Interesting information. I appreciate it. Drivers are very aggressive in
this city. Our insurance rates are through the roof. People accelerate as
fast as they can without squealing away from stops and will accept a spacing
of more than two vehicle lengths at expressway speeds as an invitation to
move in front of you. Even as traffic is slowing down. Yes drum brakes are
usually as effective as disks until they heat up. But these people don't
need much driver skill when all they have to do is to place steady pressure
on the pedal and let the anti-lock system take over.
Traffic in this city travels very fast between stops during rush hour and
people make all sorts of crazy lane changes, even though they don't get
anywhere any more quickly. I have no scientific proof of the following, but
I suspect that the one hundred to one hundred ten degree afternoon ambient
temperatures we have nearly half the year, the intense sunlight shining on
the extensive expanse of asphalt, etc. combine to provide an environment non
condusive to brake cooling.
My Imperial, with its Budd disk set up stops very well in most instances. It
isn't on the road at the moment. The Full Contact brakes on the '59 Plymouth
were hard to keep in adjustment, but worked okay. They did fade fast in stop
and go traffic and when I took my foot off the gas to coast a little bit
within a block of a red traffic signal, I would often encounter somebody
cutting in front of me at the last minute and forcing me to stop more
suddenly. The AAJ brake disk conversion has shortened the stopping distance
and the brakes do not heat up as much in heavy traffic, making the stopping
more predictable under all circumstances. Incidently, the Plymouth also has
radials and gas shocks. The Imperial has radials, but still has hydraulic
shocks.
I do use the breaker cam lubricant and had the Plymouth's original Autolite
distributor rebuilt by a very reputable restoration place. All new bushings,
etc. Also new correct ballast resistor, new cap, rotor, etc. I could not
keep a set of points in there. It was very frustrating since the car is
driven almost daily. Couldn't find the problem, have been installing points
in various vehicles for more than half my life and never encountered this
before, so I gave up and went electronic. :-)
I wish I knew about that suspension swap when I had my '68 C-20. I'll keep
it in mind for my '66 C-10.
K.
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