Well, if you buy NOS drums from Craig @mobileparts you won't go wrong. He'll sell you the proper shoes too.
I'm sorry you are striking out regarding the arcing, but it's the ONLY way to properly prep the shoes to fit the drums. Perhaps if you go with Craig, he can get someone local to him to arc the shoes to fit the drums, and THEN send it off to you.
I am a firm believer that arcing is the only way to maximize the performance of a drum brake system, and I am positive that many people are turned off drum brakes after going through them and spending a lot of money (like you're doing), only to get substandard performance because the shoes are not contacting the drum fully. Of course, no one tells them about arcing, because in modern cars drums are only on the rear now, and do the rear brakes do 10% of the work compared to the front brakes. The industry expectations are the rear shoes will wear in over time and no one will even notice.
I call in a big way with that attitude in the industry for classic cars with drums all around...
If you place the new shoes in the new drums you'll see where they don't contact the drum's surface - and those high spots need to be ground off to permit maximum swept area. Most replacement shoes are made bigger than the originals, because they figure the drums are cut oversize as well. Keep in mind that NOS shoes and NOS drums stand a better chance of needing less arcing because they're designed for assembly line work where arcing was not in the picture.
Keep looking for someone who can do this for you. Get your parts and don't stop until the shoes are properly arced. A good drum brake system such as what you've got has the potential for performance that in most situations will equal a disc system, except on the highway where a disc system will perform much better after repeated applications due to their ability to cool better. That's the only place where a drum system falls down.
Of course, you can also attempt this on your own with a good belt sander, some varying grades of sanding belts (coarse to medium fine for finishing) and protective breathing gear. Again, see where the high spots are on the shoes while sitting in the drums on the bench, and grind the shoes in those areas, a little at a time.
I'm sorry you are striking out regarding the arcing, but it's the ONLY way to properly prep the shoes to fit the drums. Perhaps if you go with Craig, he can get someone local to him to arc the shoes to fit the drums, and THEN send it off to you.
I am a firm believer that arcing is the only way to maximize the performance of a drum brake system, and I am positive that many people are turned off drum brakes after going through them and spending a lot of money (like you're doing), only to get substandard performance because the shoes are not contacting the drum fully. Of course, no one tells them about arcing, because in modern cars drums are only on the rear now, and do the rear brakes do 10% of the work compared to the front brakes. The industry expectations are the rear shoes will wear in over time and no one will even notice.
I call in a big way with that attitude in the industry for classic cars with drums all around...
If you place the new shoes in the new drums you'll see where they don't contact the drum's surface - and those high spots need to be ground off to permit maximum swept area. Most replacement shoes are made bigger than the originals, because they figure the drums are cut oversize as well. Keep in mind that NOS shoes and NOS drums stand a better chance of needing less arcing because they're designed for assembly line work where arcing was not in the picture.
Keep looking for someone who can do this for you. Get your parts and don't stop until the shoes are properly arced. A good drum brake system such as what you've got has the potential for performance that in most situations will equal a disc system, except on the highway where a disc system will perform much better after repeated applications due to their ability to cool better. That's the only place where a drum system falls down.
Of course, you can also attempt this on your own with a good belt sander, some varying grades of sanding belts (coarse to medium fine for finishing) and protective breathing gear. Again, see where the high spots are on the shoes while sitting in the drums on the bench, and grind the shoes in those areas, a little at a time.
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