Morris Minor Owners Club

Hello all,
I have been asked by a friend of mine to post this question
on this Forum on his behalf, he is Building an old style Supercharged
Series MM Sedan and has a question regarding wheels and brakes,
as he wants to upgrade both of these on his car.
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Hi Oli

Hope this message finds you well.

I am wanting to purchase alloy
wheels for my Morris. The ones I can afford are not the genuine
'Minilites' but a cheaper copy called 'Minator' wheels made in by a firm
in the & UK called K N Wheels. The ones I am seeking are 14 inches dia.
x 5.5 inches wide, with naturally a mounting hole PCD of 4 inches. There
are two firms that I know of in the UK selling them, the first is 'Bull
Motif' who advertise this wheel as their part no. OFF 124 and 'ESM' who
advertise them as their part no. WHL 120. However I intend fitting
Morris Major brakes to the front of my Minor which I believe are the
same as the brakes fitted to the Wolseley 1500 in the UK. I have asked
both ESM and Bull Motif whether the wheels have sufficient clearance
inside them to accommodate the Major / Wolseley brakes but have not
received a positive reply. I have also emailed the K N Wheels web side
enquiry, asking whether the same wheel ie.14 inch dia. x 5.5 inch width,
with 4 inch PCD mounting holes made for a Morris Minor will be suitable
for fitting to the front of the same Minor with Morris Major or Wolseley
brakes. So far there has not been a reply from the K N web site. I
have been reading forums on the web and have seen your name come up on
the 'morrisminorsowners.co.uk web site. I would like to ask you if you
would be prepared to post a message on the mmowners web site on my
behalf, asking whether any member has had any experience and an answer
to this a question. You may have some difficulty in understanding how
a person who can machine to precision tolerances can ask such a
question. However it is fact and I lack the confidence to enter such
forums. Hoping you may be able to help.

Regards

Bob

P.S.
These wheels are to go on my MM which will have Minor
1000 swivel pins and a Minor 1000 diff., both of which have a mounting
hole PCD of 4 inches, not the PCD of a standard MM which is 4.5 inch.
The morris Major and Wolseley 1500 have wheel PCD's of 4 inch so the
swap is a simple bolt on job to Minor 1000 swivel pins and diff.

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Can anybody help with some advice?

Thankls Oli

Taking a styep back - if your car is an early saloon (pre 1956) then it sghould have the high cut rear arches.
14" minilights (Or similar) can look a bit lost in the arches - especiallym with a 65 profile tyre! Over in Europe (and probably a lot of other places too) the trend is to take alloys as big as possible - therefore 15" rims are also an option.

As for clearance to the drums - the wolseley / Riley 1500 drums are 9" and the o/d is significantly bigger than minor 8" drums.
However the rim of a 14" wheel is likely to be just over 13" on the inside so you should have plenty of room - you are right to check the exact situation as wheels will differ between manufacturers.

Presuming either of those suppliers have the wheels in stock, then can you provide them with the o/d of your brake drum, and they should be able to check clearances.

ps - your contact can use the forum by themself! Nearly all the site is open to non members.

My Traveller is fitted with 9 in Wolseley brakes and 13 x 5.5 in wheels with 175/80 tyres. There are no clearance problems.
I agree with Ray, a Series MM with high rear wheel arches would look odd with different wheels, still everyone to his own.
Any chance of the car details for the register please?
The Morris Major was not sold here so people would not be familiar with its brakes. The standard conversion is Woleseley 9 in drums. Riley 1.5 (a go faster Wolseley 1500) brakes will also fit but they are wider than Wolseley brakes and are in short supply. Are you supercharging the side valve engine?

I know thjis is the long way round in doing this, but this is what Bob has asked me to post in reply:

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Hi Oli

The forum moderator's reply makes sense ie. check carefully before outlaying 6 to 7 hundred dollars. However Mike Perry's reply states that he has no clearance problem with 13 x 5.5 wheels. He does not say whether his wheels are 'Minator' as sold by Bull Motif or ESM. If they are 'Minator' 13 inch dia. x 5.5 width with 22 mm. offset then the 14 inch dia. that I am wanting will have no clearance problem with the Wolseley brakes.

Bob
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What I should have made clear is that 13 in wheels will fit over 9 in brake drums but I do not know the offset of my wheels which would affect whether the wheels would clear the swivel pins. As the brake drums are wider than standard 8 in drums there will in fact be more clearance. I was assured that they would fit a Minor and I think that they were originally off a Spridget.[frame][/frame]Wolseley Brake Drum[frame][/frame] 13 in Wheel

So can someone tell me if the Series MM font hubs fit Series Ii spindles? If so, are there any strength issues with the Series MM hubs? I want a 4.5" PCD.

The Series MM/early Series II swivel pins and hub assemblies are different to the later Series II/M1000 swivels and hubs.
If you want to run M1000 swivels then you need to change the whole assemblies and also the rear axle