Brakes

General Discussion about the Datsun PL510
datzenmike
Supporter
Posts: 6080
Joined: 24 May 2006 12:40
Location: Van. Isle.

Re: Brakes

Post by datzenmike »

Seems ... scary. But that's by today's standards. Four X nine inch drums is a lot of stopping power for 2,200 pounds!!! My old Plymouth Fury had 10 inch drums and god knows what it weighed probably another ton.
"Nissan 'shit the bed' when they made these, plain and simple." McShagger510 on flattop SUs
User avatar
Byron510
Moderator
Posts: 12658
Joined: 01 Jul 2003 23:06
Location: Maple Ridge, BC

Re: Brakes

Post by Byron510 »

Driving impressions of 4’wheel drums;
Mike I’d agree that by today’s standards the 4 wheel drum brakes are daunting at best.
But when I overhauled the brake system on Ole Blue with an OEM master, new front and rear wheel cylinders, new front (Nissan) shoes and the still original shoes in the rear - the car stops from 60 mph just as well as the disc/drum original brakes. In fact Ole Blue requires less pedal effort than an original disc/drum 510 to bring the car to a stop. I would think that this is because of the self engergizing effect of the twin cylinder drum brake design. As far as function, the car can lock up the brakes under any condition that I’ve driven the car - on stock sized new radial tires.

HOWEVER.... there is no denying that a second emergency stop from 60 mph would be less efficient than the first, as the heat would start to build in the drum and not be able to disperse, getting exponentially worse with each further brake application. So aggressive driving on sticky tires on mountain hiways which we deal with here on the West Coast could be a challenge!

Real world Driving; with all the above mentioned, two years ago I took my family of 5 in Ole Blue to Hell’s Gate located up the Fraser Canyon for a nice Sunday outing, my friend Glen and his wife following up behind for the trip (in his nice 4 wheel disc 510!)
IMG_5742 (Medium).JPG
IMG_5742 (Medium).JPG (204.69 KiB) Viewed 1375 times
On the highway the brakes on Ole Blue 6 years after the full overhaul were never a concern...ever. The bottom line is that the stock 4 wheel drums were plenty good for highway cruising through a well known canyon highway. And one has to face it, it’s not like the 70 hp L-13 was capable of propelling the car to phenomenal speeds in any short period of time - 4.375 years or not!

Byron
Love people and use things,
because the opposite never works.
datzenmike
Supporter
Posts: 6080
Joined: 24 May 2006 12:40
Location: Van. Isle.

Re: Brakes

Post by datzenmike »

Totally agree.

Hey it's been mentioned to me that new brake shoes are no longer staggered in their lining placement which sort of negates the servo action of the leading/trailing shoes. Have you heard of this? A member on line mentioned that the linings are now centered so there is no proper placement and forward and rear shoes are identical.
"Nissan 'shit the bed' when they made these, plain and simple." McShagger510 on flattop SUs
Post Reply