diy disc brakes ??

[plastic_orange]

I used Riley 1.5 brakes on my Minor when it used a full race spec MGB engine. My mate also used this set up on his Minor with a tuned Fiat. Both cars would do 120mph+, and never a bearing problem.
We could have been lucky though.

Pete

[MarkyB]

I think the question of brake balance is fairly academic as the lions share of braking is done by the front brakes due to weight transference.
I had a mid eighties Honda that had twin discs on the front wheel and a drum on the back.
Handled horribly but braked fine.

[bmcecosse]

I did discuss the brake balance thing some time ago - in some detail - and yes with Minor cylinders in the Wolseley drums I found the braking to be all at the front (easy to lock them up) with the rears doing very little. Since then - I have changed the front shoes for an older set - and the unbalance is not as bad now - although heavy braking will still lock the fronts before the rears. With the original W cylinders - I found the front rear balance to be ok - but again that was with this older set of shoes.
Would be interesting to hear views of people's experience with fitting different sizes/types of disc - and how the balance worked out retaining the standard rear drums. I now have a set of 8" Wolseley rear brakes almost ready to install - this was the set-up I had on my Rally Minor many years ago and it was superb then! Especially for handbrake turns !!

[jonathon]

LA , we certainly advise customers that they should make sure that the std rear drums are in tip top condition, or swap to an Escort axle in order to balance the brakes.
Unless customers are having a full mechanical upgrade in one go, most opt for the discs first then the rest later.
We have not encountered issues of brake imbalance with std 1098's with discs, but moving up the scale to 100bhp + then the operational use of the rear drums becomes marginal, and we make sure that the customer is fully aware of this fact before selling.
As with most mods, the discs seem to be the first option but once fitted and driven, the mods list soon becomes extended to other areas which begin to show their short comings.

[alex_holden]

I did discuss the brake balance thing some time ago - in some detail - and yes with Minor cylinders in the Wolseley drums I found the braking to be all at the front (easy to lock them up) with the rears doing very little.

I recently fitted larger bore rear brake cylinders and this does seem to have improved matters when braking very hard (not that they were bad before).

It's hard to tell what the front-rear balance is without measuring them simultaneously on rollers, but I have found that after coming down a long steep hill using the footbrakes, both the front and rear drums get hot to the touch. That seems to indicate that the rears must be doing a significant share of the braking.

[bmcecosse]

Indeed they are! Only other test is hard braking in the wet - if it slides straight on - the fronts are doing too much. If it spins - the rears are doing too much.

[IslipMinor]

disc brakes on std roller bearings

The standard front wheel bearings are angular contact ball bearings, designed for a combination of axial and radial loads, just like those fitted in a huge numbers to current front wheel drive cars, which have to cope with the driving torque as well.

Much of the apparent 'wear' is because most of the bearings available today are made to a different tolerance to the originals, which are 'face adjusted'. These are available, with difficulty and expensive.

Getting good quality bearings helps, but sometimes they do not fit perfectly, even when new. Despite this have never had any real problems, but have replaced them 3 times in 30,000+ miles when I have been doing something else at the same time.

During the restoration, completed 11 years ago, I fitted the 'Midget' disc conversion (£60 complete with front/rear Koni damper kit from an autojumble!), but used Metro 4-pot calipers instead of the standard Midget. The total piston area is virtually identical, but more even pressure on the pads. Combined with Mintex 1155 pads, standard 7" rear drums with Mintex M20 equivalent linings, a balance valve to prevent the rears locking and a 2.2:1 servo to keep the pedal pressure and feel similar to a 'modern'. Why? Because I don't want to have to remember to press hard just at a time when I need to without thinking.

Last year 'upgraded' to Metro ventilated discs/calipers (almost identical diameter as the Midget), with the rest as before. Since they were virtually unfadable before, I'm not sure there is any noticeable difference, but have that bit more in reserve just in case the 'soon to be fitted' complete Metro turbo set-up gives more track day top speed!

[bmcecosse]

Interesting! Do the Metro vented discs bolt straight on to the Spridget front hubs ??

[IslipMinor]

Hi Roy,

Unfortunately not. The overall width of the 'bell' has to be reduced, the bore increased to suit the Midget hub and 4 new holes drilled and tapped to suit the Midget thread size and PCD.

All quite a challenge on a rather old lathe to machine the bore to the right size and tolerance, and the new mounting face exactly parallel to the existing disc face. The drilling and tapping is quite straightforward using the hub as a 'spotting' jig.

The Metro calipers, solid or vented, aren't a straight bolt-on either, and need a different size 'J' bracket from the one supplied for the Midget calipers.

[bmcecosse]

Ahh - ok - thanks for the information! Might have been better to go the Fiesta caliper route - which works very well indeed on Minis !

[joannebinney]

Search for "disc brakes for under £100" in useful tips. Posted Nov 2007.
Uses existing hubs (skimmed slightly) and VW Golf/Polo discs and calipers. Mounting bracket cut from 10mm steel plate. You won't get much cheaper than that!!

does anyone know where this link has gone to ? when i click on the link its says it doesn't exsist