Morris Minor Owners Club

I have recently obtained a pair of disc brakes for the Minor (marina based). Are these likley to be an advantage over the Wolseley 1500 drums currently fitted?

Yes, in my opinion - no fade and less maintenance. At least one person will disagree strongly though ;)
a

ALSO IN MY OPINION YES
BUT LIKE WE SAY WHO WILL DENY THIS lol

one advantage will certainly be that they don't need adjusting!

I've done 100k miles with this set-up, no sticking pistons only new pads as required. More initial work to fit than those drums but servicing so much easier!

aupickup wrote:ALSO IN MY OPINION YES
BUT LIKE WE SAY WHO WILL DENY THIS lol

I*think* he's off on hols ;)

I doubt they'll stop any better; in fact the pedal may even be heavier unless you fit a servo, and you'll still need to take the wheels off at regular intervals to check the brake condition and grease the joints anyway, won't you?

If you were talking about upgrading from the standard brakes to discs then there might be some point but I don't see why you would bother swapping from Wolseleys to discs.

From my point of view, because I've had two complete drum brake failures , both on cars that were new to me, btw, so not my maintenance, but I just feel uneasy with them now

Discs can fail too.

alex_holden wrote:Discs can fail too.

At least if disc fail you can get recon calipers, new pads and discs easilly from most motor factors.
With "big drums" you are limited to specialists supplying expensive wheel cylinders or adapting Minor items, recon shoes on exchange basis and no (that I can find) new drums available.
Nothing wrong with "big drums" but ease of parts avalibilty at reasonable price is one of my requirements hence even though I know of a pair in a local scrap yards I wouldn't ever consider removing and fitting them to my own car.
BTW I fitted brand new standard drums to the front of my Minor and noticed quite a difference in braking. The old drums looked good but had probably been skimmed in the past as the pedal took "two bites" to go rock hard even with new shoes. New drums solved this straight away so it's a cheap and easy way of improving braking and worth trying.

Paul Humphries.

alex_holden wrote:Discs can fail too.

,,,but I haven't had it happen - yet I'm not knocking drums, just saying that they make me uneasy, that's all.
a

pmsl.. sorry but the very title of this topic made me chuckle.

Its the 'impossible' question.. like asking whats best, pork pies or pasties... it will be rigourously researched but never answered!

Personally I'd take drums over 'un-servod' discs. Purely for pedal feel - i.e. there is some!
If the discs were fitted with a servo they'd obviously be the better choice.

Its the 'impossible' question.. like asking whats best, pork pies or pasties... it will be rigourously researched but never answered!

Melton Mowbary & Cornish of course

The best pasties in England are in Keswick!

Anyway, back to disks and servicing. You can usually tell the condition of the pads without removing the wheel although you need to be under the car. On modern (pin-slider) disks it's a little more difficult to see without taking the wheel off.
However on a Minor you may as well check the pad wear every time you grease the front suspension as it won't add any time or effort - you just have to look.
Disks and drum brakes can both fail (I've had both fail), but in the reliability stakes, disks are likely to be the winner (stuck pistons are much less common)

If this is the complete Marina Disc Package including the calipers fine. If it uses Ford Escort calipers (narrow caliper non vented disc rotor) then be advised brake pad rattle is very common with that setup. There is a fix, but involves fitting Gas shocks to the front, removing the valves from the Armstrong dampers, and lowering the suspension 1/4 to 1/2 inch at the torsion bars. Other than that, discs are better cooled so less brake fade, and also quicker self drying in the wet.

You will also need a remote fluid tank for the brake fluid, and the master cylinder needs to come out and be stripped down, to remove the 'hat' valve that hold pressure in the system.

Pedal feel will be a bit hard without a servo, but if you do fit a servo, the rear wheel cylinders tend to blow seals quite often.

Be sure you get all the high tensile steel bolts for mounting the caliper adapter plate.

but if you do fit a servo, the rear wheel cylinders tend to blow seals quite often.


Never ever had this problem in 15 years of fitting disc brakes and servo's.

I still don't understand the suspension cure for rattling pads?

If going Marina/Ital discs, then go the best route which is to fit the Marina stub axle to the Minor leg then you can use standard Marina bearings etc. I'm sure that the uprated drums are good enough, but the future of spares would concern me.

Reduced suspension height changes the spring rate. I didn't understand it either and had rattling pads for months. Fitted gas shocks, and poly bushes and by accident set the suspension 1/2 low on one side and pad rattle stopped on that side. Lowered the other side, and Bobs Yer Uncle.

Weird

Maybe the rattle is stopped by the additional inclinaton of the upright caused by lowering.

Don't believe everything you think.