Vote Now! Best Ride 2008
The Best Ride Contest is in full swing! The 2008 Best Ride Contest is closed and voting has opened. Click here to go to the candidates and to vote for your favorite ride. Remember to read the stories! Click each car and read the caption, then vote! Also, only one vote per IP address (per computer) is counted. So if you want to win, get everybody you know to vote for your car...actually I guess they should vote for their favorites. So, get everybody that likes your car to vote for you. You do not have to be a member, just have an email address! VOTE NOW! Voting will end March 31st.
$500 to the First Place Winner!!!!
My ’67 Mustang Brakes
I was trying to figure out what I was going to write about this week and was reminiscing about my Mustang I had in college and then remembered my story about the brakes. So here is goes.
My dad and I purchase my mustang right before I went off to college. It was a plain mustang with a 289 engine, 2 barrel carb, convertible and painted bronco orange. You can check it out here. The car had drum brakes all the way around and when we bought the car, I noticed when I braked it was all over the road. So, before I went to college I serviced the brakes.
I took all four drums off and had them turned, changed the shoes and replaced the wheel cylinders. Then I bled the brakes, did a bunch of reverse hard stops and took off down the road. I did get the car to brake straight so I was happy and headed off to college.
I always wondered about this car because I use to be able to do the best burnouts in it. I mean, when I power braked the car I would literally sit in place for 45-50 seconds just spinning the tires. I remember the neighbor kids were over one day when I was ready to leave for class…come to think of it, why the hell were they not it class? I digress. Anyway, I was backing out of the driveway and then put it in drive and began to burnout. I stomped on the brakes and then stomped on the pedal. The tires began to spin…and spin…and spin….it was awesome. My top was down and a plume of smoke began to rise. The kids started jumping up and down with excitement and pointed at my spinning tires. I was standing still, just spinning. I jokingly looked at my watch to see how long I was spinning and then pretended to fall asleep. They loved it. I slowly took my foot of the brake and my ‘stang moved slowly down the street. Finally, I released the brake fully, my tires grabbed and I took off. I looked in the rear view mirror to see a patch at least 30 feet long and the kids playing in the street. Come to think of it, they probably shouldn’t have been in the street. I digress.
I know now how much fun it was to do burnouts, so from that day on I left burnouts all over Tucson. In fact, it was kind of a signature move, my name is Joseph James and when I peeled out, I would spin the car so that it looked like JJ in the street! It was awesome.
Back to the brakes. I drove that car for 3 years and when I serviced the brakes the back brakes never seem to need changing. Oh well, I threw the drums back on and went back to school.
As seen in the photo journal, click here, we restored the mustang during my senior year in college. I started taking apart the car and when I began working on the brakes, I noticed a kink in the lines that ran to the back. It was like a lightbulb turning on in my head. I drove this car for 3 years with NO BACK BRAKES. That’s why I was able to do all those great burnouts. Anyway, I fixed the kink and the brakes now worked perfectly.
So what have we learned…kids should get to school, they shouldn’t play in the street, burnouts are awesome and sometimes the answer is starring you right in the face. Just open your eyes…come to think of it, open your ears too. But I digress.
