Front suspension progress

[Mopar5]

Just curious what finish (rust protection) you used on the upper control arm, lower control arm, and brake backing plate.

This is how my LCA's turned out; eastwood rust encapsulator first after cleaning, then sprayed eastwood epoxy, and finished them off with Rustoleum grey.

Looks good

[Mopar5]

There's no doubt that discs are way better and normally that's what I prefer. But now that I have a car so original, I can understand the desire for keeping it that way. If it was only about safety, I'd drive a modern car with crumple zones and air bags. Even with the finest braking system available, I'll never drive one of these old buckets at higher speeds unless it's under controlled conditions.

Seeing those photos of the suspension parts really makes me want to do my next car at that level. That stuff looks really great.

I know now we have air bags and all the safety stuff and good handling It makes me think twice about wanting to go fast in one of these things myself. This car will most likely be driven pretty tame, after all this work I don't really want to hurt anything.

[Mopar5]

Details look great ! I love seeing people going back 100% stock, drum brakes and all !

I like to think of myself as a seasoned veteran, but I've never seen the masking tape trick on the brake linings...I can't count the number of times I get those little splinters in my hands when handling those parts.....GREAT IDEA

Thanks for the good words !

[JS29]

My 383 loves to get run, My ford truck's the same thing, they don't like being babied! 

[jordan]

I like to run my car in the triple digits.  Because I have large disk brakes, I can do it over and over, again and again. 

I get the totally stock thing, but good stopping power and shorter braking distances may be more of a long term car saver than some rust preventer.  I think most people wouldn't depreciate the car because the drums were converted to disk.  It could be a value producing upgrade. 

The suspension looks great.  Keep up the quality work! 

[70 Challenger Lover]

My 383 loves to get run, My ford truck's the same thing, they don't like being babied! 

I don't always baby my cars. But the abuse mine get is generally at lower speeds so that if I screw up or something breaks, I'll most likely walk away from it. I think back to my youth and driving triple digits was a normal thing for me. Frankly I'm surprised I lived through those days.

And you're right that a brake upgrade would probably help value rather than hurt it but on a car that is nearly 100 percent original, it's kind of cool to maintain the drums. It's not like I'm stopping the car with a leather wrapped block of wood. Everyone upgrades every motor vehicle these days with modern stuff and they turn out really cool rides but sometimes you see that older car that looks just like it left the factory and you can't help but like it. Maybe it's because there are so few like that anymore.

[kawahonda]

The only time my car will ever see 80+ MPH is when I'm slowing down after a run at the drag strip.

I gear my car to cruise max at 65 MPH. My 11" HD drums, which I haven't even rebuild yet, stop fine at those speeds or below!

I don't like driving old cars in traffic anyways...I aways drive when the time is right. You won't catch me on some roads around here at 5:00PM. Just not worth it. Even with discs, the answer would still be no.

[Chryco Psycho]

Each to their own .... bad things can happen anytime at any speed
I like brakes that out perform the HP 

[JS29]

They make kit's that utilize the original spindles, If you save all the parts and put them away, one could put everything back to original in an afternoon. and not ruin the originality. better to be safe than sorry!     

[340challconvert]

Just curious what finish (rust protection) you used on the upper control arm, lower control arm, and brake backing plate.

This is how my LCA's turned out; eastwood rust encapsulator first after cleaning, then sprayed eastwood epoxy, and finished them off with Rustoleum grey.

Looks good

Thanks
The upper control arms I replaced with new; they came painted in black.  The same with the backing plate (black). I felt a little uncomfortable using 49 year old UCA's.  Originals looked ok but I went with new.
The original UCA's come natural from the factory.  If you were to use the existing ones, I would clean them up and use the rust encapsulator, and epoxy over that, then get a nice "metal" look paint to finish.  I think I used a high heat paint as the final coat for the LCA's.  JMO

[kawahonda]

Each to their own .... bad things can happen anytime at any speed
I like brakes that out perform the HP 

Bad things can happen anytime at any speed and with any brakes! Drive the car cautiously regardless!

I think HD drums get bad rep but a well-maintained HD drum brake system can be plentiful for occasional driving. I can easily "lock em up" if I wanted to...and I can easily make people want to wear their shoulder belts.

It's honestly better than I thought it was going to be after I bought the car. My '65 Ford Galaxie with drum brakes were like.....really bad.....even after a rebuild. I remembered taking that car on the road right after engine rebuilding and bodywork/paint. I recall seeing the light change to red when I was about 50 yards away, doing about 30 MPH. Guess what happened.....so yes, I know what bad brakes feel like. LOL. The rebuild helped a lot, but stopping a 4000lb car is harder than a 3500lb car!

You know what is FAR, FAR, FAR worse than drum brakes? Bias ply tires. Talk about feeling unsafe....

I've described the feeling before like driving with ice skates. That's pretty accurate.

[dodj]

How often do we drive our restored cars at 80 mph+ ?

g in excess of 95 MPH, both lanes.. If you tried running @ 70 you'd get run over.... 

2.76 gears?
That's what I had in my car the only time I took it over 100.

[RUNCHARGER]

3.23, good for 150MPH. But yeah the drums were fine 80MPH and under. Where are you guys running over 100MPH on a highway these days?

[GoodysGotaCuda]

Car is looking good!

[dodj]

3.23, good for 150MPH. But yeah the drums were fine 80MPH and under. Where are you guys running over 100MPH on a highway these days?

It was about 25 years ago....