John Lee's Non Power Dual Drum/Drum Master Cyllinder Brake Conversion

[Sharps40]

First test ride on the totally new brake system went well. Plenty good stopping power and I'm very happy, no leaks. 4 Drums with new shoes and cylinders. All new lines. All new rubber hoses. E-brake properly adjusted.
Non Power Drum Drum Dual Master cylinder. 3/16" play in pedal to release the master cylinder piston at the top of the release stroke....Koolski.

Finally clean enough to take some pics. Dot 3 about ruined my last camera when I did this upgrade on Ol John Lee so I figured to wait till I was done to break out GoodWife's new camera for the photo shoot.

Just gotta hit the hardware store for some clips/clamps to secure all the new lines to the frame and cross member to prevent vibration.

This is the Al Cardone ($20) 1967 C10/Impala rebuilt master from Oreilles I had installed on Ol John Lee. We got about 1000 miles down the road before "Smush, Alien Frontal Attack" and Ol John Lee got a bit bent. Some rust but I didn't paint it cause I spill as much as I pump thru. Line by firewall feeds the front pair of drums. Line away from the firewall (front of master) feeds the rear pair of drums. (No, the slave cylinders will not weep while parked, proved this with the install on Ol John Lee)



Here at the LF wheel, just under the master and aft of the cross member, the original 1965 T-fitting in the background....this serves as the branch to feed both front drums from the primary reservoir (firewall side) of the drum drum master. Just in front of that is a second feeder line, from the front of the master which also crosses from left to right and eventually winds up out back to feed the rear pair of drums.



Typical hookup, in this case the LF wheel. Tightened now so it shouldn't leak.



Not as pretty but I'm using prefab lengths of PolyArmor brake line....all this up front is 1/4" diameter line for the 1 1/8" cylinders on the front drums. Here one line comes from the LF T-fitting to feed the RF wheel. The other higher line is the feeder that takes fluid back to the rear drums from the most forward reservoir on the new master. (Here at the RF wheel used to be a brass T-fitting, 1/4" in and a 1/4" out for the RF wheel and a 3/16" out to run all the way to the rear drums....now this T-fitting is eliminated and front/rear are connected to independent reservoirs for safety.)



Different from factory, I ran 1/4" line all the way to the rear. Factory runs 3/16" line from the RF T-Fitting to the rear hose. Now, to do this, since the rear hose is threaded for a 3/16" line I simply installed a 1/4" to 3/16" adapter line....an 8" section worked fine. Bent to meet the upper end of the rear hose at the hose bracket. (The lil silver section is the adapter line connecting the 1/4" green PolyArmor line to the female end of the new rear rubber hose.)




The 1965 C10 RR T-Fitting is shaped differently and mounts differently than the 1964 RR T-Fitting. Fortunately, it is serviceable and I reused it. Installed the male end of the rear rubber hose, and branched off two 3/16" PolyArmor lines to the rear wheel cylinders.



This is the feeder to the LR wheel cylinder. Again, not as pretty as making your own lines from scratch but plenty of clearance and nothing strikes or even comes close to the line.



A shorter branch from the rear T-Fitting to the RR wheel cylinder.



Lessons Learned:

1. Find another use for your money besides a Mighty Vac...perhaps a pro line flaring tool.

2. Gravity is your best friend for wetting out all new lines. Have a smoke and a coke and wait for it.

3. Have an amiable Wife or Girlfriend pump the system up for ya, there's no other way I can see to get good brakes than to work the master cylinder like its supposed to be worked.

4. Adjust your brake rod as needed for a bit of clearance to fully release the pistons in the master. In the cases of Ol John Lee and John Lee Jr, the master was a direct swap and no adjustments of the pushrod required.

5. Never use a wrench to start a break fitting together, it WILL strip the threads. If it ain't goin in by hand its crooked or dirty.

[Sharps40]

Good run to work this morning on the new brake system. System comes on line at the top of the pedal and starts to firm up in the first 1/4 stroke. I'm very pleased. We'll do a leak check tonight and one night this week make final tweaks on the shoe clearance at all four wheels and clip down all the lines but overall, 95%+ there. Project went a bit faster this time. At least the basic install did since I learned a lot doing this job on Ol John Lee first. Short of 1.5 day delay for a replacement hose, and that wouldn't have happened had I refrained from starting a fitting with a wrench, I think it would have been just a 1 day job.

[LostMy65]

Still happy with your setup?
.
I'm going to have to stay with drums all around on mine because of how deep my wheels are. I just can't get discs to fit, and I'm keeping the wheels that are on the truck.
Splitting the lines and installing a dual master cylinder was the first thing I did when I got my 65 back.
But I'm surely going to go with power brakes as my next upgrade.

[Sharps40]

Yep. Loved it in the mountains trout fishing and turkey hunting last month.....no worries or fade or anything on 5% to 9% grades. No lockin up round town less I want it to lock. Perfect function, perfect reliability, perfect around $300 mod (with all new lines, split, rubbers, etc.).

The ratio change on the pedal is a must do, as is the fine tuning of pushrod length and free play. Once in its all drive and no worries and plenty good stop....saved my bacon several times in the snow and winter mix too.

Now I gotta pick a nice steering column and replace the rear suspension bushings and put in a sliding back glass and ......

[Palf70Step]

If mine had already not been coverted, I would have done same thing. Nice writeup and glad it is working good.

[Sharps40]

Makes it like a modern truck. Almost makes me want to put in power steering....almost!

[Ronw435]

I have a question. Do you have to go with the 1/4" lines for the dual master cylinders? Or can you use the original 3/16?

[Sharps40]

The lines off the master are usually 1/4 inch for the front and 3/16 to the rear. I suppose you could use different sizes but I decided to keep it close to the way it was from the factory, 1/4" feeding the larger front wheel cylinders and 3/16" feeding the smaller rear cylinders.

[awbrown]

Mine is still drums , with what looks to be a Chrysler master cylinder and power booster, always works fine , of course with regular brake adjustments..