Handbrake Lever change...
Posted: Tue Jan 14, 2025 6:54 pm
So when I brought Basil, like many people I was pretty green about Minors in a lot of areas, but he was rust free and sound of body and mechanicals, having been comprehensively rebuilt about 17 years previously.
These forums were a catalogue of little things I found 'wrong' in the follow couple of years and at one point someone, I believe it was Philthehill if memory serves correctly, who mentioned that the handbrake lever, a somewhat bright chrome, likely belonged on an early MIni, probably a 'Cooper' given it's shiny appearance....
It looked just like a Minor s3/5 Lever, just chrome..
.
I recently took the opportunity to obtain a SII Lever and having stripped it down I decided to paint it with the same 'Brass' colour I've used on the steering column, as the original pale anodised finish was quite pitted. It's visually quite similar to the colour used in the MM/SII interiors.
So, all reassembled, I took it out to the car to place it beside the Chrome one... Then I realised, ....whomever had fitted the Chrome Lever had adapted the mounting arrangement to suit... The front bolt is not the same orientation...
The Mini Mk 1 Lever has 2 vertical mountings; while the Minor has a vertical rear and a 'flat' front one onto the tunnel. I hadn't noticed that. The hour or so job in the coming days has now got a great deal longer.
.
.
Fortunately, close examination of under the car (aren't camera phones handy
), seems to show the original anchor nut, so it must be under the little bracket I've arrowed. Zooming in apparently shows a good thread in the nut.
It'll just take a few extra hours to complete the job now.
Strip out the seats and carpet and protect everything else from the hot sparks, before I can get the grinder out to remove the welded on brackets...
A job for nicer weather though.
.
On the plus side, if I can find someone looking for a Mk1 Mini Cooper chrome handbrake lever, it'll hopefully fetch a good price.
These forums were a catalogue of little things I found 'wrong' in the follow couple of years and at one point someone, I believe it was Philthehill if memory serves correctly, who mentioned that the handbrake lever, a somewhat bright chrome, likely belonged on an early MIni, probably a 'Cooper' given it's shiny appearance....
It looked just like a Minor s3/5 Lever, just chrome..
.I recently took the opportunity to obtain a SII Lever and having stripped it down I decided to paint it with the same 'Brass' colour I've used on the steering column, as the original pale anodised finish was quite pitted. It's visually quite similar to the colour used in the MM/SII interiors.
So, all reassembled, I took it out to the car to place it beside the Chrome one... Then I realised, ....whomever had fitted the Chrome Lever had adapted the mounting arrangement to suit... The front bolt is not the same orientation...
The Mini Mk 1 Lever has 2 vertical mountings; while the Minor has a vertical rear and a 'flat' front one onto the tunnel. I hadn't noticed that. The hour or so job in the coming days has now got a great deal longer.
.
- 20250114_154429A.jpg (1.19 MiB) Viewed 688 times
Fortunately, close examination of under the car (aren't camera phones handy
), seems to show the original anchor nut, so it must be under the little bracket I've arrowed. Zooming in apparently shows a good thread in the nut.It'll just take a few extra hours to complete the job now.
Strip out the seats and carpet and protect everything else from the hot sparks, before I can get the grinder out to remove the welded on brackets...
A job for nicer weather though.
.
- 20250114_153109.jpg (1.51 MiB) Viewed 688 times