My Speedster replica brakes suck

WOLFGANG posted:

Now that "we've" talked Gary into rear disc brakes - be sure to warn him that many rear brake kits increase the rear track.  Some so much (VS common swing axel not so much but IRS for sure) that the rear tires may now rub the fender wells. Especially with offset of many 5.5" wheels. Also, ensure the kit has accommodations for the emergency/parking brake (many do not - so you have to carry a brick or two). I'd love rear disc brakes on my IRS CMC with IRS rear and 914 2L alloys - BUT no way it would fit as I have maybe a 1/4" now --- so even wider T3 rear drums would not work.  That leaves only costly work to the rear swing control arms (or dropping back to 4.5" wheels).

Well, if you can't narrow the arms  yourself, this doesn't seem too expensive.

IaM-Ray posted:

Well carbs, drum brakes, axle seals, what else has to be added to the maintenance list Al?

Besides all fluid/grease levels, air pressure, timing, valves, carbs, making sure you still have full throttle, trans mounts, alignment, battery condition and ??? Just about every nut, bolt and screw on the car, Ray...

@LI-Rick- those look really nice!

Airkewld make a disc brake kit that adds no track width to the rear axle.  I'm sure there are others. @Gary Mitchell is in Palm Springs and asked where he could take his speedy. May I suggest a trip to Hawaiian Gardens to visit Greg at Vintage Motorcars of CA? He'll be someone you want to know as you're under 100 miles away. 

Al, I should have been more specific but I was trying to show the Air cooled maintenance routine and of course kibbitzing with you.  

BTW, Every spring I go over & tighten all the bolts I can find under the car and believe it or not I lost a shock nut & bolt once on the rear suspension.

IaM-Ray posted:

Al, I should have been more specific but I was trying to show the Air cooled maintenance routine and of course kibbitzing with you.  

I know Ray; that's why my reply was in kind!

All kidding aside, the best place to find it is in the Bentley manual. Maybe I'll see later about posting it.

WOLFGANG posted:

Be careful out there, guys.  My accident could have been a lot worse.

Lane, I'd tell folks your nose was from a bar fight, and they ought to see the other 3 guys.

I have no idea what you are talking about. 🤣

By the Gary, this is what we refer to as thread drift.  You’ll get used to it. 😬

WOLFGANG posted:

Be careful out there, guys.  My accident could have been a lot worse.

Lane, I'd tell folks your nose was from a bar fight, and they ought to see the other 3 guys.

Wolf don’t say that he might get his nose out of joint

OK brakes are great but how old are your tires?

When I bought Bridget (in 2009!?) I hopped in and drive her to Carlisle the next spring without a lot of prep or inspection. It was a running car, the owner delivered it to my house...etc.

At the time I had four-wheel drum brakes and I'm pretty sure I adjusted them and maybe bled them (maybe not) and hit the road.

At some point, following Paul Mossberg in his TD, I came over a rise and he was dead-stopped about 100 yards ahead. I locked those puppies up and skidded a good part of the way toward him.

Later I found out the tires on my car were 8 or 10 years old. 

They looked new.

I'd never have suspected a problem. But they were old and hard and over-inflated by about 10 pounds each (probably 30-35 pounds of air pressure in every one of them).

My brakes were fine. The old tires, albeit with very low miles, were not. 

A new set of Nankangs with the air pressure set at about 16-18 front and 24-26 rear made a world of difference.

And yeah, discs in front made it better yet. Removing a bunch of leaf springs from the front axle beam improved it more still. Discs on the back would make it even better.

But nothing changed the car so much as getting those new tires.

Now that’s a very good point, Ed.  Age is important and inflation pressures are different from most cars, and I’d be willing to bet that a lot of folks aren’t aware of either.

Stan Galat posted:

 

...Original 356s had drums on all 4 corners-- not because they were better, but because they embraced a proven 1950s technology...

Stan brings up a good point- Porsche was the last major manufacturer in European racing to make the switch to discs. With their lighter cars and innovations (strategically drilled holes so the air ducted through would remove more heat, 20 mm wider shoes on the Carreras and Spyders and all variations for more surface area, matching aluminum finned drums (again, better/faster heat removal) with steel liners and dual wheel cylinders so both shoes were active and I'm sure others more subtle) the P engineers were able to make them work competitively longer than any one else. By the very end of the 1950's or beginning of the '60's, though, tracks speeds were getting so high that it became obvious that they'd taken drum technology as far as it would go. I don't know when their race cars started sporting discs (a year or 2 before?), but they showed up on the production cars with the introduction of the 356 C (June 1963). And the 5x130 mm bolt pattern was born...

Maybe the Porsche guys just listened to (or got beat in a race by) Ettore Bugatti when he said:

” I build my cars to GO, not to Stop. “

And didn’t Shelby (or one of those racing guys back then) say something like:

“People who use brakes never win races”?

“People who use brakes never win races”?

That had to be one of the NASCAR guys!