Brakes, Can't Seem to Get Them Working Properly

[Bob Anderson]

Installed new shoes on my 62 Coupe and after three drives around the block and adjustments after each drive I've still have poor braking and a spongy pedal. I bled them all the way around and cannot find any leaks or seeps. I've got the dual MC. I'm probably missing something but I can't figure it out. Suggestions?

Bob,

I recently finished going down the path you are on with our 63 356 S. We found that the two cylinders on the passenger side front brakes needed to be replaced or repaired. Our mechanic replaced the cylinders and changed all of the rubber brake lines and adjusted all of the brakes. Then I took the car for a drive and it really pulled to the right. Another trip to the mechanic same result. Our son Roberto and I drive our car to driving events so I decided in favor of safety and purchased the ZIMs drum to disk conversion kit. What a positive change. Now our 356 stops almost as nice as our 912.

Of course I saved the drum system intact so after I am gone and some day my son decides to sell the car the then new owner can convert the car back to Drums.

Good luck on your project.

Regards,
Bob Anderson

[Mervyn Hyde]

More generally, I note that on my 62 Coupe that the brake shoe lining is reportedly original and its pretty hard, although the pedal is firm and car stops straight and reasonably well. The drums are in good condition and well within the required measurements. As I am in Australia and freight cost is an issue for ordering new lined shoes, I approached a local brake shop that does drum brake relining on classic cars. The assure me that they can reline my existing 'shoes' and radius them to suit the wheel matching drums. The cost is only $50 a wheel and that seems more than reasonable for the job.

Any thoughts or experience that can be shared on this process?

[Larry Brooks]

I've always preferred the look of 356B aluminum brake fins behind factory 356 steel wheels(chrome or painted). 356C's stop well and don't need periodic adjustments, but lack the classic look I enjoy. Back when I put many miles on a 356 this no adjustment needed made C's my first choice for a driver. Now that I only put 2-3000 miles a year on them- I'll take that classic look every time and adjust the brakes every year or so. There is more fade with the drums under really hard driving conditions, but I don't race them and I've never noticed any fade, even under pretty hard driving (teenager) years ago.

So when I put my 356B Cab back on the road the original drum brakes were an easy choice. Over the past 20 years I have always purchased all of the good looking 356B drums I found for sale stashing them here and there in my storage area. I was a bit surprised when I dug them out to sort through them - I had accumulated 28 brake drums over the years! I had them all soda blasted and picked four that are virtually NOS. I've been selling the rest on eBay since I hadn't realized just how far I had overshot the runway .

I replaced the master cylinder, all wheel cylinders, mounting hardware and all of the brake lines, steel & rubber. I used my power bleeder to remove all of the air. I did a pretty tight adjustment, ran them for 100 miles and readjusted them again. The car stops great with no pulling, pulsing or any other issues. If I really stand on them all four stock, narrow tires will slide before I run out of braking force so I see no advantage to disc brakes which will only do the same thing without stopping any better or quicker.

For anything but a race car I can't imagine using anything else on a 356B. All of the components are inexpensive and simple to install too.

[Mervyn Hyde]

Thanks Larry. I also have no desire to discard the lovely drums but was wondering about experiences with relining the existing brake shoes?

[Larry Brooks]

Thanks Larry. I also have no desire to discard the lovely drums but was wondering about experiences with relining the existing brake shoes?

I must admit that I got lazy. When Stoddard had a sale on the kit with everything: 8 shoes, 6 wheel cylinders & mounting hardware I bought one. Everything was in one box making it very easy to do it right. Since I was using stock (nearly NOS) 180mm diameter drums the regular shoes they supplied are fine. With the stock dimension drums they fit and any high spots came off in the first 100 miles - radius set by drums ? I did trial fit them in the drums before installing and was happy with the contact area being uniform.

[Mervyn Hyde]

Agreed Larry.

I am sure however that someone has had their existing shoes relined and would like to hear how it went?

I just realised that this looks like thread stealing .. sorry Bob. Seeing it was an old thread, I just added to it. Missed your recent post. I should start another thread on relining

[John Brooks]

Bob

This may sound stupid, but look at the wheel cylinders and make sure they push the shoe into the direction of the rotation. ie left front shoe from the top. so rotation pulls the shoe into the drum. The drum rotational force is passed into the adjuster star.

I have a friend who brought his coupe by after a driver restoration. Brakes worked but took way too much pressure. His mechanic got the new wheel cylinder sides mixed up and put the wheel cylinders on the wrong sides. The top cylinder pushed the shoe aft into the drum. this caused the rotation to push against the wheel cylinder wet side and this force counteracted the master cylinder pressure. His rears would lock up and skid but never the front. the brakes worked but not like they should be.

Swapped them around and it would snap your neck at 30MPH.

[Al Zim]

Two situations may have occurred the first is that you (or someone else) has installed the front wheel cylinders backwards, on one or both sides. The second is that you have to adjust the brakes by tightening the shoe against the drum and then back it off 5 to 7 clicks so the pedal is closer to the floor for toe-heal driving style and then the shoes will first touch the drums at the center of the shoe. You are welcome to call me 800.356.2964 if you need to discuss this situation, al zim
Zim's Autotechnik has been selling relined brake shoes for over 25 years.