Pro tip: skip the $180 "complete" brake rebuild kit for your classic, mine was junk
Bought one of those all in one drum brake kits for my 65 Falcon off a swap meet guy in Tulsa last month, paid $180 cash and figured I was set. The wheel cylinders started weeping fluid within two weeks and the shoes were so soft they glazed over after maybe 60 miles of easy driving. Ended up buying NOS cylinders separately for another $95 plus new shoes, so I'm out about $275 total to do a job that should've cost me $120 the right way. The springs in those kits are the worst part, they stretch and lose tension fast. Anyone got a go to source for decent brake hardware on these old fords, or am I stuck hunting swap meets forever?
The springs in those kits are the worst part" is a pretty broad claim when most of those swap meet kits are just repackaged stuff from the same few plants. I ran a no name kit on my 64 Fairlane and got three years out of it, so maybe the guy in Tulsa was selling old stock that sat in a damp shed. For the extra $155 you spent you could've bought a second complete kit and still come out ahead if the first one lasted as long as mine did. NOS cylinders can sit dry and pit just as bad, so that route isn't magic either.