Morris 8 disc Brake conversion

[matt617]

I know this is not for morris 8s but i am so stuck in trying to make my car safer I thought I would post on here.

i am currently restoring a morris 8 series 8 1947 it has a beam front axle on 5" drums. I wanted to put disc brakes on the front but am unable to find any information on this via google.

my questions are

will any morris minor kits fit?

is it that hard to do a DIY conversion?

from what I can see I could make a back plate to hold the caliper then fit a disc over the current hub. this comes with a few issues i can see such as , getting the correct PCD on the disc and possible issues with the length of the wheel stud threads. also the wheel will proberly not have space to run disc brakes. I would also need bearings made to fit the spindle and disc.

Here is a picture of the front axle







im a bit lost on this but am determined to do it. I would like to keep it origional so bolt on bolt off parts would be niecer. I just dont seem to get good performance even with very well adjusted drum brakes.

Any help is greatly appreciated

Many Thanks
Matt

[bmcecosse]

I don't remember my 8E brakes being only 5 " diameter?? Certainly they weren't big - but surely more than 5" !! Your basic plan is right enough - but I'm afraid you are a pioneer on this one. Nothing from a Minor is likely to fit - what PCD are the studs on an 8E hub??

[matt617]

I don't remember my 8E brakes being only 5 " diameter?? Certainly they weren't big - but surely more than 5" !! Your basic plan is right enough - but I'm afraid you are a pioneer on this one. Nothing from a Minor is likely to fit - what PCD are the studs on an 8E hub??

hi the pcd is 4" or 102mm 6 stud also I was wrong on the drum size they are actually 8".

if you know of anything else that has the same pcd that would help alot as the bearings i could have made easy enough.

[bmcecosse]

8" is more like it - they should stop the car well enough if in working order. An obvious improvement will be to use 8" backplates from a post 65 Minor and thus get twin leading shoe braking. But you would need to keep the 8E shoes and drums. Why do you need more braking - are you changing the engine - or ugrading the original? 5 stud will be the problem...... You will need to find a disc that fits over - and have it accurately drilled for the 5 stud holes. Replacement longer studs should be no problem if required. Are you retaining the original wheels?

[orb596]

I can't see any point in uprating the brakes on a Series E. My father in law has a Series E and is running on completely original spec. A well set up braking system is perfectly adequate for the performance levels on a Series E.

[bmcecosse]

Indeed - that's how I remember it - rarely went fast enough (despite driving with foot on floor most of the time..) to need any serious braking..... But we always struggled at the MOT - mostly because we had old/oil soaked brake shoes...... and getting the car to pull up straight was the problem. The actual braking was measured with a Tapley meter on the floor. Fortunately we knew the garage well - and were allowed to borrow the Tapley and do our own tests till we got it all good enough to pass. Much boiling of brake shoes in caustic soda as i remember. But as I suggest above - a good improvement would the twin leading shoe backplates from an 8" Minor - and certainly much very easier to do than unnecessary discs.

[smithskids]

I have run my eight series 1 for 44 years and the brakes are more than adequate as long as you have the old ferodo type asbestos linings. The hand brake will lock the wheels at almost any speed providing you can keep the shoes oil free as bmc says. convert to rear gaco seals helps as the left and right hand cork oil seals are no good when you reverse.