Rocket Richard

Hey guys,
From Winnipeg, Canada and when you get a car they make you get a safety inspection to make sure the thing won't be a hazard on the road. Well I got me a 66 Dynamic, and despite the amount of work this car will need I am a proud new owner. I have been working on old VW's for years and this Dynamic is different than a bug in so many ways.

Anyhow a couple of items I need to fix:

The parking brake: this is operational but needs adjusting, I have a repair manual on the way by mail but I was wondering if this is an easy fix. Where can I adjust the cables?

The brake drums: I looked around like crazy for at least one rear brake drum for this car to pass the safety inspection, and wow they are hard to find. Eventually I found this guy who says he supplies Fusek and he said out of the thousands of drums he has, he only had one rear drum for my car. I was hoping for 2 for the rear, but not sure what I can do about that if I can't find another.

Do you guys have any leads or suggestions on rear brake drums for a 66 dynamic? These are 9.5" x 2 with a 5 x 5" bolt pattern. I've tried to find interchangeability info online but so far nothing really useful.

The brake shoes: I still have to take the front drums off to see what size the shoes are, but when I looked online for these I ran into different sizes listed for this car. I don't know if there was some option or special package that would mean different sizes available. Strange.... but I'll get it right in the end.

Just something more to add: have any of you guys dealt with Billionsandtrillions for parts? I needed a turn signal cancel cam... maybe an $8 part, I called them up and talked to this guy Frank who wouldn't believe me that you can buy them and he wanted me to buy an entire steering column for $450! His tone was not cool, like I was wasting his time. I said look buddy, there's no way I'll buy an entire column to get one little part and he said "you'll be back". Well I wasn't impressed and I'm going to avoid this company like the plague. I did find what I was looking for from Rock Auto for under $10.

Cheers,
Rich

jaunty75

The cable for this is visible under the car, and you should be able to follow it from the front, where it goes up into the footwell where the pedal is, to the rear, where it connects to the rear brake on each side. There's often a turnbuckle or some other adjustment to allow you to tighten or loosen it.

Have you tried kanter.com? They show availability of rear brake drums for 1966 Olds 88s. Item number 02228F on this page:

http://www.kanter.com///productdetai...0&Cat=6&Prc=35

They're $99 apiece, but if you need them, you need them.

MDchanic

Why won't the old drums pass?

- Eric

rocketraider

You absolutely sure that's a 9.5" brake drum? Those are for Jetstar 88s and should have a 4-3/4" pattern same as the Cutlass. Dynamic/Delta/Starfire/98 should have an 11x2 5x5 drum, and it's common from 1959-1970 except for some Ninety Eights and commercial chassis. The part #s are different between right and left, though I don't know exactly what the difference is. They look alike to me.

As you've found out, different series had different size drums. That's why you're finding different size brakes listed.

Check your VIN and body plate to find whether you in fact have a Dynamic 88 (356) or a Jetstar 88 (354). If the car's been hit in the front it could have had fenders from another series put on, which can fool you as they're identical except for scripts and trim.

Billionsandtrillions is a nut job. That's the kindest description I can offer.

The parking brake adjustment is made at an equalizer clevis where the pedal cable connects to the center cable, under the left front floorboard. With pedal fully released, and rear brakes properly adjusted, tighten the equalizer nut till you feel heavy drag on the rear wheels. Then loosen the nut five to seven full turns.

Make sure the center cable runs thru ALL of the cable guides under teh car. Should be one at the right side of the transmission crossmember, and one on both sides about halfway between crossmember and the parking brake cables at the drums.

Give the threads on the equalizer nut a good soaking with penetrating oil before you start, and a little white grease on the cable guides makes things happier too.

Rocket Richard

Hey guys, I got side tracked with some other repairs and didn't get to measure anything until this morning.

The left rear drum needs replacing because the previous owner let the shoes wear down to nothing and it ended up cutting a couple of deep grooves in the drum.

I'm pretty sure this car is a Dynamic, it has the logo on the fender and inside at the glove box. The engine in it is red and the air cleaner says 425 high compression. Wasn't able to check the VIN though.

I measured the bolt pattern, it's 5 x 4.75"
The rear drum measures 11" and the rear shoes are 2" wide.
The front drum measures 11" and the front shoes are 2.75" wide.

So with this info I'm going to call up the local parts store and see what they have.

Not having luck with other repairs though, I need to take off the right upper control arm to replace the bushings and so far, I had a hell of a time getting the ball joint off. Bought a 6 lb sledge hammer and used a pickle fork and finally got it out. To my surprise the previous owner tack welded the bolts that hold the control arm to the frame. Not cool. Going to have to try my luck with a dremel I guess, unless you guys have any advice on how to deal with this.

