Anybody useing aluminum rear drums,I found a set at the wrecking yard that are in great shape,any pro's or con's on them?
I took a wire wheel on a drill and cleaned of the oxidation and they look very good I think I will polish them,that would look good on the car.
Bob

 

I've been lookin' for a set of those. . .
in any case I came across this little bit of info a while back.

 

Pro's - lighter, no rust, dissippates heat faster
Con's - discontinued, if out of spec must replace with iron or scrounge for used

I like them but I will eventually replace my drum rear with a PBR disk one.

 

i just swapped my aluminum drums for LT1 rear discs. the aluminum ones are gettin more and more scarce by the day, thats why i hung on to mine. little known fact however, i have seen a few G-bodies with aluminum drums. not sure what option got them aluminum drums. my dads MC SS didnt have them. the only G-bodies i have seen them on was cutlasses but i doubt it was limited only to them. i know the earlier MC SS's dont have them but i dont know about the later ones. I know that this is not a G-body board but does anyone know which G-bodies got aluminum drums? it might help the F-body guys that need them. was it a F41 suspension thing?(if so then all the MC SSs should have had them) did grand nationals have them?

 

 

I ran the parts #1255496 on GMPartsBook.com and it has them listed for a buick lesabre estate wagon and they want $220 each,I will go out to the U-pull it yards and see if I can find some more of them,I found another set yesteday on a firebrid but could only get the passenger side 1 off, the drivers side had something in the center of it that was holding it up,part of the axle or brakes,I did not have a soft hammer with me to beat on it yesterday.
Bob

 

I did the same search at www.NewGMParts.com and the results are listed below. They were discontinued last time I searched. Nice thing to know that they are available new again.

Part Number Search Results : Mechanical Catalog
Item Number List Core Price Price
1255496 $224.20 $0.00 $168.15
Brakes - Brake components - Rear brakes - Drum
DRUM, Buick, Lesabre, Estate Wagon, 9 1/2" Brakes, Aluminum 1984 - 1985

 

I've got some on my car. They work just like iron versions only lighter .

 

Here is a pic of the drums I have got so far from the wrecking yards.
The aluminum cleans up realy nice the dirty set I just got this weekend,I need to get a new wire wheel for the drill,My old 1 is about shot.

 

My 85 TA had these aluminum drums when I removed the brakes last fall to install LS1 disks. Did not realize they were that hard to find.

 

Found these at the Pic-N-Pull locally, can't beat $13 /each.

Blasted 'em at school with Aluminum Oxide and ready for a nice high polish.

 

.

 

I ran a set of these on my RS with 15" wheels and never had any problems with them. Seemed to work just fine and much lighter than cast iron.

 

Mine work fine. 5 lbs apeice less too.

I was told if the brakes are really hot, not to set the parking brake cause the Al will warp when they cool.

 

Thanks for the info Justin,I like that A-10 in you post,they rock.
Bob W

 

Just wanted to show all how they turned out

 

That polish job makes them look great,I got another set at the wrecking yard 2 weeks ago,now I have 3 sets
Bob

 

Back from the dead.

Just wanted to know if these aluminum drums actually provide better stopping performance than the iron drums, other than having slightly less weight.

Thanks.

 

In theory, due to aluminum dissipating heat better than iron. I doubt you'd be able to notice much unless you were road racing or scca, and then you'd probably want discs anyway.

 

My thought is for these are every little part helps. Kind of like the LS1s, the combustion chamber, 1:7 rockers, less weight, composite intake, etc; all of the little things add up.

 

You hit the nail on the head. Why NOT do the little things? Some people just don't understand why I harp on the whole vortec/fastburn heads upgrade. It's the little things that seperate the old school 350 cube engines and the new ones.
As for the aluminum drums, it's worth it if you can get them for cheap. I have them on my car and it's the only reason I haven't upgraded to disc yet. It's hard to tell the difference but it's there.

 

Got a link to that? I'd like to read up on that a bit. I'm gonna need an engine for my '70 and need all the info I can get. I'm thinking ZZ4 or FB385 but all info is good info.

Ed

 

Actually thats a B-52 but its no biggie.

Nice to know that there are still those among us who appriciate the military

 

The A-10 Warthog...man these things look coooll. I never saw one in person, hard to see without windows on a submarine:

 

No need to link, just look up on google all of the hot rod articles about them. For technical details it's all about the quenching of these chamber designs. For the same amount of airflow in, a fastburn head can make upwards of 20-40 more "free" horsepower. That's money saved when you go to the pump and you can run a "tighter" cam and converter without drastically effecting your 1/4 mile performance. This is for another thread or PM me if you really need to see more proof.

 

On 3-22-05 you had an A-10 on it.
16S stinger missle gunner, I Had a few years of aircraft recognition classes
Badbob

 

Its a B-2 now I change the pics every so often.

 

Anyone want to sell a pair of usable aluminum drums?

 

You can buy them at autozone for about $25 bucks each.

 

NoItsNotForSale, do you happen to know of a part number for the aluminum drums from Autozone?

I can't find anything on their website. The cheaper cast iron replacements are priced at $24 each at AZ though.

I'm calling on finding new aluminum drums as cheap as iron.

The use of aluminum drums and the demand for their replacement is simply lower in volume, so the price is going to be higher.

 

Yep your right the guy at vatozone was a moron. Next to the part# it says something like "replace aluminum drums in pairs".
So he thought they were aluminum, my bad a good parts guy is hard to find around here.

 

Thats ok, I got a set from badbob.