I have been driving my 67 "A" body with manual brakes for 37 years and it has yet to not do the job and I drive rather aggressively
Hi all, thanks again for all your help, big boattail for your link and my3buicks for the info on drum brakes...the general consensus here is that old american cars were beautiful but didn't handle or stop...although we were still fitting drum brakes too ( apart from the mk2 Jaguar ) I guess the cars were half the weight and maybe stopped seemingly a little quicker. It is good to hear that the brakes work fine, and will no doubt see how they are but the less I have to change the better. So, you reckon it is not necessary to change to power brakes either? thanks Jim
id honestly put on a brake booster. it may save your butt some day. are ypou wanting me to post the other rim pictures i have?
Had both sets, much prefer the Buick aluminum drums with power assist. The discs they used in that year were in my opinion too small; they required a greater effort to stop the 2 1/2 ton beast than the drums do. I currently have the drums in both of my big Buicks, and haven't had any fade problems; if anything they lock up too quickly and tear tires to shreds. Could never lock them up with the discs though; - maybe that's their advantage. Nothing like putting a 2 ton Electra into a lock up drift; - the wheels lock up and the tires howl; - scares the hell out of jaywalkers and anyone who steps out and figures they have rights. I did have the drums and non-assist brakes on a 60 Invicta; that required both feet on the brake to stop that car. That scared me way too often, and almost killed me when the car threatened to fly off a cliff in the mountains.
Hey Jim, greetings from Australia and good luck with the car. Hope it all works out. having owned a 1978 Lincoln Town Car in the narrow streets of Hornsey, north London, once upon a time, I can tell you that you will stop the traffic all day long in your Buick and you may need to allow an extra half-hour at service stations to answer questions LOL. My only fear is for your wallet - with petrol the price it is in the UK. My Wildcat is on LPG down here - that costs just under 40p a litre in Melbourne so i can afford to drive it a lot, even though it guzzles close to 25L/100km I had mine converted from drums to front discs and was happy to do that. Harmon Classic Brakes in the USA were incredibly helpful. Google them if you decide to change. I bought a complete conversion kit from them, and they were fitted alongside drum brake wheels, just took a bit of fettling. Happy owning! Dave
Hi all thanks for all help it is all beginning to fit together very slowly...Kiwidave I used to live not to far from hornsey in lovely holloway ( the road not the nick ) many years ago... yup the fuel prices are steep, but I don't intend to use it every day and so looking forward to seeing it...thanks for your comments though, will take it on board, did you fit the kit yourself? Jim
The other thing to keep in mind when picking up a set of the chrome plated wheels is the hole diameter at the hub. They have both 2-inch and 2 1/8 inch diameters depending on the year. You can order reproduction center caps from Mitch Romanowski on this board or from oldbuickparts.com, but you'll need to know what size hole you have so you can get the correct diameter retaining clip. It would be worthwhile to order center caps at the same time the wheels come over. I have the drums on my Electra and while they are power brakes, I've never had an issue with brake fade. The chrome wheels were not available as an option on the Electra either, but I think they look pretty darn good with them. They were on the car when I bought them, but they are the post 71 variety with 2 1/8 inch centers. They fit nicely over the drums and I bought correct year finned center caps. I've since changed back to steel rims and the correct wheel covers, but here's a couple of pics of the car with the chrome wheels on it. Since the front end of the LeSabre and Electra are pretty similar, it will give you an idea on how it will look.
