I am providing this post as a reference for others who may want to know how completely original drum brakes look for the 1965 Oldsmobile Delta 88 Holiday Coupe. I assume this is how the other B-bodies for the year look and perhaps the A-Bodies, too.
I disassembled and cleaned these brakes in milld soap/degreaser only to assure proper operation. They are all original shoes and parts with 17k miles on them, re-assembled exactly as they came apart.
I honed and rebuilt the wheel cylinders as well and of course cleaned and re-packed the wheel bearings (note the original wheel bearing grease had broken down and mostly liquified just sitting over the years)

I will state that the only difference from original that keen eyes may pick up here is that instead of white lithium grease used by the factory on the backing plates and moving parts, I used black lithium grease. (The cover of the black grease was white...why would they do that?).


Left Front brake hardware

Left front brake assembly

Felt seal in near perfect condition

Left front drum - highlighting green paint on one section, this drum only (factory marking?)

Right front brake hardware

Right front brake assembly

Original riveted shoes -- about 70% remaining

Left rear brake assembly

Left rear drum - factory markings

Right rear brake assembly

Right rear drum - factory quality check sticker intact. Also note the brake adjustment hole blank in place.

 

Good photos, but do you have an early 65 with the small wheel bearings or a later 65 that has the same wheel bearings as the 66-70 cars? The bearing and seal numbers will matter.

 

A # 7607 National seal (as shown) is an indication of first design bearings. As in "A" body.
A #8139 seal was used with the second design wheel bearings. (66-70)

 

Amazing photo's. Those backing plates are so clean and the springs all have color!!! A blast from the past. As long as there are no cracks in the shoes they should be OK.

 

Nice reference pictures. Some people like to use grease on the backing plate. I prefer not to as it just collects brake dust and it is not really a high pressure wear surface.

 

That's not true. I have plenty of backing plates where the motion of the shoes has worn into the pads on the backing plate. If this gets bad enough, it can cause the shoes to hang up.

 

The only time I have ever seen wear on the backing plates was through a part failure or misassembly.

 

My experience differs.

 

@joe_padavano you helped me decode this one from my Protect-O-Plate in another post. It was built in January (Z) and delivered in June "65. But that does beg the question, Jan 1965, right? We're "65 models built in "64? Either way, it's an early car, as @Charlie Jones helped prove out with the wheel bearing seal observation!

 

I get it. I was a factory-trained Tech (VW and...Hyundai). Not lubricating shoes-to-backing plates and anything else the factory ordained is heresy per my education. At the very least, it eliminates squeaking and other annoyances that bring customers back with complaints.

 

Thanks - the brake shoes are perfect. I cleaned them lightly w/ brake cleaner then lightly sanded (with a mask on). I was glad about all the spring colors, too. Usually, they've been hit with carb cleaner or dumped in a parts cleaner, which takes the paint off in about a millisecond. Not these. I don't think they were ever even inspected or remove in the 17k miles this car was on the road.

 

Yes. The assembly line was shut down each summer for the model year changeover. Assembly line workers took their vacation during the downtime. Model year production typically ran from mid-August to late July. New model cars were usually unveiled in dealerships by late September.

 

I have seen wear from shoes eating into backing plates, usually on the front. I actually had to weld them up and grind-sand them back down smooth. Shoes would hang up in the grooves.

 

Perfect. Thank you. So that means that my "65 was produced in January "65, but that would be 5 months into the production year. So while it's still an "early" "65, it must have been closer to getting the bigger bearings than I thought.

 

Olds made mid year changes whenever it suited them. And not all changes were made the same day at the various plants.
It depended on the supply of parts at that particular plant.
To the OP. What plant was this car assembled at?
It would give us a reference that all cars produced before Jan "65 at that plant had "small" bearings.

 

South Gate GM plant in Los Angeles

 

I have also seen grooves cut into the backing plates from the brake shoes, making them hang up.

 

Many thanks for the brake system rebuild shots. Great that our phones can get this kind of detail these days. Very instructive.

Slightly off topic, but Oldster, depending on your adherence to originality, you might want to dig around on how to modify these cars for front disc systems.

Joe P. & I & others have more or less figured it out. It ain’t easy, but the documentation is here and my view is it’s a worthy upgrade, at the cost of originality.

Some night if you can’t sleep, dig into the thread. Over the past 40 years, one of the things I’m happiest about is moving to 2 hydraulic circuits from the stock 1966 1 circuit, and the second is probably the move to front discs. The master cylinder swap is pretty easy, the disc swap is harder, but in my view worth it.

Only thought if you keep the 4 wheel drums (which work just great!) is leave extra stopping distance on the road when you’re out there. Everyone on the road can stop shorter than you.

Cheers
cf

PS: Got cutoff in traffic from SF this afternoon multiple times when I was leaving extra safety room. Oh well, they’re all in traffic. I’m just hanging out in my ‘66 Starfire!