Brake system overhaul - '71

[73Coupe]

Calipers reassembled with the rebuild kits from Raybestos....

One of these kits i purchased about 3 or 4 years ago (top box). The other one I purchased last month. Notice the baggie on the inside of one of the boxes had that infamous word on them....which didn't match the acronym on the box.

 

[73Coupe]

The rotor shields or whatever they are known as were soaked in Rust 911 for a few days and cleaned down to bare steel. On some cars I have seen these galvanized, but these appeared to have no factory coating thus were at the mercy of the elements. Heavy pitting, but still good.

New Timken bearings....

 

[Boydsdodge]

Looks great.
I think some dust shields were black.

 

[73Coupe]

Rotor shields painted....

Rotors turned.

Unfortunately, they machined one down to the minimum thickness of 1.180". I guess it may have been warped. The other one is at 1.210".

 

[73Coupe]

I decided to go ahead and restore the caliper brackets too, mainly because I wanted to experiment with a homemade rust chelation solution.

Evaporust on the left, homemade on the right:

And it's working!

 

[73Coupe]

Brackets cleaned to bare steel after a couple days in the chelation bath.

EDIT: here are the final painted brackets.

Did another round of plating on Sunday, various fender bolts, engine compartment items, & brake hardware

The caliper pin locating brackets were finished in black chromate.

And finally, the NOS combination valve was plated too, inside and out. This should make it more bullet proof. In an ideal world I would re-cast this out of brass.

Assembly complete:

 

[73Coupe]

I sent the lines back to Classic Tube, they had to make a few corrections. Just got those back and installed the fronts.

The combo valve is installed and plumbed now except for the front to rear line.

Front brakes complete. New NOS asbestos pads installed that I had sourced from @mobileparts a few years ago.

 

[73Coupe]

While I'm still waiting for the MC to be returned (!), I'm going through the rear brakes....

An all too familiar sight:

These are the original wheel cylinders.

With likely original internals....

And boots....

Cleaned and painted:

Surprisingly, the bores were clean and mostly pit-free.

The pistons appear to be cast stainless.

Various hardware cleaned and painted. The shoe return springs on the left still wear their OEM paint - a tomato red color.

 

[73Coupe]

Reassembled cylinders:

 

[73Coupe]

Raybestus continues to go downhill with their wheel cylinder kit #WK491 now having bad parts:

New kit on the left, older kit on the right:

Note the "Made in CHINA" now on the box on left.

New kit parts. The boots don't fit - too big ID and too flat.

Older kit: parts are an exact match. the spring is heavier gauge. The rubber parts all have "USA" on them.

To all who have wheel cylinder repair in their future, be aware. Find an older kit on FeeBay or consult @mobileparts .

 

[Just Carbs]

I got some Raybestos WK941 cylinder kits from Rock a few months ago and they came with the good stuff, $5.50.
My cylinders were too far gone (rust/grooves) so I then got some new Raybestos WC37235 cylinders from Rock, they also had the good parts. 6.50.
But no, it ain't original no more.

 

[73Coupe]

I got some Raybestos WK941 cylinder kits from Rock a few months ago and they came with the good stuff, $5.50.
My cylinders were too far gone (rust/grooves) so I then got some new Raybestos WC37235 cylinders from Rock, they also had the good parts. 6.50.
But no, it ain't original no more.

Interesting. The China plant must have just been fired up. The photos on Rockauto and other places still show pics of the "good" parts.

 

[edbods]

Does the boots being flat actually have any impact? Never taken a drum brake apart before but I thought that the metal rods that go in the center holes would be what's pushing against the brake shoes

 

[73Coupe]

Does the boots being flat actually have any impact? Never taken a drum brake apart before but I thought that the metal rods that go in the center holes would be what's pushing against the brake shoes

They don't fit at all. The flatness would not provide as much movement for the pistons/rods, even if they did fit. The boots flex with the operation of the cylinder.

 

[Just Carbs]

Interesting. The China plant must have just been fired up. The photos on Rockauto and other places still show pics of the "good" parts.

Maybe we never know what we will get. Rock has been good about taking back whatever doesn't match the picures so far.

Does the boots being flat actually have any impact? Never taken a drum brake apart before but I thought that the metal rods that go in the center holes would be what's pushing against the brake shoes

Yep, the flatter it is, the faster it cracks.

 

[edbods]

Ahh ok. Damn. Cost cutting and "line must go up" strikes again...

 

[73Coupe]

Maybe we never know what we will get. Rock has been good about taking back whatever doesn't match the picures so far. (....)

I ordered these a couple months ago too, and just got around to using them. I contacted rock, they said "because your order is over 30 days old, you're flucked." Which is understandable.

I sent an email to Raybestos tech help with photos; I'll give it a 1% chance that I'll get a reply, 0.01% chance that it'll make a difference. Shyte on their shoe....

Once again I should have just called Craig....

 

[Just Carbs]

I ordered these a couple months ago too, and just got around to using them. I contacted rock, they said "because your order is over 30 days old, you're flucked." Which is understandable.

I sent an email to Raybestos tech help with photos; I'll give it a 1% chance that I'll get a reply, 0.01% chance that it'll make a difference. Shyte on their shoe....

Once again I should have just called Craig....

Yep, Rock keeps a good eye on that calendar.