Brake drum skimming

[Andy J]

Hi all

Anyone know of anywhere in the midlands, Nottingham area that can skim my B brake drums
Just about finished the restoration on my car but the brakes are crap, i have a good set of drums but would like to get them true

Regards

Andy.

[POR68]

Andy perhaps read the posts below. I am sure you have. If your drums have good metal left and there with no lifting, cracking or high spots they can be made smooth without taking much metal at all. Then the shoes are the less expensive component that can be radiused to suit the drums.

[Andy J]

Hi Merv

Yes i have looked at your post, the problem i have is high spots on the front drums, no cracking and plenty of metal to play with
hopefully just a slight lick on the lathe, as you know good B drums are getting harder to find now and expensive, and new ones if you can find them have a killer price tag, so after seven years working on the car i'm desperate to get the car on the road before the summers over

Regards
Andy

[POR68]

Good news then Andy. The fronts do the majority of the braking as you know, and must be right. There are very few places that can do the correct drum arcing these days. I used a laser measuring tool to get diameters at dozens of points and compared them against the factory spec sheet. All was pretty good but I did use some wet and dry paper to remove the shine and show any low points. Then make sure the new shoes are radiused to the skimmed drums. I am so impressed with how good the brakes are now after three adjustments as they fully bedded in. All squeal is also gone.

Hard to believe the prices of replacement drums now. There is a guy here in Australia with a few however ...

[camperco]

We have a pair of B front drums that have already been skimmed. They were done by a professional machine shop but by the time we went to fit them we had sourced a brand new pair so they were not used. And a set of re-lined front shoes to match. £750 the pair including the shoes. Cash on collection and we can clock them up on our lathe in your presence before you take them home.

[Nick Moss]

I used Dave Rushton Engines recently for the disc/drums on my 240Z. The difference in braking is marked.

[Nige]

Lenton Engineering
Lenton Engineering Co.Ltd
104 Allington Avenue Lenton
Nottingham Nottinghamshire NG7 1JX

Tel: 0115 941 8004

They do all that kind of stuff, I had some kinpins reamed there years ago.

[Andy J]

Hi Guys

Had my drums skimmed front and back by an engineering firm in Colwick in Nottingham, they made a great job.
New shoes now fitted and profiled and brakes are good and getting better as they bed in, already done 500 miles in the car, a joy to drive,
Thanks for all the help and advise

By the way Nige, Lenton engineering is long gone, i used to use them thirty five years ago, a real old school firm missed by all in Nottingham.

Regards

Andy.

[Nige]

That's a shame, was at least 15 years ago when I last used them, I just Googled the name for the details and made an assumption they were still in business. Oh well.

Glad you got them sorted.

[POR68]

Good news Andy. Mine have been great as well since I skimmed the drums a tad and had the new shoes radiused. I would suggest that you re-check the star wheel adjusters on each wheel after a few miles. It takes about 30 mins and takes up any slack that forms.

[sladey]

I’m in Nottingham, have a lathe and a can-do attitude. How hard can it be?

[sladey]

Joking aside, if I can get it to fit on my 3 jaw chuck and you just want a bit taking off I don’t see what the problem is.

[POR68]

We all know how valuable and expensive those drums are these days. Separating and cracking of the lining are generally non-repairable.

[sladey]

That’s me told then

[POR68]

You'll be fine I'm sure. (An upper case "WE" crept in above for some reason ... sorry about that). I was surprised to see some good used ones for $199 the other day. Seems like a good thing to buy and put away.