240Z brake drum

[johngrigg]

Has anyone successfully fitted a Datsun 240Z rear drum to Wolseley/Major front brakes? For those unfamiliar with the Z car drum it is a very nice light finned alloy drum 9" x I.5". My initial experiments with a scrap drum reveal that the PCD needs to be changed, this is easy, but because it is flatter, meaning the overall depth is less, the inner edge of the shoe overlaps the inner edge of the drum by about 1mm. I could take say 2mm of the edge of the shoe, or maybe pack out the backplate and machine the inner end of the hub -don't know if I could get a thinner oilseal, anyway has anyone got any experience/suggestions? Discs are not really an option for reasons of historic registration and competition limitations. Thanks JohnG

[bmcecosse]

Certainly sounds interesting - I suggest remove brake lining material should be the last resort . Would maybe be easier to move the shoes/cylinders outwards on the backplate? BUT - are the shoes wider than the rubbing area of the drum anyway??

[johngrigg]

Plenty of room inside the drum. and thanks for the suggestion. I guess I could pack out the cylinder mounting bolts, the shoes are a bit harder and I don't want to wreck the back plate as they have rocking horse poo status and I may want to return it to standard sometime. maybe a roundheaded bolt through the centre of the shoe abutment?? that way I could get about 5mm which would be heaps. Any other/ better ideas?? Cheers JohnG

[bmcecosse]

You would need to put your 5mm shims between cylinders and backplate - and yes a similar shim on the backplate where the shoe is normally 'steadied' by the raised lump in the backplate.