8" Brake Drums

[sirrom]

I have 8" drums on my '62 4 door and these drums are different to the 8" drums I had on my prior car.

Is there two different syles of 8" drums?

[mike.perry]

Only one type of 8in front drums that I know of, What is the difference?

[bmcecosse]

8" front drums are exactly the same as Wolseley rear drums (same casting number) however Riley rear drums may be different and would presumably fit.

[sirrom]

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[sirrom]

I got this pic off ebay. It says the left one is a Riley and right on a Wolsley.

The ones on the front of my car look like the shape of the ones on the right.

The question do they work as well as the shape of the left one.

I have to press the pedal quite hard (harger than my last car). I have changed the lining on the shoes to a softer compound and I have new front wheel cylinders. The car passes its required Warrant of Fitness here in NZ (This is like the UK MOT).

The last car I could lock the wheels up but this one I dont think it would. Any ideas?

[bmcecosse]

Yes - the one on the left is a Riley 1.5 drum. Note it has no adjusting hole...... 8" drums should EASILY lock the wheels....are the shoes on right way round? They pretty much HAVE to be - to fit the adjusters..... Unless of course the backplates have been fitted on the wrong sides...........

[sirrom]

Hi Roy - I will check the back plates as know there are labelled LH and RH

[bmcecosse]

Can't really see what else it could be.

[sirrom]

Just checked on LH front and the back plate is the LH and looking at the hub the front wheel cylinder facing to the ground and the rear one is facing upwards. So all that looks fine to me.
Dont get me wrong, it stops but from my experience with other Morries it should be better than what it is.

[bmcecosse]

Hmmmmm - well, unless somehow small bore cylinders have been fitted (and I don't know of any, although Wolseley cylinders are similar [but not identical] and are smaller bore) can only suggest trying yet another source of shoe material. Perhaps the shoes you have need 'burning in' - would be worth doing repeated stops from a decent speed until they stink badly and fade. Then let them cool and see if they are any better.

[sirrom]

They had a real hard compound linings and have changed to a softer but will try it, but not today as its raining. Its the first rain we have for a long time. Its been really hot and dry.

[bmcecosse]

I dream of hot and dry............

[IaininTenbury]

Being pedantic, these are all actually 9" brake drums. Later, post '62 Minors had 8" drums as standard replacing the earlier 7" drums and the Wolseley 1500s and Riley 1.5s had these bigger 9" drums the Riley ones being wider and using Girling cylinders.
Why two virtually mechanically identical cars had different braking systems, just because the Riley had an extra carb seems a little extravagent from the production point of view...

[bmcecosse]

Well - I wondered about that - I'm so used to seeing 9" drums you see.....

[IaininTenbury]

Quite...
I run examples of each type on my two 'on the road' Minors and yes you do get used to them...

[moggiethouable]

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Is it fair to say the drum on the left of the picture would have shoes with a larger surface area than the drum on the right?
If that were the case, would the left hand drum in the picture have greater stopping power, as the force applied in lbs per square inch wouldnt be greater as thats limited by the dia of piston and the hydraulic pressure , but simply because of increased surface area and more friction?

[welshrat]

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I also thought that these may be 9inch fronts but are they not the 8 inch rears off a wolseley and riley?