Riley 1.5 front brakes (wolseley)

Post by **rayofleamington** » Sat Oct 18, 2003 3:05 pm

I've heard that these are sometimes fitted to Minors as an upgrade, owing to being about 9".
I have (almost) got my hands on a pair.

Does anyone know much about them?
Are the wheel cylinders the same as the late Minor?
Where is a good place to buy Riley front brake shoes?

Post by **Kevin** » Sat Oct 18, 2003 3:41 pm

Yes Ray they have a larger swept area as they are wider as well bigger diameter, the Wolseley version is similar but not as wide (I have read this somewhere will check to see when I get home)
You could try
http://www.speedyspares.fsnet.co.uk/
or these definatly do bits for the 1.5 http://freespace.virgin.net/earlpart.sales/index.html
I am sure there is another source maybe its via a Wolsley source, a bit like the previous one that was through an A60 connection.
Dont know about the cylinders.

Post by **Willie** » Sat Oct 18, 2003 8:58 pm

Ray, the Riley and Wolsley front drums are both 9" but the
swept area of the Riley is 78 sq.in. compared to 51.6 sq.in.
for the Wolsley so obviously the Riley lindings are much
wider. This,of course means that if you fit them the front
track will be widened. I have read articles by people who
have fitted these brakes and generally they thought that
the Riley ones made the Minor 'overbraked', and they
preferred the Wolsley items. It seems that the only notable
difference is that the flexible hose enters the cylinder
horizontally on the 9" brakes and not angled as on the
Minor. I deduce from this that the wheel cylinders are
not transferable but could well be mistaken?

Post by **rayofleamington** » Sat Oct 18, 2003 9:03 pm

Cheers all,
What a fountain of knowledge you are!
Over-braked Minor

Is that possible?

Post by **Kevin** » Sun Oct 19, 2003 9:28 am

Over-braked Minor Is that possible?

Well Cam has vented discs and I have not heard him complain, although there could be an issue if just the fronts were upgraded with Riley parts but as the disc brake conversion is very common I would not have thought so, but not having driven a Riley braked Minor I cant really say one way or the other so Willie may well be right that they might make them too sharp.

Post by **rayofleamington** » Sun Oct 19, 2003 10:05 am

There were also Wolsley version for sale (on e-bay) so I followed that root and won the auction for a nice low price in the middle of last night.

The comment that the Riley cylinders were definately different had me nervous, but also the extra track width. I'm guessing that the extra track width means a longer stub axle (and different bearings?) and it all becomes more effort in the long run.
I've got my fingers crossed that the Wolsley version is a bit more similar to the Minor and if I'm really lucky it will just be a matter of swapping the backplates and repiping the cylinders... (i can dream).
I haven't seen the Wolseley ones yet so until then i'm just guessing.

Post by **Cam** » Sun Oct 19, 2003 12:04 pm

I am quite happy with my braking setup and it is definately not 'overbraked'.

You should try driving a Subaru Impreza WRC or Audi RS4, they have crazy brakes that stop you from about 130mph in what seems like an instant! Even my uprated braking system is absolutely no comparison to these systems, so I would not worry about overbraking!!

Besides which, Ray, you can drive! so even if the balance is a little front heavy you will be able to compensate.

Post by **rayofleamington** » Sat Oct 25, 2003 1:37 pm

Well I had a good look at the Wolseley brakes this afternoon.
The cylinders are very different from Minor ones, however the top to bottom size is the same, and they also have the same offset from the backplate and same design of slot in the 'non piston' end.

The Minor cylinder would be a straight swap but they need a longer slot in the backplate. As it is longer, one mouting bolt is a quarter of an inch out.
The other 3 sides of the slot are in the right place, and the other bolt hole is the same so there will be no problem to use these as reference.

So with a little bit of cutting I can use my existing Minor cylinders and I'll just need some shoes and 1 set of springs.

.

That seems rather fortunate as at least 2 of the Wolseley cylinders are poor (1 has no piston

) - I dread to think how much 4 cylinders would have set me back - A lot more than the £16.50 I paid for the brakes!

Post by **johncannon** » Sun Dec 07, 2003 9:55 am

Ray,

I don't know how you are getting on with your brakes but i have modified the slots on mine as you desribe. It all works well and you have the advantage of retaining standard cylinders.

Shoes can be dificuilt to locate these days - If you have any I would get them relined.

Brakes are significantly improved - I would recommend the mod!

John

Post by **ianselva** » Mon Dec 08, 2003 2:16 pm

I'm glad you seem to getting on with the Wolseley brakes, but I doubt if the Riley ones, although wider would give a wider track.I t would make more sense if the shoes were just off set more towards the centre of the car and overhang the stub axle more. So anyone should be able to fit them with no more problems than the Wolseley ones.

Post by **rayofleamington** » Mon Dec 08, 2003 5:16 pm

I didn't get much further with mine - I'm supposed to be decorating..

Shoes can be dificuilt to locate these days - If you have any I would get them relined.

Ah! I only have half a set of worn shoes - one side had no cylinders, shoes or springs

ianselva,
Some of the guys gave some links for traders who deal in the more rare stuff (ie not minors

)
if I come up with a decent source, I'll let you know.