Advice for a newbie, brakes and rear axle
Posted: Sun Jul 10, 2016 4:29 pm
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
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