just a heads up on drum brakes.............

The brake shoes MUST be arced to match the drum inside diameter...

You need total contact to make the drum brakes work best........

On a street car if you drive enough they will arc themselves...

In a drag race car, not a chance.........

Most shops don't arc shoes anymore, but finding one that does will be worth it........

Bob