Sadly my brother is having to sell / break his Midget 1500 as he can't afford to get it back on the road. I'm wondering if the disc brakes can be straight swapped onto my 66 saloon?
I'm thinking possibly not as the front suspension is different so I presume the mountings would all be different, but thought it would be worth checking.
p.s. if anyone would like to buy a Midget 1500 with a fine engine, good interior, pretty sound bodywork, minor suspension issues and some welding need underneath, do get in touch!
thanks Dan, I think its probably better in that case to save up for a standard kit from ESM or the like.
Would the engine and box be swappable? I understand the 1500 engine is not an A series engine, a Spitfire engine (?), but if its a fairly simple swap I could maybe help him out by purchasing it
It's a hopeless/weak engine - don't touch it!
The discs etc can swap over quite easily - it used to be THE standard conversion. You need to make caliper mount brackets - the drawing for them is floating about here somewhere. Of course - you also need to take out the master cylinder and remove a seal - may as well fit all new seals while in there, and you may find the disc brakes are too heavy on the leg - so then you want a servo, and a remote filler pot. Oh - and the Spridget brakes won't actually work any better than good condition 8" front drums anyway!!
I have a scan of the 'J' bracket that is required to mount the caliper on to the Minor upright. Everything else is a straight swop, and as Roy says you do have to remove the 'residual pressure valve' from the master cylinder, or you will get pad rubbing and significant heat build-up.
Whether you fit discs or bigger drums really depends on how you will drive the car and the engine performance. Drums fade much earlier than discs, so if you think that is signficant, fit the discs!
Virtually every wheeled vehicle, car, bicycle, motorbike etc., is fitted with discs these days, even saw a beautiful carriage in France a few days ago drawn by 2 grey horses and fitted with 4-wheel disc brakes! Seems like they might be a pretty good thing?
Last edited by IslipMinor on Sun Sep 06, 2009 7:11 pm, edited 1 time in total.
The Triumph engine was always a poor weak thing - it was the worst thing BMC could do - to put it in the Spridget. Lost them a bunch of customers! It's certainly not a 'straight swap' - although it has been done of course.
GeorgeHurst wrote:Really? That bad?! I was always rather impressed with its oompf!
Why so bad if you don't mind me asking? And also is it indeed a straight swap, out of interest.
Thanks for the comments on the brakes, maybe its worth going with that, though if no better than 8" drums then probably not worth it.
The 1500 was the Triumph 4 pot stroked out to the limit so it's not the sweetest of engines. That and the thrust washers dropping problem shared with the 6 cylinder version. saying that in standard twin carb form it's about 70hp which would row a minor along ok. They have been used in Minors and if it's in good low mileage condition I would use one.
OK, it's not the nicest engine in the world, but I wouldn't exactly call it "hopeless" ! I wouldn't say it was the worst thing they could do either. (they did much worse things as a company later on!)
I'd concede, it does have a habit of munching bottom ends if you thrash it, i.e. long sustained high revs or dirty oil. Been there, got the rod through the side of the block!
Andrew
Maggie, 1969, 4 door, Almond Green.
And Project "Traveller"...
[sig]4253[/sig]
GeorgeHurst wrote:Really? That bad?! I was always rather impressed with its oompf!
The brakes on my Sprite feel much better than the (Marina disc) brakes on my Minor but that's probably got something to do with the car being quite a bit lighter.
Anyone know what's the diff on a 1500 Midget? That might be worth having.
The Triumph 4 cylinder engines do have weak bottom ends but some are much better than others. The 1500s (Prefix FM) are notorious for crank problems. Curiously these engines seem to last longer in Spitfires and Dolomites than they do in Midgets. It does help if the car has overdrive of course but for some reason the Midgets never had the option, pity.
The 1296cc engines were less stressed but the version fitted to the MK1V Spit (Prefix FH) has a much weaker crank than the 1296cc engine from the MK3 Spitfire which had the FD prefix, those are the best of the small Triumph engines and are much stronger and better revving than the others.
Incidentally, a Triumph 1493cc engine will have an FP prefix if it came out of a Midget 1500.
I have seen Triumph engines in Minors, usually with the Spitfire overdrive box, they worked well but wether its worth the conversion work is personal choice.
Out of interest, what sort of money is your brother looking at for the MG?
Thanks for all of the comments and sorry for not replying untl now... have spent the last 10 days setting working on an event with my father and have been away from the internet.
I think from the general feedback I'll continue with my original long term plan of a 940 head, hif 38/44, lcb etc - just thought it worth asking as there is a perfectly good engine sitting outside our house!
Lee - he's look in the £700 - 800 region I believe, do let me know if you want to see some pictures / hear more about it.
For what it's worth, I once put a Triumph 1200 & tranny in a Bugeye Sprite- it moved along very, uh, spritely. However, it was a really tight fit. I seem to recall butter and shoehorns coming in to play. And I love the Midget discs on my Moggie.
