Morris Minor Owners Club

My moggie passed her MOT yesterday, but the brakes are still pretty shocking! I know that they will never be that hot on a car with drum brakes, but these are not that good.

Cylinders on the back have been replaced and one on each side at the front as one was leaking and one was seized. It's had new shoes all round.

Yesterday I found that the passenger front had no adjustment on it at all and the cam snail adjuster was doing nothing. The chap who did my brakes had gotten an angle grinder out to the new shoes, but I'd purchased these from Bull Motif and would assume they would be made as required? I asked him why he'd done it and he said he'd just copied the old ones that came off.

He ground away where at where the shoes sit on the adjuster. I'm afraid I am clueless on this braking system.

Is there anyone on here that has had to grind shoes down? I have a feeling I'll be buying new shoes again.

Firstly is your car a 948cc fitted with 7" dia brakes or a 1098cc fitted with 8" dia brakes?
Secondly a photo of the brakes as now fitted would be appreciated.
Thirdly what brakes shoes (Pt No:) did you purchase from Bull Motif?
I have known rear brake shoes (7" dia) being fitted to the front 7" dia brakes and a notch in the non notched brake shoe (for the 2nd brake adjuster) having to be filed/ground out to accommodate.
The person fitting the new shoes may only have ground a lead in on the shoes which is quite usual but a photo will reveal a lot more.
Phil

I would guess that you have the earlier 7inch front brakes? When I overhauled my own 7inch brakes a few years ago I also had trouble fitting the shoes to the wheel cylinders and had to remove a bit of metal. Unfortunately I cannot remember now exactly what I had to do but I seem to remember that I ground some of the casting of the front wheel cylinder away rather than the shoe. This part of the casting seemed bigger than the original (despite me buying "original" cylinders) and would not have been a problem if fitted with the larger/later 8inch shoes. Morris Minor brakes (yes, even the 7inch ones) are perfectly adequate when in good condition but the quality of brake lining material varies. I fitted old stock Lockheed/Unipart brake shoes to my car and the brakes were fine once bedded in. If you've had to fit new shoes to the front and rear at the same time and they are not bedded in yet (and possibly poor quality linings) I'm not surprised that your brakes seem poor....
Regarding the adjustment, do you mean that the adjuster itself doesn't work or that once assembled there is no adjustment to be had because the shoe is taking up all the available space?

If the car passed the MOT the brakes must be at least 'reasonable' - unless they have deteriorated since the MOT ? There should be NO NEED to ever take an angle grinder to any part of the system. Some folks lightly file the leading edge of the friction material on each shoe to try to avoid 'snatch' - but that's all. So -this adjuster that does nothing - does it simply not move - or does it flop round uselessly? As mentioned above - pictures would help. But your expectations of the braking on a 7" drum car may be rather high - nevertheless - the brakes should lock all 4 wheels if pressed really hard on a dry road at 30 mph. The later 8" drums are considerably better - and were fitted for good reason.

ManyMinors wrote:Morris Minor brakes (yes, even the 7inch ones) are perfectly adequate when in good condition

bmcecosse wrote: nevertheless - the brakes should lock all 4 wheels if pressed really hard on a dry road at 30 mph.

Well, that settles it, my brakes need a stern looking at
(I've had the Moggy less than a week, give me a chance)

I will try and get a photo, but to confirm the drums are 8"

Oh well - they should work well enough for any sane Minor motoring. The adjuster for the older 7" brakes is slightly smaller - and if fitted to an 8" assembly may not have much travel before it ends. However - with new shoes I would have thought even it would be fine !