Re: Greg B's 1951 200

Posted by Ross On 2014/10/14 19:07:34

A 200 is a terrific car to drive; I have had several and enjoyed them all.

I wouldn't be in a rush to put the 54 brakes on. I find the 51 brakes work just fine and and will stop the car easily even when driven hard. The pedal pressure is not high and is nowhere near worth the trouble to install the power brakes. You can buy the wheel cylinders, master cylinder, hoses etc. amazing cheaply from Rockauto. Another 30 bucks of tubing from the auto parts store and you will have a very safe system.

If you do decide to use the 54 brakes, you can bolt on the fronts no problems, but you will need to use the 54 backing plates as well.

At the rear, you are stuck with the 51 brakes as the 54s will not bolt on to the axle housing, nor will the drums fit the axle shaft. Of course you can always just put in the whole 54 rear axle from drum to drum, but then the driveshaft will not mate.