Topic: Making the most of drum brakes, scoops, shoe material, drill drums etc

What "tricks" are there to use front drum brakes ?

What shoe material should I use ,  normally I wear Huarache sandals smile
but would Porterfield  work for an upgrade ?

Should I drill the drums for cooling ? 

Scoops for the backing plates ?  one scoop or 2 ?

Dot 4 or 5.1 brake fluid or is "racing" brake fluid worth the extra $$$$

How about "water mist cooling" when they get real hot ( better than looking for big puddles smile

But seriously  .........    what do you  do  to stop better, last longer and  keep from boiling the brake fluid ?

Thanks for your advise

Re: Making the most of drum brakes, scoops, shoe material, drill drums etc

Front drum brakes.... You are a brave racer!

Apocalyptic Racing - Occupy Pit Lane racing
Racing the "Toylet" Toyota Celica powered by Chevrolet Ecotec.
24x Loser with the Celica. 16x loser in other fine machines
Overall winner Gingerman 2019

Re: Making the most of drum brakes, scoops, shoe material, drill drums etc

What is the car?  Is there no disc option?
Heck even on the '48 Plymouth that "Bad Decisions" races they upgraded to discs.
It was not hard. Dealing with a master under the floor boards is the hard part.

Re: Making the most of drum brakes, scoops, shoe material, drill drums etc

its probably going to be a 1972 VW super bug ........with front drum brakes....

Euro models had discs , but not USA ones

plus I  am interested in drum brake tweeks for another project !

thanks for any help.....

Re: Making the most of drum brakes, scoops, shoe material, drill drums etc

We ran drums on the rear for a while, front heavy, RWD Celica, adjusted after each day of racing as the self adjusters never work. You could notice the difference in the pedal after adjusting. There are a few fast bugs in Lemons someone must have this sorted.

Apocalyptic Racing - Occupy Pit Lane racing
Racing the "Toylet" Toyota Celica powered by Chevrolet Ecotec.
24x Loser with the Celica. 16x loser in other fine machines
Overall winner Gingerman 2019

Re: Making the most of drum brakes, scoops, shoe material, drill drums etc

To answer your original question, yes Porterfield will re-line your cores with ST43 linings.

1990 RX7 "Mazdarita"  1964 Sunbeam Imp (IOE 2013 Sears Pointless) 2002 Jaguar x-type (Winner C-Class 2021 Sears Pointless)
Gone bye-bye
1994 Jaguar XJ12 (Winner C-Class 2013 Sears Pointless)  1980 Rover SD1 (I Got Screwed 2014 Return of Lemonites)

7 (edited by californiamilleghia 2018-05-22 10:16 AM)

Re: Making the most of drum brakes, scoops, shoe material, drill drums etc

Here is a story I found about drilled drums....

http://www.chtopping.com/CustomRod4/

and

http://www.chtopping.com/hotvws/

and here is the shops website in Long Beach , Ca area
http://www.chtopping.com

Re: Making the most of drum brakes, scoops, shoe material, drill drums etc

It's prefered for you to be on the outside of a corner when your brakes melt down.  That way you're less likely to  T bone some poor racer who braked and turned in to the corner. Seems like an appropriate place for this reminder..

-Killer B's (as in rally) '84 4000Q 4.2V8. Audis never win?

Re: Making the most of drum brakes, scoops, shoe material, drill drums etc

jrbe wrote:

It's prefered for you to be on the outside of a corner when your brakes melt down.  That way you're less likely to  T bone some poor racer who braked and turned in to the corner. Seems like an appropriate place for this reminder..


This.

Sounds like a bad idea unless the OP plans on driving the entire track as a rolling chicane. Performance driving and front drums just don't mix.

#33 Ford Festiva - We Are Not Really From Iran (Retired)
#928 Porsche 928 - West German Pushrodders (Retired)
#3 BMW E36 - The Internet says this is correct

Re: Making the most of drum brakes, scoops, shoe material, drill drums etc

I suppose it all depends on how fast/light the car is.  The Imp (4 wheel drums) only needed braking in one corner at Thunderhill and was driven pretty much flat everywhere else.  A 40HP Beetle might be in the same boat.  Having said that, even though they never faded at Sonoma T9 over 2 days, I am converting the Imp to front disks.

1990 RX7 "Mazdarita"  1964 Sunbeam Imp (IOE 2013 Sears Pointless) 2002 Jaguar x-type (Winner C-Class 2021 Sears Pointless)
Gone bye-bye
1994 Jaguar XJ12 (Winner C-Class 2013 Sears Pointless)  1980 Rover SD1 (I Got Screwed 2014 Return of Lemonites)