Before 1933 mechanical brakes were fitted on the Morris Minor. In order to suppress the influence of the brakes on the steering the front cables were guided by pulley causing much wear and a lot of slack in the brake system.
Replacing the originsal nude cables by Bowden cables and dispensing with the pulleys seems to be the obvious solution but now the question rises: Where to drill the hole to fix the jacket of the Bowden cable on the anchor plate?
Refrering to the drawing below, I think A is the right location to perforate the anchor plate because A lies on the horizontal line a-a, which is perpendicular to the lever when the brakes are applied, thus ensuring maximum lever moment in this state. From that point of view Q is equivalent to A but Q is located farther away from the kingpin than A is and therefore any force acting on Q will have a stronger influence on the steering than it would have, acting on A . Therefore I reject Q and I certainly reject P. Apparently there is more between heaven and earth, as a former owner of my car has perforated the brackets at P and Q and not at A. I ask this Forum: What on earth can have been his arguments to do so?
Would it not be better to use the M Type configuration? This has brackets fixed to the top bolts of the steering knuckle and triangular plates bolted to the chassis for the rear end of the outer cable. The cables would need to be made a slightly different length as the M cross-shaft is further back than on the Minor. It has the advantage of being a tried and tested system and avoids having to drill the backplates; also there is a possibility of the plate bending under braking.
Does anyone have the dimensions of the bracket that bolts on to the knuckle/swivel assembly? I am sure that somebody, at some stage told me that it was possible to use the handbrake cables from a post-war Minor for this conversion?
I think it will depend on the method of location of the outer cable. The backplates on my car are drilled in a similar fashion but when you look at the attachment you can see why, also bear in mind that the operating lever when fully applied should never exceed 90 degrees relative to a line through the centre of the axle therefore a higher position than your notional "A" is correct.
I attach a photo of my back plate, I also tried to attach photos of the cable and fittings but I'm informed (by my computer!) that the images are "invalid?" despite being taken at the same time and with the same camera as the back plate. I HATE COMPUTERS!! I'm now told the other file is "invalid" did they invent these things to drive us mad?
Philip - here's your photos in normal size - they need to be about 900 pixels wide. If you don't have a graphics application that can re-size to pixel count, just send me the pics and I can do the business and upload for you. All part of the service!
Many thanks Ian, hope they are of some help to Jeroen.
No I don't have any picture wizardry, to me photos are just that, must enrol my son to provide idiot proof system to upload pics!!
