Morris Minor Owners Club

Morning all

following a link on here I started to think again about improving the brakes on my Traveller. I did consider a disk brake conversion some time ago but decided against it due mainly to the faff with the master cylinder.

I've been alerted to the possibility of Riley/Wolseley front drum conversions (hence the reference to the link above). I know little of this conversions and wondered if anyone has done it and was it worth doing?

Must say before hand that my brakes pass an MOT with no trouble and are mostly new/recent component. I just think you cant have brakes that are 'too good'.

cheers

As, I believe, you are already well aware Grumpy, this is indeed a conversion that I've done on my car and it has certainly made a noticeable improvement to the braking performance though not, so far, as dramatic as I'd hoped. I suspect that, in my case, the new linings are taking rather longer than expected to fully bed in with the drums, especially so as the car is only lightly and infrequently used. Maybe a bit of 'Italian tuning' technique might speed the process!

In the past, and many years ago, I have fitted both the Wolseley 1500 (Lockheed) front brakes and the larger Riley 1.5 (Girling) front brakes to different Morris Minors. This was before disc brake conversions were readily available - and also when my Morris Minors only had the smaller 7inch front brakes. There was certainly a useful improvement. I never fitted servos as I consider them to be over-complicated and quite un-necessary on such a small, light car. The only downside of such conversions nowadays is perhaps the poor availability of new wheel cylinders and repair kits and good quality brake shoes and/or linings. Plus, there is a good supply now of disc brake kits. For me personally, I now have a completely standard Minor 1000 and find that the standard brakes are perfectly adequate for my needs (provided they are working properly and fitted with good quality friction material!) so I have no wish to upgrade them

Iv just picked up some Wolseley 1500 today. Hopefully they'll be a great improvement. Can't really afford disc brakes at the moment and my standard brakes need new shoes, cylinders and drum. They're fine for running around the country lanes but really struggle on the steep hills.

Hello 'Green Defender', I tend to agree with 'ManyMinors' view on standard brakes and am perplexed that your car's brakes "really struggle on the steep hills". This would suggest that MM's caveat on standard brakes ("provided they are working properly and fitted with good quality friction material") is not being met. However, I hope your Wolseley 1500 conversion is successful and perhaps you can update us on the outcome?

Steep hills? Isn’t that drums getting too hot; brake fade? Change down to a lower gear?

It could also be old brake fluid in the system. The fluid absorbs moist over time and when it gets very hot(as with hard and prolonged braking) the moisture turns to vapour and you get brake fade. Give the system a good right through bleeding and see if it makes a difference.

Was all new components when I rebuilt the traveller. Driving to fast has been alot of the problem aswell. Gearbox struggles abit in 3rd gear. But really driveable. Have another one to pop in it at some point.

Its worth a try with the Wolseley ones anyway. Am also driving it alot slower these days. Especially will be with kids in the back. Brakes have lasted since 2017 so have done very well. When I say steep hills I mean like Porlock Hill and Countisbury Hill which I regularly drive in both directions. Also we have alot of steep lanes locally. Its just bad driving on my behalf. Its not a modern car. The front wheels will lock up if you slam on the brakes. Also putting my beetle on the road will be alot better aswell. The brakes on them are alot better than the Morris brakes I find.

Want it to be more driveable for my wife aswell. So it can be used as a back up car for her aswell.

Usually when I do tours I'm running with my parents and inlaws. My dad has a jaguar xkr lotus Elan plus 2. It keeps up well enough.

Will post up on my build thread once iv fitted them. Unfortunately the wife's car is throwing a fit at the moment.

Also have a friend locally who has a saloon on disc brakes and a traveller on standard drums. So will be nice comparing it to them. Would like discs on it. But that's very expensive and requires removing the master cylinder. If they're as good as morris ones for stopping il be happy.

greendefender123
If your brakes are as bad as you say no wonder you are having difficulty stopping.
If you are going to overhaul and replace the front brakes you really should remove and service the master cylinder.
The Wolseley 1500 9" front brakes are much better than either the 7" or 8" Minor brakes and you will see a vast improvement in braking efficiency.
That said if the Minor brakes are able to be locked up you cannot ask for more.
Phil

Apart from brake fade I don't have any problems with them. Just whenever anyone else drives it they tell me its dangerous. Hoping the Wolseley brakes will give the wife some confidence. Really don't want to fit a servo to it as it's a nice pedal feel.

When I switch from driving my Minor to my modern car (an Audi S3) I have to be very careful not to end up doing myself an injury by pressing the brake pedal too hard! Minor brakes are a universe apart from modern disk brakes.

Yeah I always put myself through the windscreen on the wife's golf.

I've had real trouble with some shoes, both when I had standard brakes and now with both front and rear Wolseley 1500 drums.

A quality friction material can make a big difference!

Monty-4 wrote: ↑Tue Dec 20, 2022 10:05 pm I've had real trouble with some shoes, both when I had standard brakes and now with both front and rear Wolseley 1500 drums.

A quality friction material can make a big difference!

Which brands of shoes have you found decent? I have Mintex at the moment

I know I have posted this before but look closely at the flexis. My car sailed through a mot(wolseley 1500 fronts) buy were far from convining.

Eventually changed thr flexis and the difference was significant, especially on hills .

I would recommend you change all of them while you are doing this and get good quality hoses.

I don't know if you can get them for Minors but the goodridge braided hoses really improved the pedal feel on my elan.

You can run discs without a servo use something like greenstuff pads to get a better initial bite.

On my series Landrover I always found mintex shoes worked well.

Stainless flexy hoses might be worth a look then. Iv had them on my landy for 12 years and they're great.

I think the problem with any kind of hose with metal braiding over the pipe (whether a brake hose or a fuel hose) is you cannot check the condition of the rubber hose. You cannot see if it is bulging or is cracked.

This is true. Would probably recommend replacing every 8-10 years. Am risking it on the landy. But that has dual circuit brakes. Would like to think I'd notice a leak aswell.

svenedin wrote: ↑Fri Dec 23, 2022 9:37 pm I think the problem with any kind of hose with metal braiding over the pipe (whether a brake hose or a fuel hose) is you cannot check the condition of the rubber hose. You cannot see if it is bulging or is cracked.

Just a note braided brake hoses don't have a rubber core they are made of ptfe a form of nylon that's why you get a better pedal as the tube doesn't expand like rubber. also they don't bulge or crack but can become brittle around the olive area after a time.