Update - I checked my Napa Parts bill, and the drums are 9" in size.

 

definitely something wrong...in my 68 shop manual it shows 9 inch drums to have the cable and bracket, and the spring interfering with star adjuster attaches to the bracket just as a V8. I know you are working on a 65, but you are missing parts on the front, maybe you should show us pics of the back, and master too. Are they all Napa parts?

I just saw your second pic with that funky hub? That is weird...not familiar with that one, but I am not an expert at 65 4 lug stuff. Most drum brakes have gone to with seperate hub/drum, so those may be originals? just a guess.

Dan at Chockostang is the man for brakes...and he can supply parts. But you can probably get those missing pieces from AZ or O'r.

 

Brakes

Looks like some parts are missing, hope this helps.
Edit: dont forget there are rights and lefts on the star adjuster wheel take them apart you should see a "R" or "L" stamped inside.

 

Do you adjust the shoes out till the drum just barely goes on, even the slightest bit of drag when turned by hand won't hurt. I have put shoes on backwards before that looked right but stopped like crap so....

Your pics are a bit small for me to see what is missing or not but I dont think the adjuster should matter immediately after, just to keep the shoes close as they wear down.

 

You're definitely missing the adjusters, and that spring on the bottom should be in a higher hole per Mustang6's diagram.

Without the adjuster the star wheel is able to rotate back the other direction and loosen everything back up. I don't think you'll ever get them to stay screwed out without something holding them in place.

 

Are both of those pictures a front brake? In the "after" pic, do I see the castle nut for a front spindle? You need the drums pressed onto the hubs. Maybe the drum is not seating properly if it's not pressed onto the hub? Maybe it's my bad eyes(not a sarcastic remark.), and that is not a front brake. Possible your receipt is for 9 inch drums, but they accidentally gave you 10? Then again, the 10" drums probably have holes for 5 lugs.... As otherrs have mentioned, you are missing the self adjuster parts.

 

Whoa! Lots of parts missing. I don't see any link pins on the wheel cylinders, the self adjusters are missing too. There's no pads on those shoes either. Whoever did that job on those brakes just threw them on. The springs are wrong too.

 

My brakes might not be the shiniest example you'll find, but this is what your front brake setup should look like. Just so you can get an idea how much you're missing.

You can probably pick up everything you need at your local parts store, but NPD (and probably everyone else) has a nice kit with all of the parts in one place:
https://www.npdlink.com/store/?p=catalog&mode=newsearch&search_str=2A094-11A&parent=1&year=1965

 

Thanks everyone for your help. Clearly whoever did the original brake job didn't know what they were doing (the first pic). And by copying the original one, I didn't know that the adjustment springs were required. I'll pick those up from AZ today.

Thanks again!

 

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Any help appreciated - I've been at this for 4 days now and my wife is about to divorce me!!

Phil.

Dude, after only 4 days... Mustang may not be the answer in this marriage, you guys better strap in, you have a long long road ahead - probably wont last a mid-life crisis V8 conversion ;o)

 

Yep, missing the self adjusters. Some other reasons could be thelining material back then it had asbestos in them. They had a higher coefficient of grip. They would also do what is known as "arc grinding" of the shoes. When you put the shoes on out of the box, they don't always make full contact with the drum do to how the shoes are applied to the drum by the wheel cylinder top and the bottom floating. The arc grinding as the name implies is grinding the shoes, to a different arc which would allow full contact of the shoes to drum. Right now you may have a small percentage of a small shoe making contact. Did you have the drums surfaced or take some sandpaper to the drums to remove the glazing? No grease or oil? The last, try adjusting the shoes again after a stop or two.

Dan from Chocostang would be a great person to reach out to. He's Chock here on the forum.