Consider doing all the brake lines with stainless. I would also replace the rear wheel cylinders with your upgrade

cdnpont wrote:

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I'd surely look to upgrade the front system at this point. And at least recondition the rear. Ensure all lines everywhere are solid minimum.

There is so much available for your car now that there is no excuse to say no but for cost. You choose the options.

 

 

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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.

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.

 

Before you decide, check out this link: http://musclecarbrakes.com/

 

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!

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!

Did you change the master cylinder on your car?

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.

66 327 sd wrote:

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What the heck? A summer filled with car issues. (It was inevitable I guess.)
Anyone else ever had this happen?

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Yes, I had a separated drum on a parts car. 

I kept the flat part (made it a smaller diameter) as a bolt pattern reference gauge for rims.