Last month I told you we were going to talk about brake and suspension upgrades. These are two of the most important aspects of your ride. They determine how you stop for safety and how it handles and rides.
BRAKES
You have several options when approaching braking systems. Most people can become easily confused with all of the different options out there. Most antique and classic cars that we're dealing with came with manual drum brakes- not the best braking system. If you're building an all original car, then I can understand why you want to keep this. If you are building a hybrid car (see January 2007 issue), hotrod, street machine, car or truck then you'll want to upgrade to some form of disc brakes.
I prefer four-wheel disc brakes myself. They will greatly increase you stopping power and will more than likely out last any system you add to the car. The only draw back to four-wheel disc brakes is the initial bleeding. Four-wheel disc brakes have always been known for being a pain the first time you bleed them. This process should go smoothly if you start at the right rear wheel, then go to the left rear, then the right front, and finally the left front. Remember when you are bleeding brakes to always start at the farthest point from your master cylinder.
I have spent a lot of time hyping up four-wheel disc brakes, but front only disc brakes are a great alternative to drums only. They will make a drastic improvement.
Whether you stay with manual disc brakes, four-wheel disc brakes, or front only, there are 4 key things to remember.
A good vacuum source. This applies only if you are using power disc brakes. If you don't have a solid vacuum source, such has a high horsepower big block or cammed-up small block, then I would recommend either staying with manual disc brakes, or adding a belt-driven or electric vacuum pump to your braking system. Without a good vacuum source, power disc brakes are worse than drum brakes.
Used parts. Be very cautious of using used parts. I would never recommend using used parts, but if you do, stay away from used rotors and if you're going to use used calipers, you need to take the time to rebuild them. You should never, and I mean NEVER, use a caliper with out rebuilding it.
Silicon brake fluid. I would recommend anyone with a classic or antique car or truck to upgrade their braking system with silicon brake fluid. Standard brake fluid will allow moisture to build up, causing corrosion and contamination in your brake system. Silicon brake fluid won't do this. If you already have regular brake fluid in your system, make sure you do a complete flush of your brake system before you add silicon fluid.
Keep a list of what donor cars or trucks you take parts off of or use from the parts store. Take this list and put a copy in your glove box or console. If you're ever out on a long haul cruise and have a break down, this list could save your life. You won't spend hours and lost dollars trying to remember where you got the parts.
SUSPENSION
There are numerous suspension upgrade parts. You could start with something small like using urethane bushings for your front end.
If you're having body roll problems, then I would suggest adding front and rear sway bars to you ride. The one thing to remember about rear sway bars is that you might have to redo your exhaust system. I have yet to find an exhaust system, factory or custom, that didn't interfere with the mounting of a rear sway bar, so keep that in mind.
Other upgrades you can do are tubular a-arms (also referred to as control arms). This can help increase caster and camber adjustment. This will come in handy on Tri-five and 58-64 Fullsize cars that you've added a 605 or 500 series power steering box to. You could add drop spindles, which requires the addition of disc brakes. You can also add drop coil springs and drop rear leaf springs to you car or truck.
The newest in suspension upgrades is the air suspension system. I'll be honest. I haven't had a lot of experience with this type of suspension system, although I am learning quickly as I am currently installing this on a truck I am building. Air suspension scares a lot of people because they think it's complicated. I disagree with this notion. After looking at the air suspension instructions and doing some more reading, I have discovered that most air suspension systems are bolt on and require very little modification to your ride. The hardest part is running the lines and deciding where to mount the air tank and compressor.
Well, that's all for this month. Next month we're going to talk about motor mounts and transmission mounts.
