Morris Minor Owners Club

I was wondering if anyone could help me on this excellent forum.
I inherited a Minor from a favorite Aunt. Bit of a goer, the car, not the aunt. But I,m going of at a tangent again. My question is this. There seems to be a definate lack of stopping power. As money is very limited I was wondering about the possibility of fitting some sort of larger brakes at the front. Hopefully obtained from the local vehicle recyclers. Thanking you all in anticipation. Ryan.

Aha - the only ones that spring to mind are the larger drums from a Wolsley 1500 or (if you happen to be in Australia - not sure what stairs you're under) the ones from a Morris Major. Otherwise you're looking at a disc conversion, a kit for which will cost a few hundred pounds. Do make sure the ones on there are in pefect nick while you save up, and do, contrary to the rubbish they teach these days, use engine braking/changing down to slow you, and don't use the brakes for too long at a time - they heat up and fade.

Hello CP,

"Do make sure the ones on there are in pefect nick while you save up, and do, contrary to the rubbish they teach these days, use engine brakind/changing down to slow you",

I'm with Andrew, the front brakes are more than adequate for normal use as long as they are working correctly. And ditto about the driving style.

Alec

What Minor do you have? The 8" drums on the later Minors are much better than the early cars, and if in good condition and driven with skill they are great (although still rubbish compared to modern brakes)

Also you might be used to a modern car which has a very light pedal due to it being power-assisted. The minor doesn't have this - just give the pedal a really good shove and there should be plenty of stopping power

Have you tried putting an advert in Wanted section.
Ian.

You'll be very lucky to find them anywhere except BMCEcosse's spare room. The car was around in the 60s - keeping an eye on ebay is your best bet. Try doing a 'search' on this site for 'wolseley' for more info.

In theory it appears I have a spare pair of the Wolsley drums n backplates, though no springs, sheos, cylinders etc. Haven't posted any more about them as I can't find one of the backplates, and quite frankly am sick and tired of the whole storage/ pickup thing at teh moment for oh so many reasons.

However, I can't see why the normal drums should be all that bad if kept in good condition. Unilke modern discs (and so called self adjusting rear drums) you've got to wander round the car every so often tacking slack out the system. As long as the fluidy bits are all in good working order, the shoes all have plenty of meat left on them and the whole lot is kept adjusted, you should be able to stop pretty well so long as you stand on the stop pedal a bit harder than you would a modern one

modern traffic conditions = modern type brakes = discs.
well that is my personal veiw.
having a load in a morris van and discs, i know i am going to stop if i need to.

personal choice i know

As you know, it's my choice too, but I thought I'd try and answer the question

you could try the wolsely club perhaps, unless bmc has bought all of them from there !!!!!!

The poor old drumless Wolseley club, now all on 7" Minor drums

Seconded!

Presumably Wolseley brake shoes are readily available still? Minor brake shoes certainly are, and cheap too!

CP - does your HGV have servo brakes, or are they quite light ?

Try on ebayfor Wolseley brakes
Ian.

Yes - Wolseley brake shoes and cylinders are available - but not cheap! However, Minor cylinders can be fitted with only slight mods.

BMCECOSSE, My truck has air powered discs fitted as standard, Mind you I do have 44 tonne pushing me forward.
I have been told that you may have some Wolseley brakes in your spare room to sell, is this true? Ryan.

I do have spare W brakes - they are MINE, all MINE - will NOT be sold, well - not yet anyway!