<VV> Dual Master comment

[Bill Elliott]

I disagree. We are talking about reliability versus performance.

The stock drum system on a Corvair is far superior to any drum system of any car of the era due to swept area and weight. (Yes, a Mustang or a Camaro 
DOES NEED discs for the street... Corvairs simply do not.)

Modern kevlar linings from any of our vendors bring up the wet and cold performance far beyond the original specifications... to the point that disc brakes 
are completely unnecessary for a safely driven street car. Yes, discs stop straighter and perhaps with a bit more consistency of effort than drums, but again 
the improvements are FAR over what should be necessary or even noticeable on a street car.

I trailer (#1200's) and drive in the mountains and in the wet... and have yet to have serious brake fade. I've always had more than enough brakes for my 
tires.

However, the dual master cylinder simply provides a "safety circuit" to improve the chances of stopping the car safely in case of a brake line or wheel 
cylinder failure. And unless you have replaced ALL of your lines and wheel cylinders on a regular basis, chances are good you will have a failure at some 
point (though thankfully most of the failures seem to occur while the car is parked.)

AND seeing that a dual master upgrade is under $50 in parts and maybe two hours in time, in my opinion the only people that _shouldn't_ do it are concours 
trailer queens. 

Whether you think that spending more on disc brakes for the street than I have spent for many of my Corvairs is a reasonable question (and may be a 
philosophical matter for those of you with deep pockets); doing a simple and cheap  improvement to safety and reliability while doing what should be routine 
maintenance is another. Frankly, there are other areas of a street driven car I would improve first (tires being at the top of the list). If you're running 185mm 
section tires or anything with less than a V rating, getting better rubber on the road will do more to improve braking than discs will...

I _strongly_ suggest that street driven cars give serious consideration to a dual master upgrade.  check with www.vairshop.com for an inexpensive, turnkey 
kit.

Bill Elliott
Urbana, MD

>Personally, I would value disk brakes much more than dual master cylinder on
>my 66. This is partly a consequence of where I live (South Florida). Normal
>incidents of rainfall here are deluges - for an hour or two, there are
>fairly deep puddles on most blocks. These badly hamper the operation of my
>drum brakes. People who trailer or live in mountainous regions might share
>my desire for disk brakes, although more for their heat-shedding
>capabilities rather than their water-shedding capabilities.
>     My brake system is in good condition (but it DOES contain some of the
>original lines). It works very well when dry. But my next serious brake
>money will go for disk brakes before dual master cylinder. It's all a matter
>of choosing your risks. Nice to have the choice, no thanks to Ralph Nader.