brake cooling on a '39 Super 8- a possible solution

Posted by Rick M On 2016/3/16 12:12:17

I am trying a ceramic coating on the outside of my brake drums. It is a gloss black heat dispersant coating. We have used this same coating on the head of a racing motorcycle and found that it is quite effective at cooling the engine. It is so effective that we now do not use it on air cooled barrels as it tends cause the cast iron barrel to not grow enough and can cause the pistons to "nip up" at the recommended clearances. Brad at Performance Coatings in Auburn WA. says that many people have done this on brake drums and report good results.

Since I have not driven my Packard since 1967 I will not really know how much difference it makes but if the cooling rate of hot exhaust pipes is any indication it will help a lot when going down hills in modern traffic.


YMMV,
Rick M
'39 Super 8