1978 Pontiac Bonneville - Brakes - Part 1 - 2008-04-20

Brake time! Having rear brakes that aren't contributing or are wearing out the metal in the drum is a bad thing. Fortunately I've done this before, so it should be easy to do, especially since I am flying solo this time.



Old passenger brake setup. Pretty nasty. All those springs are necessary to go back in the right order, so a reference picture like this is a must.



Fit check to make sure everything fits nicely.



Passenger side is done. Nice and clean. The adjusters cover plates from the factory still haven't been punched out...



It's been cleaned, but no meat!



A new drum. For $29.95. From Autozone. ON THE SHELF. Nice to have things like this available still. Made in Canada too.



New drums sure look nice under the ralley wheels.

The brakes still need to be bled, so they aren't the bestest ever, but they sure stop the car better than they used to. The adjuster had to be let all the way out with the new drum and it still was tight. The old drum with new shoes on the passenger side needed a bit of adjustment. I drove it home over the hills and mountains with no issue, AC on the whole time and the temp never budged beyond the 190 notch. I did find out that the gas gauge reads about 3/16 of a tank off, in the high direction. I was at 1/4 tank, put in 16.05 gallons, and then the gauge was about 3/16 beyond the F mark. So note to self: gauge reads high. I even put the car through the car wash and it didn't leak in either the passenger compartment or the trunk, which is nice.

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Last updated April 20th, 2008