I have recently purchased an Austin 7 special, the brakes are hydraulic front and rod operated rears, I have discovered a few weird things so far like 3 of the brake drums look like cast iron and weigh about 1.5 Kg whereas the left front looks like steel and weighs about 1 Kg. The shoes do not match the drums as about 1/4" on the inside is unworn and the drums are untouched by about the same amount on their outsides. I will attempt to attach some photos if possible can anyone identify the hydraulics and for that matter any other parts as they seem quite mismatched.

Cheers

Mark

Location: Rokeby Victoria Australia

Hi Mark,

From the photos it looks like the rears are standard A7 Girling brakes. I'm presuming the fronts have two hydraulic cylinders for each brake and with the snail type adjuster they're Lockhead probably from an early Morris Minor (the drum should have a hole for the adjuster or the screw head facing the back with a hole in the backplate).

All four corners should have the cast iron Girling type drum.

Getting these inside the hub usually entails a bit of fettling to get a clearance. In it's past maybe someone has put a spacer behind the hub instead? The backplates also usually have thin headed bolts holding them to the axle flange for the same clearance reason - can I see Allen heads down the back suggesting offset? A big gap between the edge of the drum and the backplate would also indicate if there's an offset problem.

It would be better with full friction area rubbing.

Do they work OK?

Dave

HI Mark,
They look to be from an A30/35 Front & rear.
Apart from the one odd ball drum.
I don't think they are mismatched the backing plate needs to be
spaced out by the same amount as is not making contact with the
Drum.
By that I mean the position of the drum is fixed by the hub
so the only option is to move the backing plate out,
Hope that makes sense
Good luck colin

Location: TINOPAI NZ

Thanks Dave and Colin,

It looks like as this car is a Bitsa I need to do some fettling either moving the drum in or packing the backing plate out, and thanks for the tip on the A30/A35 I will check that out.

This car is providing endless hours of entertainment and I have only driven it once around the shed!

Cheers

Mark

Location: Rokeby Victoria Australia

I'd have to agree with Dave. The adjusters are snail cams. Unless export A35s used different wheel cylinders (doubtful) they are from an early Morris minor or similar. the A35 front wheel cylinders have a castellated wheel on top and work like the Austin 7 jack.

Kind regards
Nick

Location: Essex

Yes I have to agree here is a pic of a A30 A35 wheel cylinder for sale on ebay

Location: Rokeby Victoria Australia

This photo found on the web shows the set up and components fitted to 1948 to 1952 Series MM Morris Minor Sidevalve engined cars and early Series II Morris Minor OHV cars up to around 1954.



Jeff.

Location: Almost but not quite, the far North East of England