1955 Ford poor brake performance

My '55 sedan has perfect brakes. Assuming you did the proper adjusting and bleeding, the first thing I would check is that you have the correct wheel cylinder and master cylinder bore diameters installed. A larger MC (less psi for a given pedal pressure due to a larger piston area) or smaller wheel cylinder diameter (less total area of the piston face and thus less total pressure for a given pedal pressure) will reduce braking performance. Over the years someone may have installed the wrong parts.

An improperly arched set of shoes should not significantly affect stopping power, but will require more frequent adjusting of brakes until the shoes wear into the drums.
 
'55 Fords have great brakes if properly maintained. I will make a guess here that someone has mismatched the bore diameter of the M/C and/or wheel cylinders. A larger MC bore will cause you to have to press harder on the brake pedal to generate the same psi in the brake lines as a smaller bore. A smaller set of wheel cylinder bores will have the same effect. I would first suspect the M/C since you did not complain of one wheel locking up. Go to your parts store and get a rebuild kit for the '55 application and see if it has the same diameter parts as what you have on board. If it is the same, return it and do the same for the wheel cylinders.

Not arching the shoes will cause you to have to make more frequent brake adjustments, but should not significantly affect brake pedal pressure relative to a given stopping rate.
 
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One other thing to consider; today, most of us use radial tires one or two sizes larger. They act like giant flywheels, radials should grip the ground better.
 
Well, everyone is pitching in advice here, and Drewbaby has yet to further explain the symptoms. I drove a 1950 2 dr sedan in high school and other than "fade", never had any problems. I checked and adjusted the brakes every other time I changed the oil and always had a good firm pedal. I've just redone the complete brake system (other than hard lines) on my '58 F100 and will agree with dmsfrr that there could be a m/c problem. The first rebuilt one would never get me any pedal height and almost no pressure at the shoes. With a replacement and bench bleeding, further bleeding after installation was not even required. Good firm pedal now.
 
Thanks to everyone who replied. I've done all adjustments. I have a high firm pedal. I could possibly relocate the master cylinder push rod closer to the pivot point or woven liner could be an interesting option.
I have correct bore size on wheel cylinders and master cylinders. That was my first thought.
As far as arcing the brake shoes, I know that can be done at home by sandpaper fixed to the inside of the drum and fitting the shoes by hand. It didn't need that with new standard 11" drums.
As for now I'll enjoy the experience just like "ole Don" stated.
I also have a 1934 with mechanical brakes and a 1948 and the brakes on both work fine.

Thanks again!!
 
Is it the original master cylinder still? A smaller bore m/cyl will reduce some of the pedal effort at the expense of pedal travel. A very small amount of pedal travel. As soon as I bought my 56 I swapped out the m/cyl for a dual setup for safety reasons. I just stole the one of another Ford and it works fine. If the pedal is high and firm then you shouldn't have any air in the system. I find my brakes work good but drums aren't know for to many repetitive stops before fading.

On a couple other cars I used a m/cyl from a 85 Ranger. It has a 15/16 bore and worked good in my tbucket.
 
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