72 Duster Resurrection

moparmat2000 said
The good thing is the lines are clear with no blockages. You need to do the rears the same way Wheel cylinders are cheap. At least on rock auto for some reason i think the RH one is.

Theres several ways to go on this one. If the left one bleeds fine and doesnt leak, you may want to concider leaving that one alone if its not leaking, and just change the bad one, install new shoes etc, however if it leaks later on, you have ruined a set of new brake shoes.

If they are not going to be permanent because you will be eventually going discs in a few years, id go bare minimum you need to have it safe. Change the lines, wheel cylinders, master cylinder, and shoes. Get the drums turned on a brake lathe. Repack inner and outer wheel bearings on the front, and reuse the return springs that you have unless spring hardware kits are cheap enough. With the new shoes set to the correct drag initially with the brake spoon , this setup would be ok to safely stop a stock 318.

Rockauto will help you keep it cheap.

moparmat2000 said
Drum brake parts are cheap on rock auto. The key word is closeout, and try to get everything shipped from the same location to save on shipping.

Wagner #2330 front $5.57 closeout
Wagner #2329 rear $5.57 closeout

Carlson H7130 spring hardware kit $4.44 closeout (same kit fits front and rear 9"drums)

Front wheel seals National 41257 $0.64 each

Raybestos C washer 2 reqd W6477 $0.02

Etc etc by the time the smoke clears with wheel cylinders brake hoses, and master cylinder, your prob going to be into it $75 - $85. But it will be safe to drive, and you can use that brake system for 5 -7 years as a daily driver with a /6 or a stock 2bbl 318 , while doing any other stuff it needs and building up the funds and parts to do a disc conversion and a more powerful V8

moparmat2000 said
Option 2 is replace only absolutely what it needs to make it work and stop if you intend to rip it all out in a year or less to install a disc brake setup and dont want to waste the money on the drums.

I'd go with option 1 and make it safe to drive for a number of years. This way you can concentrate on everything else it needs and not have to worry about the brakes. Your biggest single expense is going to be $49 for a 9" manual drum brake master cylinder, everything else is nickel & dime stuff.

If you plan on going big bolt pattern way later, why not paint up the existing steel rims the car has now, put some not too expensive wider than stock black wall radials on them, and add dog dish caps, and maybe some trim or beauty rings, or leave em open with chrome acorn lug nuts. These looks usually work pretty good if you paint the rims black. These are inexpensive wheel treatments to do and look good.

Please show some pix of the condition of the rest of the car

Thanks for all the good info, I think rebuilding the entire drum break system to safe reliable status is what I'm going to do. I plan on driving for at while until I go to disk brakes and v8. The 318 I have will be a good bit over stock when it's ready, but that's a topic for later...

I like the suggestion about the tires. I think painting the rims, wide rubber, and some shiny hardware would look killer and hopefully be pretty cheap to do.

I somehow managed to have a mostly free Saturday tomorrow, so I will be working on the duster. I will take some more pics of the rest of the car then. It's in pretty good shape all around as far as I can see.