Maybe this is a ton of work, and maybe I'm running into more problems and extra costs while doing this, but I have to admit I like working on this car. Strange huh? lol

rocketraider

Measure the bolt pattern again. No way that car should have a 4-3/4 bolt pattern.

Other than that the brake shoe sizes are dead on. I have a conversion chart (at the other house, natcherly) that shows the brake manufacturers' cross reference part numbers. You would be amazed at how many cars from different manufacturers use the same brake components.


Here are the original Olds part numbers for your brake drums.

Front: 65-69 drum brakes exc J88, F85 or Toronado, grp 5.809 p/n 387968, drum and hub.

Rear: 59-70 drum brakes exc J88, F85, Police or Toronado, grp 5.809 p/n 398466 RH, 398467 LH

Some 66-68 Ninety Eights use a different drum but only because the rear brake shoes are also 2.5" wide.

MDchanic

Probably done as a safety measure. Those are supposed to be riveted on. If you replace one, you use nuts and bolts. The nylon-insert "airplane nuts" are usually enough to ensure that they won't come off, but some mechanic 30 or 40 years ago may have needed to be "extra sure."

A Dremel, or, better yet, a great big grinder, ought to do the trick.
Wait - you said you were replacing the bushings - Are you replacing the ball joint too? If it's still tight, just leave it alone, unless you're changing it because you're there.

And they really take of the drums when they inspect your car?

That's just wrong.

- Eric

rocketraider

A Virginia state safety inspection requires pulling at least one drum from each axle. It's even marked on the receipt which one(s) were pulled.

The inspection stations all grumble because the $16.00 inspection fee doesn't cover the time required to do one by the book, but the State Police audit them and things better be "right". More than one station has been stung by an out-of-district State Trooper bringing in a 5-7 year old ringer with about the mileage brakes, suspension etc start to wear.

That said, if an inspector knows you and how you maintain the car, you're usually in and out in about ten minutes.

Rocket Richard

Hmm, well maybe I can take another look at the dia. of the bolt pattern. Had to eyeball it a bit this morning. I was trying to measure the diameter of the centerline of the bolts.

Yeah they take off all the drums for the inspection. It costs $65, not cool.

The ball joint is ok except that now the boot is ripped to hell from me getting it loose. I'm going to see if I can just get the boot, but I'm thinking probably not. I have to replace the control arm bushings anyway, so it's kindof a "might as well" item at this point.

And those control arm bolts, ugh... yeah looks like I'll be at it with a dremel. For those of you out there who are tempted to reuse old control arm bolts and feel the need to tack weld them to stop them from turning... please get new ones... or even drill a small hole or cut a slot on the very end of the threaded side, maybe lock two nuts together on the very end to hold the bolt while you tighten, just don't tack weld because that leaves poor suckers like me with a ton of work to do.

jaunty75

The wheels on my '67 Delta have a 5 x 5 bolt pattern.

justinj

Hey welcome to the site, Richard. Are you a Habs fan?

I'm doing my brakes right now and may have extra drums if you need the rears. They're from a 62, but looks like they'd fit from the info above. Let me know and I'll check.

I'm in Canada, specifically in the Centre of the Universe , so shipping might be a bit cheaper. I've heard Greyhound shipping is not too bad vs. Canada Post for heavy items.

I'll go pull them now and let you know what condition they are and I'll take any reasonable offer.

Rocket Richard

Hey RocketRaider,
I was able to get a better measure of the bolt pattern by putting paper over the drum and rubbing a pencil over... it appears that a more accurate reading is 5x5" for the bolt pattern. So those part numbers you gave still apply?

To recap with the correct info, I have:
Bolt pattern is 5 x 5"
The rear drum measures 11" and the rear shoes are 2" wide.
The front drum measures 11" and the front shoes are 2.75" wide.

Hey JustinJ,
Thanks for the offer. I'm expecting a drum to arrive in the mail shortly. That will at least let me get this car safety certified. And if I can order new drums as per RocketRaider's advice, I think I'd want to get a pair of new ones the next time I need something for the front or rear.

Oh, and by the way, my girlfriend was moving some branches around my Dynamic the other day and she snagged the antenna and broke it right off! Grrr! She just smiled and said "It's OK".... ah what could I say, she takes good care of me so I just had to let it slide. Time to find a new antenna. One of those "old style" radios with new internals would be nice too. AM radio in these parts is nothing you want to hear if you like good music.

Cheers,
Rich

Oldsguy

I saw a neat tool at a swap meet about two years ago and I am sure others here will recognize. It is a hard plastic device about 1/4 inch thick with holes in it coinciding to the different wheel bolt patterns. All you have to do is hold it up next to a wheel or axle and match them up....there you go. I didn't buy one and now wish that I had.

rocketraider

I have one... and generally forget to take it with me to swap meet/junkyard/wherever.

However, my Pontiac bud thinks ahead better than I do. He keeps his in the backpack he wears at swap meets.