IML: Discs onto a 1962? -let sleeping dogs lie
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IML: Discs onto a 1962? -let sleeping dogs lie



Duckie26626@xxxxxxx wrote:
P.S. Any try to Adapt Disk Brakes to the front of a 62?????
 
 
Why re-engineer one of the best engineered cars on the planet for its time?  I ask that sincerely and not as a sharp rebuttal. 
 
If you have insufficient brakes now, they need to be either replaced or re-adjusted.  They were awfully good from the factory, for what they were. 
 
Discs will technically have better fade resistance, so this means that you should avoid repeated high speed stops and use the low gear for engine braking when going down steep hills, but aside from that, 1962 cars were not made for discs and worked well under regular conditions.  Their brakes are not one of the widely reported weaknesses on them as far as I have heard, at least from people with working brakes.
 
I have driven a 1960, 1964, 1970, and 1973 all over hilly San Francisco with a full passenger compartment.  The first two have 2 different types of drums - total contact (as on 1962) on the 1960 and Bendix on the 1964, the second two years have discs that are similar to each other if not interchanges.
 
When the system gets hot after repeated rides down really steep hills, the brakes on the drums get mushy and I have to let them cool, but they come back fine, all in about equal time.  The Discs get really smelly but keep working a bit longer.  They too will fade if worked repeatedly, and I suspect that the pedal squishy-ness is from boiling the brake fluid, not from the pads going soft, but I'm no engineer, they all just get squishy after a point and warn you to knock it off for awhile.
 
You can see my car and me doing "The Drop" 3/4 of the way down this page that I did for Imperial Margarine, the '73:
http://www.imperialclub.com/Yr/1973/Wills/index.htm
 
Retro-fitting other parts onto the car is a major engineering undertaking.  I do not know anyone that had their OEM brakes done properly that subsequently wanted to go to discs (Please introduce yourself if you have had both systems, both in optimal tune, and then put discs on to your satisfaction).
 
 


Kenyon Wills
 
 


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