Will Hesch posted:Good price and I love, love, love the finned-aluminum Porsche brake drums!
I agree Will! Porsche designed the drums with the biggest friction surface (shoes) and most heat sink/fin area that would fit under 15" wheels. Using aluminum with steel liners and the cooling fins cast right into drums was brilliant. And they held onto the technology the longest, as their drum brakes performed as well as the first discs and it it wasn't until the cars got even more powerful and faster that the disc brake's superiority became apparent. It's too bad VW, being more of a low budget, 'basic transportation' car company, never borrowed the technology (I'm just about drooling at the thought of aluminum type 3 drums with fins!
). And I love how you can see those fins right there behind the vent holes on the wheels!
In the late '60's, '70's and even into the very early '80s, early VW owners looking to increase braking power would hunt down the later 356 drum brakes for their cars. A lot of Cal Look bugs built at this time had them as the guys recognized the need for more stopping power with bigger engines and most of the disc brake kits available now had yet to be developed. Guys with 4x130mm wheels could run Karmann Ghia discs on the front and type 3 drums (or 914 rear discs if you could afford a set), but if you were running 5x205mm wheels it was the only way up braking performance. Al
PS- @Will Hesch- it's too bad, Will, that Porsche wants so much for their new 5x205 brake sets. But it would be such a cool addition to the back of your car (I'm not kidding here- if you did it people would notice!). Just the thought of it makes me think of switching from the alloys I have ( oem Fuchs- 6's front and 6's widened to 7's a la 911R on the insides) to the Vintage 190 aluminum wheels! Afterall, those 5 1/2" 5x205's could be widened the same way...