A question of originality

Captainkirk said
Hey all, getting set to start ordering parts for my project, '72 340 Duster. Car has been off the road for decades. I'm planning on doing the rear diff (8.75) soon and wondering about brake parts. Classic Industries has most of the stuff I need such as brake linings, brake cylinders, spring and hardware kits, etc. Do most of you just buy new and install, or do you only replace what's bad to keep as much original on the car as possible? Example; rear drums. The old ones are rusty and probably need media blasting and turning. Local shop will turn rear drums and front discs for $25.00 each, and media blast for $25.00 each as well. Classic has new replacement drums for $30.00 each...it would be cheaper to buy new, slap on some paint and go. Same for hardware kit...new for 6 bucks. Seems like a no-brainer to start out with new, fresh components. But that means not reusing and rebuilding the original stuff. Same goes for rear brake cylinders...new for 20 bucks apiece, or rebuild the old ones? Already planning on using new stainless lines and such. Just not sure which direction to go here. Any suggestions?

Depends. If you’re building a trailer queen show car that’s barely going to see any miles then you want as much original stuff as possible. That assumes of course that the drums weren’t replaced a handful of times already and aren’t original anyway. Got to check castings if you’re really worried about originality.

If you’re actually going to DRIVE it, then buy new parts. Brakes wear out and they’re safety items. So you turn the original drums and drive it (like you should because it’s a car!) they wear out and you can’t turn them again, they’re junk. Better to run reproduction stuff if you’re actually going to use it. If you’re worried about the original stuff, save it.

Otherwise I’m with 70aarcuda, having original, wearable safety items isn’t a good plan for the street and won’t matter when the car is wrapped around a tree.