1965 Upgraded Brakes Upgrade Question?

D Durden

DEEP FAT FRY
Founding Member
Mar 9, 2000
5,525
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Got a brake question for you guys regarding my brakes . . . that have already been upgraded.

Many moons ago, I did the traditional front Grenada / rear 9" Versi swap (like in 1994). I have a '67 booster / MC, too. Now I'm looking for something "mo better".

There are a buh-jillion kits out there, but I'm looking for something very streetable that will fit what I have. I'm not looking to break the bank, but I don't mind spending some extra on a product that's WORTH it.

This is a daily driver but could see some corner carving at the track (no drag work . . . ever). REALLY what I want the upgrade for is that I'm in a heavy traffic area with lots of morons.

Oh, and if anyone has come up with a really good brake booster / mc combo that fits a '65, I'm all ears.

Thanks team!
 
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Okay, here are the updates.

I went with Willwood brakes in the front and Right Stuff Detailing for the rears. I did the Scott Drake MC / BB and a proportioning valve. Between Jeggs, Summit, and Autoparts Warehouse, I got everything delivered eventually. Long story . . . not important.

upload_2016-5-20_11-5-59.jpeg


Fronts



upload_2016-5-20_11-6-21.jpeg


Rears


MC / BB

upload_2016-5-20_11-6-46.jpeg



Okay, everything went in pretty good . . . no real issues. The Willwoods are really nice units. The Right Stuff, not as good as Willwood but a) still good quality and b) HOLY CRAP, THEY WERE CHEAP! And I have a parking brake now for the first time since 1993. Not that I ever use it.

We're dealing with an issue now. See below:

upload_2016-5-20_11-8-11.jpeg



This is off the Scott Drake unit. During the specified brake "break in", we did this on a hard stop. Not sure what happened. Pretty sure it SHOULDN'T happen. We're contacting Summit now (that's where we got it).

Other than this, so far, so good right now. I'll keep everybody informed.
 
Yup, that’s off the Scott Drake MC / BB linkage. I’m with you on the binding thing. Here’s where I’m searching for answers, though.

My mechanic said that it happened during the break in for the brakes (per the brake documents). He did several “normal” stops with no problems. Then on a hard stop, pow, this happened. I’m wondering if the “bind” isn’t further down on the brake pedal travel and that’s why he didn’t see it on the “normal” stops. Then again, I’m not sure how much more or less travel there is on those stops.

ANYWAY, Summit Racing is sending a new replacement unit as a free exchange with no questions asked. :)

I’m replacing upper and lower control arms, too. My old girl is overdue for some “love”. I'm trying to decide which ones to use.
 
Summit is the best when it comes to exchanges and returns. They've been real good to me.
That booster you have has slotted brackets on the back (booster side of brackets) to adjust for the offset due to the booster being located above the hole in the firewall. This is for the manual shift. I'll bet they have that position adjusted incorrectly and its sitting too high or too low and binding. Even so that bolt should not bend that easily, or they used some big moose farmboy to test drive it? :)
 
Update: Right now, I rank this setup about 87% as good . . . as the original manual non-power drum brakes. We're trying to troubleshoot it, but the brakes have little or no power at all . . . if I don't eat any Mexican food and clinch up my butt tight enough, I can put enough force onto the pedal to lock up the back brakes after a good 150 feet of trying (under 40 mph). The Willwoods don't even have enough power to lock up.

Right now, we're going to swap out the fancy Scott Drake M/C and PB with a stock 1967 unit to see if we get any improvement. We DO have vacuum and even added a vacuum pump.

Anyone have any experience with the Scott Drake unit? I can't help but believe it's just not putting out.