Advice for a newbie, brakes and rear axle

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Rich G
Newbie
Posts: 3
Joined: Sat Jul 02, 2016 8:20 pm
MMOC Member: No

Advice for a newbie, brakes and rear axle

Post by Rich G »

Hello all, new to here but long term modifier and Minor enthusiast. I’ve owned four Minors over the years. The first two were vans, one of which was a spares source for the other. This was followed some years later with an H-reg 1100 saloon which was my daily driver for a few years. The last one was an Old English White traveller on a J-plate if I remember correctly.

Anyway, enough of my ramblings about the past. I have this very foggy idea in my head about a Minor as my next project (once project 58 House is finished in about 18 months or so). Not sure yet if it’ll be a traveller or a saloon but I want to try and get it built in my head before I start to spend any money on it at all.

Not decided on power plant as yet other than I’m not after a street racer (I have a ’58 Ford 103E Pop for that), just a bit of upgrading so that it would cruise happily at 65-70 on the motorway but still return 30-35mpg. Have had some idle thoughts about a blower or turbo on the 1100; did think about fuel injection from the last Minis but it sounds like a bit of a nightmare.

As a power increase is on the cards, the first thing I would like some advice on would be brake and rear axle upgrades.

I’ve read some stuff about swapping out the rear axle for a Ford Escort MK1-2 unit – I have a range of diffs for these so already have the parts needed if a ratio change is required. I quite like the idea of the Ford axle as it’ll easily take the horsepower from any engine upgrade I’m likely to make and it widens the range of wheels that can be used. Can anyone tell me what the measurement is drum-face to drum-face on the Minor?

The last time I looked at upgrading the front brakes on the Minor a Marina disc set-up was the hot option. That was around 20-odd years ago though so what would the panel recommend these days?

Thanks for any advice in advance.
Rich G
philthehill
Minor Maniac
Posts: 10766
Joined: Thu Jul 19, 2012 12:05 pm
Location: Hampshire
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Re: Advice for a newbie, brakes and rear axle

Post by philthehill »

The Minor rear axle will take the power if you are careful in its preparation.
The weakness in the Minor axle is the half-shafts but you can obtain a selection of upgraded items to suit most pockets.
There is also a range of axle ratios available.
The Marina disc brakes can be fitted to the Minor without much trouble and spares are easily obtainable.
If you want to go the whole hog with the Marina disc brakes you can fit the Marina stub axle so as to utilise the Marina hub bearings.
Grumpy did a Marina hub conversion that altered the 3.75" Marina PCD to the Minor 4" PCD.
The Marina van rear axle with its 4" PCD hubs can be fitted to the Minor or even the car axle (3.75cc PCD) with its more suitable axle ratio. Mounting brackets available from ESM and details can be found in Owen Burtons Marina to Minor booklet also available from ESM.
My Ser 2 (fitted with 998cc engine) was fitted with the Marina car rear axle and Marina front hubs/disc brakes and was used for going up and down the M6 (700 miles/week) for many months and the Marina running gear made the car a good motorway vehicle sitting at 70mph most of the time.
Ford front disc brakes can be fitted and there are various kits available but for my money the Marina disc brake conversion is good value for money.
My 1380cc Minor has uprated heat treated Minor half-shafts fitted (supposedly capable of taking 175bhp) and Marina disc brakes and they have served me well. The rear brakes though are Wolseley 1500cc 8" units but Wolseley rear brakes are becoming harder to find these days.
Phil

Rich G
Newbie
Posts: 3
Joined: Sat Jul 02, 2016 8:20 pm
MMOC Member: No

Re: Advice for a newbie, brakes and rear axle

Post by Rich G »

Thanks for the response Phil!

The reason for the thoughts of using the Ford axle is I have a couple of spare 105E Anglia axles, several diffs and a Mk1/2 Escort axle 'in-stock' as it were, along with quite a few 4x108pcd Ford wheels in 13, 14 and 15-inch varieties - so to that extent non-cost (or very little cost) options.

I could sell you a whole Wolseley 1500 (complete with stuck brakes at the moment!)... :)
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