To Trukernix's comment: I replaced all the wheel cylinders and shoes 5 years ago (not a daily driver so I only have about 3,000 on those shoes now). I have the old Hucks on the front, and drum/shoes c. 1969 Camaro on rear. My front brakes have always been hard to adjust; though the shoes should be properly worn by now so that they fit the drums well, the drag when I rotate by hand is not uniform; I don't know if that's just the way those old brakes are, or if I have a set of slightly warped drums. I came to "7 clicks" by backing the fore and aft star wheels one click each until I could rotate the drum without too much effort (but see comment about uneven drag), so I think I've got it adjusted about as best as possible on both the front and rear shoe of each wheel.
To Sparkster's question: Despite plenty of miles to form the shoes to fit the drums well, and a brand new MC, it still takes me too long to stop for my liking (and for what I feel is safe); this is my first and only old vehicle so perhaps I'm spoiled by more modern vehicles with better braking technology, or maybe I'm still doing something wrong with my old brakes, or maybe the PO's design isn't adequate--he installed a MC from a '54 Ford Club, and designed an odd configuration where one port from the tee serves one wheel, and the other port serves the other three wheels. I just have the feeling that disk brakes would work better--but again, I'm not much of a mechanic, so it may be one of the above that is keeping me from getting the full stopping power of my brakes.
