Hello from Germany!

I´m new here as I have a problem with a customer car - Oldsmobile 98 from 1965. Front and rear brake needs restauration ... new brake shoes and wheel brake cylinders / bearings are easy to find ... but brake drums I can´t find (googled already a few hours). Maybe a member here knows, where these parts are available @ US?

Thanks,

Stefan

 

Welcome. Unfortunately, no one makes new correct replacement drums for the 1965-1970 Olds full size cars anymore. If you can find original old replacement drums, that's your best bet. Try Craig at Mobileparts. Your other option is Kanter. They sell new Chinesium drums. These are not actually correct replacements, but are functional. I suspect that they are the drums for a newer GM full size that have been machined to fit the 65-70 applications. Good luck.

 

I'm wondering if sometimes this American "slang" is lost on non-Americans, such as this fellow from Germany.


By "Chinesium," he means "made in China," and it is generally used as a derogatory term meaning a product of low quality in materials, workmanship, and/or fit and finish. But the fact of the matter is, many auto parts these days are made in China or made only in China, especially parts for older cars where the overall demand is low, and most of us have Chinese-made parts on our old cars (such as brake parts, such as I experienced when I got my '78 Olds back on the road) whether we like it or not if we want to be able to restore them and drive them. For the most part, these parts work fine. If we can find U.S.-made parts, we're thrilled, but we often find, depending on the particular part, that there is no such thing any more, unless you can find new-old-stock on ebay. But that is hit-or-miss, and the prices if you do find something can often be discouragingly high.


So if you can get one of these Chinese-made parts to work for your customer's car, go for it if the alternative is that the car cannot be repaired at all.

 

Actually, "Chinesium" is an element that costs less than you think it should with properties lower than you think they should be, and with a half life much shorter than it should be...

 

If it has a half-life, it's also radioactive!

 

Perhaps. But parts made of Chinesium definitely decay much faster than you would expect.

 

How worn are the drums ?
A good rule is that drums that will "clean up" at .090 inch oversize or less are OK to use .
Drums that were made after the seventies are usually marked with a maximum allowable diameter .
Your 1965 likely doesn't have these markings , but for example , if the car has 11 inch drums then the maximum diameter allowable would be 11.090 . Anything more than that would make them scrap iron .

 

Thanks for help, guys.

There is nothing wrong with chinese parts ... if quality is OK / usable!

Found Craig (Mobile Parts) and mail him today.

Mechanic said, that the old 11" drums will 98% not fit with a "clean-up". Vehicle must be 100% OK for 1st technical inspection through german TÜV.

 

I don't understand that statement. The factory publishes the maximum acceptable drum inside diameter after machining. A brake drum micrometer will tell you exactly whether there is enough metal left or not. There should not be any uncertainty.

 

X2, I would think that cars in your country have the drums and rotors trued as normal maintenance.

 

Easy to explain: Tried that in the past @ other oldtimers and had a lot of problems with the braking values @ german TÜV ... and the customers unnecessary loss of money.

If new brake drums aren´t available (but I´m optimistic), a clean-up is a (last) possibility.

 

Hi, Silverline, welcome aboard to Classic Oldsmobile ---
Happened to be in the library today to use the computer -- and wandered upon this listing....
Haven't heard from you yet --- but I have EVERYTHING for the brakes, including New Old Stock Brake Shoes -- for FRONTS & REARS -- and the Rears on the 98s are not so "EASY" to find..... the Best News is that I have N.O.S. ("New Old Stock") which are 20 times better than the new "garbage" of today!!!!!!!
I also have Wheel Cylinders, Brake Hoses, Brake Hardware, and Front & Rear Brake Drums......all the QUALITY parts of "yesterday" --- not this
"chinesium" or "made in china" garbage!!!!!!!
Yours, Craig.....
Do you have anyone you deal with that has a U.S.A. address???

 

So the TUV won't accept the manufacturer's brake info? The factory has a spec on the maximum diameter that the brake drum can be machined to. Are you saying that the TUV will reject the car even if the brake drums are within that allowable spec?

 

New drums because of problems with "cleaned" old drums @ TÜV (low / uneven brake values) and lost money / time @ unreasonable customers ("Why not at once new drums?"). Nothing more to say!

 

Joe, I think what is happening here is the TUV has a machine that actually measures braking effectiveness . I've seen them before , it is a rack that the vehicle is driven on to . The brakes are slammed on , and the forces of each wheel are recorded .
When brake drums are cut oversize the "arc " changes slightly . Ideally , the shoes should also be "re-arced " so that lining contact with the drum is 100 percent . We Americans just let them "wear in" . In Germany , where brake efficiency is actually tested , they don't have that luxury .

 

Brake shoe arcing is unfortunately a lost art.

 

X2, this used to be common practice for a brake job. I don't even know if its still done around here.

 

I believe that the issue was that the brake shoe "dust" that was given off in the process was deemed unhealthy by our friends at OSHA.

 

not sure if you have found a solution, but I just installed new discs on the front of my 65 Starfire. In the process of a body off restoration on this car, so the entire frame, brake system, suspension, bla bla bla has been blasted and repainted. this included the brake system, new brake hardware, blasted and painted backing plates and drums. I then decided to switch the fronts to discs. I removed the complete rebuild front brake system with backing plates, NEW shoes, NEW wheel cyls, and NEW hardware. drums were just turned. you could bolt these right on the spindle. the wheel cyls were never even bled. backing plates and drums were blasted and painted with chassis saver. everything is new. message if you are interested. I'm in Michigan.