With all respect to the rather bizarre problems that
Hugh is having, I must disagree. (My shop gremlin
loves to steal my 1/2 inch sockets and phillips
screwdrivers. His must drink brake fluid or
something...)
I don't think you need to be a super mechanic. I know
some of you think I am...but I'm not, I'm just too
stubborn to give up until things are right, enjoy
getting my hands dirty, and too cheap to pay people
who don't have my desire for quality or who don't know
any more than I do to do the work.
There is nothing magical about brakes and the shop
manual is very complete and detailed. You can get new
wheel cylinders, master cylinders, and hoses locally.
You might be able to find shoes locally but several
places including Lowell Howe will reline your cores
very reasonably. You can order pre-bent new hard line
or bend it yourself from stock length if yours is
overly rusty or pitted. Power boosters are not owner
maintainable but can be rebuilt.
This is not anything to shy away from if you are
reasonably handy and have basic tools. MANY mechanics
today were not even born when our cars were new and
have no experience with these type of drum brakes.
Most will not even have the hub puller. If you do not
have one, they can be rented from tool rental places.
They are a good investment if you are going to keep
and work on your car as it is nearly impossible to
remove the rear drum without them.
I'm pretty sure I documented the complete brake
rebuild process on my 57 page. They will be identical
to the 59. (http://dte.net/57imperial) or from the IML
57 page.
I understand the concern about dual master cylinder vs
single and would probably consider adapting one if I
was in the middle of a complete rebuild or if I did
not have confidence in my E-brakes ability to stop the
car or if I drove the wheels off it. Otherwise...
I THINK the main difficult in swapping over is
mounting the new master cylinder and making sure the
cylinder is the same 'size' as the original.
Regarding what little I know about Hugh's problems,
I'd suspect a bad master cylinder. Yeah I know it's
brand new but if the wheel clinders aren't leaking,
lines aren't leaking, wheels are adjusted, the master
clinder is full of fluid, air is bled, the dang thing
WILL have a hard pedal unless the master cylinder has
a problem. The only other thing that comes to mind is
air in the master clinder because it was not bench
bled prior to installation.
Sorry for the long post, it's early and I couldn't
sleep.
Kerryp
--- Imperial59crown@xxxxxxx wrote:
> Hello Rex,
> If there is one thing I would not attempt to fiddle
> with on my '59 Imperial,
> it is the brakes, unless I was some kind of super
> mechanic. Even when my
> mechanic was getting my '59 running again, this was
> the area of the most
> headaches! Pulling the drums, and an especially
> stubborn one on the back
> passenger side, then watching the leaks, and trying
> to determine where they
> were coming from. My feeling is brakes are one of
> the most important parts of
> a two ton Imperial, and I want to be sure it is
> going to stop. After hearing
> Hugh's horror story with his '58 brakes, I am
> seriously considering putting
> on a more updated system with back ups. Of course
> maybe Hugh should have a
> '59 the true ultimate Imperial, but there are those
> who go on living their
> lives in a state of disillusionment. Bring it to a
> good mechanic, and have
> the whole system redone, after all you don't want to
> wreck the world's most
> beautiful car!
> Bill '59 Crown
>
>
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