I have owned my '66 Beaumont SD for about 35 years now. It had a repaint about 30 years ago and qualifies as "good from afar, but far from good" status. What is has going for it is that it is a SD, rag top, original 327 and PG and is pretty much complete. Today the brakes failed on me. Probably not a surprise considering I am still running on the original master cylinder. So the question is...
Should I simply replace the master cylinder (assuming that is what the problem is), or should I take the opportunity to upgrade to disc brakes (as opposed to "disk" brakes)? And if I do go to disc brakes, will my aftermarket Wheel Vintique rims accommodate? Should I be sensitive to going with a GM disc brake conversion? If I replace the master, is the part still available through GM?
Any/all thoughts are appreciated. Thanks in advance!
Well for what it's worth you might as well hear from the other side, the old drum brakes guy. Main reason I didn't change over when I did my original restoration was that I was going to be running my stock rims with caps and at that time it was difficult to get disc brake units that would accommodate them. Now after driving it for almost 10 years and putting on substantial mileage I don't ever have a thought of changing over to discs. I've had to make a couple emergency stops when cut off and they couldn't perform better and I'm aware of not riding them down long hills and so on. I may not be the normal driver as I don't barrel ass up to a red light and have to jam on the binders. When I sold my 02 pickup I had around 170 thousand kilometres on it and it still had the original brakes. Some of those miles were even put on with hauling my boat and my work trailer which neither have their own braking system. If you are an aggressive driver by all means go for it but I much prefer the feel of my brakes compared to the disc brakes that were on those high dollar cars I was taking care of a couple of years ago. They had such a hard feel to them. I have upgraded to power brakes and the dual reservoir but will never go any further than that. Geoff, you asked for opinions, and you know me well enough that I would probably give one especially now that we can't comment on religion or politics! By the way I like your car just the way it looks and which ever way you go with brakes will be fine.
Thanks for the thoughtful feedback folks. It would seem the next step is to give all of the brake components a thorough once over and not rule out either option. To your point Jerel, I have never had an issue/concern with the drums and I will need to look into any potential clearance issues re the wheels. At absolute minimum, a dual reservoir is indeed in the cards.
Either way, "safety vs originality"... especially considering our young passengers.
thx all.
I still have drums on my garage queen and won't be changing them. That is because it is stock, not a high horse model, and it gets (got?) driven with respect. Before I bought my car in 1985, a brake line blew for my aunt while it was descending the Sherman Access in Hamilton. Luckily it is a '67 and has a dual reservoir master cylinder, otherwise the car would have been wrecked. Of course the boneheads that refilled the brake fluid splashed some on the firewall, lifting the paint where it fell, leaving rust.
If you drive aggressively, or frequently in traffic, or in mountainous country, upgrading to disc brakes is a good bet. Drums can be upgraded with decent shoes though, and with a rebuild to ensure integrity and safety they can be perfectly adequate. The trouble is there is a generation of hot shoes out there that drive aggressively, cutting in front of you as you approach a red light, with no thought or appreciation of the effects of heat on drum braking.
No matter what, replace all hoses. I like the idea of stainless brake lines but I hear they are an absolute nightmare for flaring and will give you fits with leaks until you get them flared right.
Disc brakes will also require new wheels with adequate offset to clear the calipers, although I wonder how true that is with the single piston brakes. The 4 piston brakes of 67-68 certainly needed special wheels for clearance (that is why Rally Wheels made their debut on disc brake cars). Nobody is going to run 4 piston discs on their Beaumont unless it is a stock 67-68 model. Heck, upgrade to disc brakes but keep your old master cylinder in a box to stay with the car. Once you switch over though, nobody is going to switch it back.
Thx Cameron, for both the feedback and the link!
Hoping to pop in a replacement single res master today ($75.0) to avoid "burning any more daylight". That will allow me time to formulate a total improvement.
Late to the party because we were on vacation but put me in with the "stock" crowd. I've done a couple of disc conversions over the years and never really noticed any difference. But as Jerel said, my driving is not exactly wild either!
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1966 Strato Chief 2 door, 427 4 speed, 45,000 original miles
1966 Grande Parisienne, 396 1 of 23 factory air cars
It was soooo good. Just my wife and I for over a week at our cabin. There are 3 other cabins in our little block of the lake and all of them are really good neighbours but none of them were there all week. We were truly alone, basically in the wilderness with next to no cell service. Kept a fire on in the woodstove all week even though we had many nice days. Breakfast at 10:30-11:00, supper whenever and lots of reading and naps scattered at any random time of the day... Took the boat out a few different days, turned off the engine and lounged in the sun while we drifted and watched the bald eagle, etc. Little bit of bass fishing in a lake nearby topped it off!
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1966 Strato Chief 2 door, 427 4 speed, 45,000 original miles
1966 Grande Parisienne, 396 1 of 23 factory air cars
Yes. Opted for the quick solution as we had some great weather. Picked up a single reservoir aftermarket from Napa for $70.00. Will deal with the bigger picture in the fall. Likely being new lines, a dual reservoir, and drums.
I drove a 4200 lb 427 4 speed Grande Parisienne for many years with the stock power drums and was completely satisfied with the brakes. However, I readily acknowledge that I am a minority with that type of thinking.
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1966 Strato Chief 2 door, 427 4 speed, 45,000 original miles
1966 Grande Parisienne, 396 1 of 23 factory air cars
What the heck? A summer filled with car issues. (It was inevitable I guess.) Anyone else ever had this happen?
Yes, I had a separated drum on a parts car.
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Prince Edward Island
'64 Parisienne CS "barn find" - last on the road in '86 ... Owner Protection Plan booklet, original paint, original near-mint aqua interior, original aqua GM floor mats, original 283, factory posi, and original rust.
I kept the flat part (made it a smaller diameter) as a bolt pattern reference gauge for rims.
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Prince Edward Island
'64 Parisienne CS "barn find" - last on the road in '86 ... Owner Protection Plan booklet, original paint, original near-mint aqua interior, original aqua GM floor mats, original 283, factory posi, and original rust.
Yup, that happened to me when I hit the brakes one day when I first built the car, I heard a pop!... I drove for ,many years with 4 drums, but discs on the front are worth the upgrade. My stock drums had a really hard time stopping the car at all when braking at high speeds (100mph plus), in low speed city driving they were ok.
