14-02-2019, 01:31 AM
As was said very early in a reply to your post, making sure that everything is in perfect condition and adjusted properly will help produce the best results - bear in mind that for the brake shoes to transmit all the braking effort applied to the rotating drum requires a lot of effort and some of that effort is wasted, which gives the impression that the brakes are poor. Modern car braking systems are all very powerful and driving a pre-war car after a modern can seem quite alarming, so there is a degree of perception on how it all feels.
On my Ruby, I did a hydraulic brake conversion, the brakes are very predictable and effective, my car has been on a rolling road (I MoT tested it last summer) and the braking performance was perfectly adequate. Out on the road, I do not think about the brakes, they just do what is required. I need this where I live as the roads are busy with heavy traffic pretty much all the time.
The brakes on my Swallow saloon are cable, I will be renewing all parts as part of the car's return to the road in due course, a hydraulic brake conversion is a lot of work and I don't really want to do it again, but with the Swallow, I do wish to improve the efficiency of the brake's operation by changing the front wheel arrangement of leading & trailing shoes to a twin leading shoe set-up (which the hydraulic arrangement has) and the "self-servo" effect will help with the braking efficiency. I know Oxfordshire Sevens do a conversion kit and there was an article here on these hallowed pages on how to change the set-up, and that may be a way forward to consider.
I would suggest getting your existing system as good as you can, then, if you are not satisfied (give yourself time to get used to their performance), think about upgrading.
On my Ruby, I did a hydraulic brake conversion, the brakes are very predictable and effective, my car has been on a rolling road (I MoT tested it last summer) and the braking performance was perfectly adequate. Out on the road, I do not think about the brakes, they just do what is required. I need this where I live as the roads are busy with heavy traffic pretty much all the time.
The brakes on my Swallow saloon are cable, I will be renewing all parts as part of the car's return to the road in due course, a hydraulic brake conversion is a lot of work and I don't really want to do it again, but with the Swallow, I do wish to improve the efficiency of the brake's operation by changing the front wheel arrangement of leading & trailing shoes to a twin leading shoe set-up (which the hydraulic arrangement has) and the "self-servo" effect will help with the braking efficiency. I know Oxfordshire Sevens do a conversion kit and there was an article here on these hallowed pages on how to change the set-up, and that may be a way forward to consider.
I would suggest getting your existing system as good as you can, then, if you are not satisfied (give yourself time to get used to their performance), think about upgrading.