Identifying disc setup
Turbo Mini Forums

Im not sure what sort of setup this is could anyone help. Im guessing its a metro setup as when i bought the car many moons ago it had had a 1275 lump dropped in.

8.4" Solid discs with 2 pot calipers as fitted to all Minis from 1984 onwards :)

Oh if it helps the front of the caliper reads;
AP
1802
3243-3496

Ah thats that then, thanks for the swift reply! was hoping they were metro the cars a 72' so someone obviously grabbed the engine but didnt bother with the brakes for whatever reason. Lazy sods!

How dya think these will fare under a turbo setup. Used to use them on a 1275 and they seemed to do the job. Having said that though anyone who took it for a spin allways commented on how shocking the brakes were!

I would say if they were not great with a 1275 they might be a bit marginal with a turbo. Depends on the condition of what you have got really, I have used this brake setup in the past with a well tuned 1293 NA engine, a set of fast road type brake pads will transform them, although they will always suffer from fade if used hard as they are not vented discs. More than anything else make sure they are in tip-top condition, make sure all the pistons are moving and are not seized (more common than you might think) and also make sure the pads slide freely in the caliper body. Finally bleed the system with some good quality brake fluid.

they shall be fine mate, make sure the pads and disks are ok

Team Racing

yeah will be fine with good pads and discs. and obviously everything else tip top

I've never done anything with the brakes before so you'll have to pardon my obliviousnessness but what would i require to convert to braided hoses. Im guessing just change the hoses and fittings and keep the master cylinder?

Just undo the fittings to the rubber hoses and replace with the braided ones. Just the same as replacing a rubber one with another rubber one, except you are replacing rubber with braided.
That is assuming you are just going to change the flexis to braided. Some track cars use aeroquip braided pipe for the entire brake line from master clinder to wheel, but this isn't really worth doing unless its going to be an out and out track car. Also it becomes very expensive very quickly as braided brake line is not cheap.

Just noticed iains sticky post about hoses and carb rebuild kits, would these suit? It's just gonna be road going so probably wouldnt bother doing the lot if it's going to get too expensive.
Back to the 8.4's I was just browsing the internet mini encylcopedia and it sounds as though 10's wont fit over the 8.4 discs. Is the only solution cooper S discs if you want to fit 10's?

Yes

and

Kind of

10" wheels definately will not fit over the brakes you have.
To fit 10" wheels you either need to use the CooperS type brake setup, or I think the alloy Minispares/KAD type calipers will also fit under 10" wheels. I have never done this myself (alloy 4 pots) so not 100% sure.

Cheers for the info bud

Looks like I'm gonna have to try pick up a couple of S assemblys of ebay would seem to be the cheapest sollution.

With the brake set up you have got, you can re-use the hubs and driveshafts with S discs, S drive flanges and S calipers.

With the prices that second hand (and lets be honest, usually fucked) S assemblys go for even on ebay, I would personally be tempted to buy new S calipers from a mini specialists, along with new discs and drive flanges (not that expensive really). Might seem an expensive solution, but if you bought second hand stuff most likely you would need to rebuild the calipers etc before you used them etc. so take into account the amount you would spend buying second hand and then getting it all to a decent state and you are close to what it would cost for new calipers.......

Thats a bit of a ramble but hope it makes sense.

I have been along the second hand S brakes route before myself, and trust me I wished I had bought new calipers rather than fannying about with old shite!

Edited by Tom Fenton on 8th Apr, 2005.

Makes sense mate deffinately a good point. I think it could deffinately be an option just pricing up on minispares for discs/callipers and flanges come to about ?280, which isnt too bad i suppose.

Its a bit of a bitch as i didnt realise i was going to have to change the brake setup to fit 10's, now i remember why i put the mini on hold before!

Edited by andygardner on 8th Apr, 2005.

Not sure what they go for these days but when I bought a Cooper S disc setup I paid ?185, the discs were knackered, and one of the calipers had been 'modified' with the aid of an M12 bolt where the bleed nipple had obviously been sheared/stripped in the past.............

Other option is to go to 12" or 13" wheels instead.

By the looks of things on ebay they're still going for that kind of figure... at least. I really fancied 10's so reckon ill still go for the S setup at some point. Seeing as the current setup is working ill stick with that and get the rest of the car finished then see if theres enough left over for the S setup.

Got any idea how to get the nut out of the master cylinder? Don't know if its a common problem but the bugger is well and truly stuck fast.

yeah if you need braided hoses give me a shout

Just to confuse things there is also the option of modified fiesta brakes and even modified mg metro items. check out some of tha other threds

Have you considered something else ?

http://www.geocities.com/jharkola/images/minin_levyt.jpg

Sorry, forgot how to paste the pic here...

There you go

But looking at it, isn't that caliper the wrong way up? E.g. Bleed nipple at the bottom? From the disc shield the steering arm is to the left of the picture at the top?

Ah, clever chap, most observant ! Yes indeed. This was a practical joke to local youngsters who feel that mini disc setup is too expensive to buy and are ready to use drum brake hubs, disc from make X and caliber from make Y, do the necessary adapters etc etc. I uploaded the pic to show that (almost) everything is possible given enough madness. These calibers are currently fitted in my Morris Minors and yes the bleed nipples are now pointing upwards. BTW, these calibers would have just fitted inside 13" Mini wheels.