I could really use one of those right now.
Could this possibly work?
Yes, those are very sensitive to gasoline vapors. I use mine to pinpoint vapor leaks related to check engine light/evaporative emission leaks.
Just a comment but the self adjusting feature only adjusts the rear brakes not the front but the front do the major part of stopping a car. I don’t remember when they came and if they had them in 66 though.
Edit: evidently on the front too.
+1
The last image in the Amazon link states that it detects gasoline.
I’m going to disagree with you on that point. On a car with front discs and rear drum brakes, you would be correct. However, the OP’s Mustang currently has 4 wheel drum brakes, and the self-adjusters work on all 4 wheels.
For the OP’s benefit, I will add that, in my experience with a '66 Ford Galaxie 500, just a gentle tap on the brake while reversing was not sufficient to adjust the brakes. Once a month or so, I used to drive ~10 mph in reverse, apply the brakes firmly, and then repeat that procedure once or twice until I could feel that a sufficient adjustment had taken place.
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Ok, I’ll stand corrected on that one. Haven’t seen the inside of a drum for 30 years and never owned a ford.
Some vehicles don’t have self-adjusting front drum brakes but the shop manual shows self-adjusters for this Mustang.
Self-adjusting brakes are not perfect, they are intended to maintain the adjustment during normal use, one click at a time when applying the brake in reverse. It could take 20 brake applications to rotate the star wheel one revolution, if the adjustment requires 4 revolutions, it is better to perform this manually during a brake inspection as was recently performed by the OP’s shop.
If the brakes are found to be out of adjustment after five years of use, it may be because the threads on the star wheel have rusted and will no longer rotate, or the driver has never applied the brakes while in reverse, the latter seems is unlikely.
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Routine shop adjustment for drum-brakes?
As long as my truck’s brakes continue to work well, there’s no need for a manual adjustment. Eventually the self adjustment mechanism gets stuck. I know b/c applying the brakes will start to cause the truck to pull one way or the other. That’s when I do a manual adjustment.
You seem to be frequently working on your truck’s brakes. And your carburetor repair interrupted the latest brake repair (no fluid pressure to the rear brakes).
Mustang drum brakes, both front and rear have self adjusters.
Since the self adjuster depends on some play to operate, once they’re adjusted they don’t typically over-adjust.
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I have been wondering, when they self adjust, do they adjust back to the last setting (regardless whether it was a good or poor adjustment) or does it adjust to make the braking snug? Where does it adjust to?
When they adjust when backing up the ‘adjusting lever’ pushes the adjuster one tooth on the star wheel. It’ll keep doing with each backing up it until the brakes are adjusted tight enough to not allow the lever to move enough to adjust the wheel.
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Not sure I follow.
I’ve seen how there a little wheel with teeth and it is adjusted with a flat tool to get the desired adjustment, but when I back up, how many teeth clicks does it tighten?
When my brakes were not good, could I have just backed up a bunch of times until I got to the desired snug fit?
It adjusts one tooth each backup. It would have taken lots of back-ups if they were very loose, better to get them adjusted correctly first.
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Thanks Texases
True. Brakes might take a few miles to really seat.
Texases’s provides an excellent diagram of the brake configuration above. Look at the front brake for example. This is the passenger side front brake, see the notation “forward” at the top? The adjustment mechanism is at the very bottom. Braking while backing up causes the lever to move & turn the star wheel downward one tooth. The star wheel is attached to the adjusting screw. When it rotates downward (clockwise) it screws into the pivot nut, which makes the length of the pivot nut plus adjusting screw longer. You might be thinking it should make it shorter, but it has reverse threads. The longer length of that contraption pushes both shoes toward the drum, which is what you want to adjust the brakes. At some point the shoes will be so close to the drum the mechanism doesn’t have the force needed to push them any further, which means they are perfectly adjusted. If you could see what happens at that point, you’d see the adjusting lever pivot upward , then the lever would just slide over the tooth on the star wheel rather than push it down.
Texases diagram looks very close to my truck’s configuration, except the front brakes on my truck has another spring directly from the front shoe to the rear shoe. Don’t know why that extra spring is needed.
Thanks George.
My brakes are working much better than they were before but because of all the errors by the shop including breaking my side mirror, fuel leak, and break leak, I wonder if my brakes are really adjusted right. I’m looking forward to my new Mustang (only) mechanic checking everything out.
I expect they are adjusted correctly now. Owning an older car is definitely a challenge, everything is old so it is always near to needing repair. Pretty much any job I do, I’ll have to fix something else. Either I broke something in the process, or discovered a new problem I didn’t know I had. Leaks are a given, something is either already leaking, or my work will introduce a new leak … lol … Often the leaks are quite small. Doing repairs in my driveway, I can just look underneath the truck over the course of a few days to see if anything is leaking. That’s not as easy for the shop.
I’ve met 5 vintage Mustang guys in the past few weeks and they all work on their own cars plus everyone here.
I still would like to have a vintage corvette someday.