Installing larger '59 - '64 larger drum brakes on '55 - '57 Chevy

[enigma57]

In years past, I have swapped larger drum brakes onto these cars with good results and that is what I will do with my present '57 Chevy. I will swap the stock 11" X 2" wide front drums and 11" X 1.75" wide rear drums for the larger '59 - '64 Chevy 11" X 2.75" wide front drums and 11" X 2.0" wide rear drums. Will keep the manual adjusters and run a really good ceramic brake shoe lining. Will also add a rebuilt Bendix remote mount power brake booster similar to those used on '57 - '58 Cadillacs and GMC trucks. From past experience, I'm sure the '57 will stop just fine.

Before this evening, I hadn't really sat down and done the math regarding swept area of disc brake rotors versus same diameter drum brakes of various widths and all that. Just knew from past experience that everything else being equal...... Bigger is better when it comes to discs or drums.

Found an interesting old thread on this very subject on a British forum this evening......

https://www.britishcarforum.com/bcf/...ea-calculation

Anyway...... By swapping '59 - '64 Chevy drum brakes onto my '57 Chevy (going from 11" X 2.0" wide front brakes and 11" X 1-3/4" rear brakes to 11" X 2.75" wide front brakes and 11" X 2.0" rear brakes)...... I will increase swept area of front brakes by 37.5% and swept area of rear brakes by 14.28%.

From the article on the British forum linked above...... 11" disc brake rotor has 45 sq. in. of swept area per side X 2 sides = 90 sq. in. total swept area.

My present 11" X 2.0" wide front drums have only 69.1152 sq. in. swept area. However, after swapping the wider 11" X 2.75" wide front drums onto the '57, swept area increases to 95.0334 sq. in.

So thought that was an interesting comparison. I'll let you know how it works out.

Happy Motoring,

Harry