pullin-gs

Anyone ever buy one of these from them?
http://www.summitracing.com/parts/su...make/chevrolet

jim lockwood

That looks like a NAPA 440-1575 brake drum. See:

440-1575 click here

It's not a Corvette-specific drum, but it is dimensionally similar to a stock drum and will work. Original application was an early '70s G-20 van or some such. Anyway, I put a set of 4 (bought from NAPA) on my '60 when I developed my Big(ger) Brake package which uses 2-1/4" front shoes:





If it matters, the drum is significantly heavier than a standard Corvette drum and weighs more than even the original RPO 684 drums.

One last thing.... The price from Summit is exceptional. If they really will sell the drums for $36 and if they are the same as the NAPA drum, that's a bargain.

Jim

pullin-gs

Jim,

I was going to get a set of NAPA dums, but the cost for them is way too much. Anyway, I was looking for a set of "finned" drums and came across these. But before I buy, I want to make sure they indeed do have the fins.
I'd get the real-thing (I have the rest of the car see below....just missing rear drums) if I could.

jim lockwood

When I was accumulating the NAPA drums for my Big(ger) Brake conversion, one drum arrived without fins. That may have been a packaging error or it may have been NAPA's sly way of trying to cost-reduce the drum. Either way, my local store took that drum back and ordered me a replacement.

The drums I bought were made in North America. Given the almost 3X price factor between NAPA and Summit, I can't help wondering if the Summit drums are from a foreign source.


Wow. Those original drums are real museum pieces.

I don't know any reason you can't use the NAPA/Summit drums on the rear. If you decide to try them, how posting a follow up?

Jim

DZAUTO

This should make a good comparrison of original HD drums (above) and what I've pulled off of later GM A-body rears.


The fins on the later GM drums are smaller, but there are more of them, thus I would expect heat disipation to be about the same or maybe even better.

Vet65te

Tom - How much later A-bodies? When I needed to replace the rear drums on my 61, I went with Raybestos from RockAuto. Price was good at around mid $30's but no fins.

Mike T.

DZAUTO

Mike,
I pulled mine off of the rear of a 76 Cutlass wagon. I've also seen this drum on 77 wagons.




But understand clearly that these drums have to be modified, which requires a press and a brake lathe.
The fins on REPLACEMENT drums are not as pronounced as the original drums. PLUS, some replacement drums have less pronounced fins than others.
Here is what the original, cleaned up drums look like BEFORE the flange is cut off behind the fins. The flange DOES NOT have to be cut off, but I feel it just looks more "Heavy Duty" if the flange is removed.


And this is what it looks like after the flange is removed and the center is pressed down.


This is a replacement drum, again, before the flange is cut off. Notice the fins are not quite as pronounced as they are on the ORIGINAL GM drum above.


And this is the replacement drum AFTER the flange is cut off (rear of 56).




And finally, this shows the back side of the drum (on the front) with the wheel installed and the fins clearly showing------------------------which cannot be seen if the flange is not removed.

jim lockwood

That might be true in regards to the original GM drums, Tom, but it doesn't hold for the NAPA replacements.

Before I decided to use the NAPA 440-1575 drum for my Big(ger) Brakes, I investigated the fit of the NAPA 440-1248, which is the replacement for your A-body drums.

Without removing the flange, the drums collide with the suspension when the wheel is turned to full lock. That might not have been the case if I had used a press on the center as you have done; it didn't occur to me to try that.

Jim

John BX NY

That's the only part of this that doesn't give me that warm fuzzy feeling...otherwise this is very interesting stuff to a C2 guy.

jimgessner

I love this story. I may know where some ''ORIGINAL'' rear drums are. They are more available as they rarely wore out. It all come back to what you want to do, ''drive it'' or show it.

DZAUTO

Both now.
At one time (back in the 70s when I first did the car), the car was basically a show only car. After a few years I got really tired of not driving it. Back then, it had Chrome plated stock style drums (which have been boxed up in the attic for 20+yrs). Anyone want them? I had lost sight of my ORIGINAL objective with the car which was to have a serious Hotrod in 56-57 Corvette skin.
Well, enough was enough and now it's a 60-40 driver/show car.
MUCH MORE ENJOYABLE!!!!!!!!!
Again (someone always chimes in), I KNOW, I KNOW, I KNOW that discs are superior, I KNOW that! But my home made HD drums work really well and I just LIKE the looks of finned HD drums!