About Us

mgarblik · 01-13-2016, 07:55 PM

Please report back. I think you are really going to love them once you get a good set on the car. My 62 Catalina has a good set and 15" wheels and radial tires. It really stops well, probably the best 4 wheel drum brake car I have ever owned. Much better than my 68 Firebird with 4 wheel drums.

barrierblue66 · 09:39 PM

My 8 lugs are back on the car, and it's on the ground

Thanks to everyone who commented, SteveP for the spare rim, JohnH and my club members SteveV and Gary Anderson for suggestions and concerns, things to look for.

Had the old tires unmounted and the rims glass beaded. Then self etching primer, and Rustoleum gloss black paint. Sprung for 225-70-14 redlines from Summit, they had the best price and free shipping. The tires that were on the car were the same size and I liked how they filled the wheel wells.

While I had the wheels off I cleaned and painted the backing plates, undercoated the wheel wells, and replaced brake hardware. The brake shoes were all in very good condition and the fronts were sent to J&G to be arced as suggested. Sanded the insides of the skirts then painted with black Rustoleum rust inhibitor paint and greased the locking bars.

Sent the front drums to J&G for relining, which had the classic rust layer in between the liner and drum, had them back in about 3 weeks. 32 lbs each, shipping was about $45 each way using my wife's UPS account. The rears were fine, just had them turned to clean the liners up and painted them with VHT Ford argent silver wheel paint which SteveV said looked real to the Rally silver. I know that these should be black but I really liked the way they looked silver so I left them. The front drums came back sprayed silver as I had wanted.

On one of my relined drums, I had an issue where I couldn't tap in the bearing seal. Seems the seat area lost the ridge that holds the seal in. I talked to Don at J&G right away, he suggested a few ideas (wrong seal, burr in the seat area) which I had already checked and found to not be the problem. After a few days and several emails, he said he will just send me another relined drum, no problem, which I had in about 4 days. He was very quick to remedy my issue. Drums also had new races installed and came with new bearings and seals.

I installed the arced brake shoes, then the drums. I then sanded each spoke with 320, then 800 sandpaper then used Mothers wheel polish and I think they came out great. Polished the trim rings, lugs and caps also. Bled the brakes and then off the lift for a test ride. Braking is great, new rubber is always a treat. No more pulsating and shaking after once around the block prior to relining.

Now I'll move on to the replacing the carpet. The interior is all out and I'll detail the dash with some polish and oil the wood as well. New package tray also, came with the car, thanks Bruce. I have the '66 dealer accessory Pontiac compass to install, as well as the '66 hazard flasher which I was able to remove from my GTO before it went off into the unknown.

Took alot of pix, here are some.