Dems de Brakes

G,day all. Some years ago my brother in law Bill would say, Hup 20 ,two speed ,Slow and Slower and both of them too fast for the brakes! Bill had a Hup 20 in the 1920s. He was a haulage contractor with a Fiat truck carting wool and wheat. He would be loading on some property and would leave the truck in the field and drive the Hup to his lodgings in the evening, having transported it on the tray of the Fiat. Years later when we got our first 20 on the road we were most disappointed with the stopping power of the foot brake even though we were fussy in all our clearances and angles. The hand brake did work marginally better. We extended the drop arms at the back links but for little improvement. We tried Flexible moulded and a Woven lining with little gain. On a gravel surface @ 25 MPH we can just lock the wheels with the foot brake. The hand brake will lock them every time. On a hard road surface, say Bitumen or concrete at 25 MPH be ready to shout LOOK OUT as neither brake will lock the wheels. Sure thing, both together in a panic stop they will slow the car but not skid the wheels. In our search for Hup 20 parts we acquired an assembly in which the shoes were common to both brake systems. Two shoes per wheel but each shoe full width of the drum and with full width cams so that the full drum is used regardless 0f hand or foot . We did not put this system into service as the shoes are malleable iron and weigh as much as the wheel and drum it seams. Friend Edgar believes this may be the system used on the last of production jobs but it may also be a modification done by Fizackerlys, the Australian importer. Any one seen this style? Have any Hup 20 users had a set of cast iron drums cast ?. If so with what results ? Has anyone seen or are using a set of full width shoes and has anyone connected the links at the backing plates to operate both systems at the one application as seen on this site of the 20 with the Ford engine trans assembly. Lastly would people please tell of their stopping distances on gravel or tar and if efficient, "ours aint", what linings are you using. Max Burke, Nulkaba 2325 Australia

Max I have hydraulic brakes on mine . The shoes and wheel cylinders are Mk 1 Ford Escort and fit perfectly . The master cylinder hangs off the R chassis rail and is completly hidden with the floor boards in . All the Linkages work like the should do and the only clue is a small section of brake line over the diff . Linings are bonded composite material .Will stop on a dime and any speed I could get to-Karl

G,day to all. Karl ,I envy you your ability to do this conversion, but my thoughts on this type of modification are that its better suited to the hotrod hobby. A friend of ours with a 1912 Cadilliac converted it to front wheel disc brakes. When club inspection time came round the inspectors sought advice from the roads and traffic authority as they were then. That body ruled that if the owner persisted that the conversion made the car safer then it must be being operated outside the expected use of a 1912 vehicle and not within the scope of the permit to use system in force at the time. They ruled that the car be submitted to an approved engineer for a report on the conversion and that it must comply with Australian Design Rules or the vehicle be put back to its original configuration, all at owners cost . Our friend took the brakes off the front wheels and sold the car.Max Burke Nulkaba 2325 Australia

Actually I didn't do it -Was done by the previous owner and since it works well, is going to be very difficult to reverse engineer and is pretty much undetectable I have left it as is. The conversion did have to be certified by an inspector in New Zealand to check it had been done correctly.

Max- its interesting where people sit on originality I'm ok with modificatons that don't show especially those that improve safety and drivability. Others would say that everything should be as it come out of the factory -unfortunately driving conditions have changed somewhat since then and I like to drive my cars lots . I guess thats why you put the Simms magneto on one of your cars. Personally I wouldn't do that because it wouldn't look original -although probably goes much better -However I don't think either of us are Hotrodders-if we are we are bloody stupid ones - who would have a 16.9hp Hot rod !-Karl

G,day Karl. Yes, I,m with you. The main object with the Sims is to eventually have it to start off the trembler. We did a test run and it would mostly start without having to crank it, however with so many other jobs on we just left it firing two plugs each cylinder for now. A friend who was an auto lec teacher made me a DU4 that had only the primary winding and used a external 12 volt resister coil. The idea was to start on battery and switch over to Mag when running . It was only marginally usable as when the revs got down under load it would misfire until it picked up a bit then would run ok. Max Chapman was our friends name and just as he was making us a improved model he took a stroke and spent the next few years in a nursing home. He died last year. I believe his winding lathe and all his other equip is locked away for now. We did not go back to the DU4 ,instead we used a DIXI and as we can start on battery it makes for a positive start. Further in the event of a coil failure we can easily convert to external coil and continue on. We have a DIXI on the model 32 and original DIXI export spec. on the mod N. I was able to get from USA a Home model distributer and coil so the N now fires two plugs at the same time. Most people do not like Dixi Magneto but the buying price is often a quarter the price of a du4 and the AERO models are already wired for starting current. There will be a group of your palls coming over for the Hup rally. You would enjoy it if you could come over. Max Burke Nulkaba 2325 Australia

Though an older thread, I find it interesting. My Model 20 Hupp is driving around now, and the braking action is not very positive. At 20mph on a flat road, it might stop in 25 feet if I push real hard and hope. I think the brakes are adjusted correctly. Anyway, I can't turn the wheels with the brake on and the rear jacked off the ground. Is that just how they work?

Karl... Could you post some photos of your brake set-up?

Phil