King pins, brake pulley gear and cables

[Ian Grace]

So to date, it looks like we have interest in about 14 sets of SV brake parts, with some members requiring part sets (and some looking for more than one set). My patterns will be here by the end of March so at that point I'll start gathering quotes based on quantities and see what we can do.

In the meantime, anyone else need any of the following for their SV MInor:

Front/rear brake cables
Front brake pulleys, shackles, clevis pins
Pulley post kingpins
Front spring shackle cable guides
Front pulley chassis brackets

[Ian Grace]

OK - so I think we have enough interest to get a batch made. But since my spares in Michigan have disappeared, I will need to borrow these items as patterns:

Chassis bracket (either one - left or right)
Bracket pulley
Clevis pin for same
Shackled pulley
Spring shackle cable guide

Please get in touch if you have any of these original items that are in a decent enough state to prepare engineering drawings from.

I have a pair of new kingpins and I also know the cable spec./length.

Thanks!

[Toby]

Ian, will try to dig out worn patterns.

[Mike Stubbings]

Hi All, When I purchased my car I found that some of the brake parts missing and it required new cables. Of the pulleys I had not one was usable. I decided I would make some in brass. When I looked at the old ones both the centre and the outer groove was badly worn. I made some brass ones for my Rileys and as they are thicker and larger was able to put a small bearing in the centre. Had I made some for the Minor I would have made them in brass and fitted a larger pin for them to run on giving them a larger centre surface bearing. If you wanted to use ali then you could put a brass centre but that seems pointless, I would use brass. In the end I converted to Bowden and these were made up by Richfields at very reasonable cost. I asked the chap at Richfields if they would make a batch and passed the details on to Ian. The info was on this site around Nov 2008 in my input. Mike

[Ian Grace]

Mike,

I agree completely. I was already planning to make these in hard brass or bronze, and I also like your idea of fitting a bearing, provided that we can find one of the correct thickness, some suitable id that could be accommodated by a larger pin and some suitable od that would fit in the brass wheel. If anyone can source such an item, I would be interested to hear from them.

As for Bowdens, these are a very practical and probably more efficient alternative (unless you consider hydraulics!), but some owners prefer to keep to the original specification. And right now the only choice for owners is to go to the expense of making a one-off set of parts to their original patterns - the very problem the batch currently under consideration is designed to address.

[Toby]

Ian, check out the website for brammer;-any oil seal, belt or bearing you could ever want (well nearly!)

[Ian Grace]

Toby,

Can you give me suitable dimensions from your original wheels? I need the thickness and id - then I'll see what matches and what od to use.

Also, I'm a little concerned about using ball races in an application where all the load is side load - and lots of it. And if we, as a Register, start producing modified brake parts and someone comes to grief, there might, in this day and age, be possible unsavoury legal consequences ...

[Mike Stubbings]

Ian, See your point on both matters. On the second one .the very reason why quite a number of individuals who used to turn out small batches at reasonable cost do so no longer. Mike

[Ian Grace]

Mike, I asked for advice on the VSCC forum and got numerous very useful responses. The general consensus was that using ballraces was not a good idea because they don't turn much, the grease collects road grit in them and turns into grinding paste, rapidly damaging the bearing. Apparently some Rileys did use ballraces though. I think we'll make them from plain phospor bronze and if recipients want to fit ballraces, they would be free to bore out the pulleys and fit them. The moral is to regularly clean off the old grease and re-grease.

[Mike Stubbings]

Ian, Quite see the point of your thinking. Riley wheels are much thicker and larger and you have more of a chance to do things with them in the way of dust seal. Mike.

[Ian Grace]

Let's look on the bright side - at leat our brakes are far superior to those of the Seven - with that dreadful V-shaped front brake cable and uncoupled brakes - until the Minor competition appeared!

[Mike Stubbings]

Hi All . I was clearing out some bits yesterday and came across two pulley wheels in there swivel carriers,not the one that fixes to the chassis. both have good edges and one is slightly worn on the centre. If they are any good to anyone they can have them for the cost of postage or collect them. On the subject of cables I will say that Richfields cost to me for a full set was a much better deal than I could get anywhere. It was just over a year ago but for two front Bowden and two rear the cost was just over £70 including vat and postage. At that time they said they would be happy to do a batch. I did put this info on the forum at the time. No I do not have shares in the company. Mike

[Mike Stubbings]

Its Me back already.
When I did my brakes the old pulley bracket was fitted to the chassis and there was an old cable, in fact just enough bits to rig up the brake on one front wheel. This I did and tried to see where the give was. After a few tries with someone else on the pedal I found that the pull on the pulley in the chassis bracket was causing the horizontal part which holds the pulley to flex on the bend.This meant that the pulley was not pulling evenly on its axis, therefore the cable did not run truly in its groove.This would wear both the centre and the edges of the pulley. The bracket was a good, not rusted original. Had I gone down that road I would have fitted a piece of steel over the pin and back to the chassis to eliminate this. Worth thinking about. Hope you understand what I am talking about,not sure I do. Mike

[jeroen]

Hello Ian,
You ask for more customers for the brake revision set. I replied to your offer but I can't find my reply here in the forum, did you count me in? I still want them.
By the way, I strongly prefer pulleys machined from bronze over Zinc-Aluminium alloy casts.
Best regards,
Jeroen

[Ian Grace]

Hi Jeroen,

Yes, you are on the list. I'm picking up the patterns from Toby at VMR Prescott on the 24th and then I can get going on getting quotes for the batch - watch this space.

Ian