Brakes

Hi!

I'm new to the forum. I'm driving a '62 Gal, 4 dr. sedan. My folks bought it new. I got my first drivers liscense in her. After many years, my folks signed over the pink slip to me. I'm in the process of bringing her back from many years of sitting in a garage.

I just tried to drive my '62 Milkyway to Hot August Nights, in Reno. I ran into a little problem in Stockton, when I tried to pull off the freeway for fuel and the brake pedal hit the floor without slowing me down a whole bunch! That was a first for me.I'd like to get some info.on adding a vacuum booster to the braking system. The car has a column shift lever and it doesn't look like there's enough room for the vacuum booster. Any other suggestions for beefing up the brakes would be greatly appreciated. I won't be driving her, till I give the brake system a thorough going over. And I thought paint was next on the list!

P.S. After driving through 107 deg. temps., I'm also contemplating some cool air.

Linda[img]/phpBB/images/smiles/icon_eek.gif[/img][img]/phpBB/images/smiles/icon_eek.gif[/img][img]/phpBB/images/smiles/icon_eek.gif[/img]

A power brake booster will be the hardest to get. Most of these cars had no power to begin with . The best bet is to get a catalog from one of the aftermarket manufacturers. If you are looking to upgrade the brakes themselves without going to the disc conversion, wagons had larger drum brakes. The fronts were 3" wide and some of the rear brakes were finned and wider too.
If you haven't already done so , go to the Ford Galaxie Club web-site. You will find many links to help with your search. You might also want to consider joining. The members are very helpful as well as Knowledgeable. The president has several daily driven Galaxies and would know who has done this type of work. The best solution to the air problem is to get a "hang in" underdash unit. There are many available for Mustangs. These would adapt nicely.

Thanks for the brake info.,IL. I got my hands on a Dearborn Classics catalog. It looks like they have everything I need to convert to disc's, including the power booster. I'll feel better when I know the car will stop.

Linda

Linda,
If your pedal hit the floor, your problem is not a vacuum assist issue. It's more likely a hydraulic issue. You should check your Master cyl, brake lines and all whell cyls. When a low vacuum issue occurrs, youll get a very hard pedal (up top) with no assistance to push down. Please check your fluid level, etc immediately
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To really upgrade the brakes, you can swap 77-79 Thunderbird/Cougar spindles/brakes directly onto this car. Make a master cylinder change to a dual bowl design, add a bias adjuster and you have brakes that are as good as a lot of new cars out there. We did this to my son's 64 wagon when he had it and it stopped almost as good as my Lincoln!! BTW, the same swap is planned for the Starliner.[img]/phpBB/images/smiles/icon_tup.gif[/img][img]/phpBB/images/smiles/icon_tup.gif[/img]
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