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Big brake question

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Don_Wiseman

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I'm restoring and modifying a 1961 Bugeye that I've owned since 1971. We are adding the more-or-less standard front MGB caliper/Spitfire rotor brake upgrade with the Winners Circle adapter. We're finding that the steering arms interfere with the rotor. There appear to be two solutions (1) heat and bend the arms or (2) fabricate a spacer to put between the arm and its mounting on the back of the swivel axle on each side. Any other suggestions?? Hap, what have you done on race cars with this setup?
 
How much additional clearance is needed?
 
Trevor Jessie said:
How much additional clearance is needed?
Click to expand...

Good question, could be as adding a couple of washers or a shim under the steering arms to bring them inward to give you some clearence, I've seen that done with the race cars. I don't remember the steering arms being a issue (could have been, it been a few years since I did one), my hurdles always were upper trunnion and shock arm clearence.
 
Maybe with the triumph rack there isn't an issue?
 
The Frog arms are designed for drum brakes, which are pretty small. It's not clear to me if you have the original arms or the disk brake arms.

It would be interesting to see if the arms on any of the disk brake cars are a bit different (giving more clearance). Maybe.

At any rate, I wouldn't heat / bend them. Use spacers if you must.
 
I worked on this problem with a friend of mine that did te conversion and we found a 0.4" spacer was needed. I was going to machine a spacer but we ended up using washers and it works fine. Not elegant but it is safe. Be sure to use longer bolts and thread locker.
 
Gentlemen:

I've been following this thread because I am planning a disc brake conversion on my 1960 BE. I noted immediately that Don is using MGB brakes, so I thought things might be different from my circumstances. I don't want to hijack Don's thread, but I have a few questions:

- Is there a "How To" post somewhere to walk me through this?
- I bought a 1968 Sprite, removed the hubs, discs, calipers. Can these be used on the existing A arms/king pins on my BE?
- Should I remove the A arms/king pins from the '68 and replace those on the '60?
- The '68 only had one caliper. I looked up a '68 Sprite at AutoZone, Advance, and O'Reilleys and they all sell new calipers. Will these work? Recommended?
- Will the disc brake set up work with the dual MC?

Sorry to jump in like this, but this thread prompted these questions.

Mike Pennell
 
Mike,

The disk brake swap and a big brake conversion are two different animals. To switch your BE drums over to disks is a bolt on swap with no modifications like are being discussed here. Simply follow the service instructions for a disk brake car and you will be fine.
mxp01 said:
- Is there a "How To" post somewhere to walk me through this?
Click to expand...
https://www.spridget-tech.com/service_manual/Section-M.pdf
mxp01 said:
- I bought a 1968 Sprite, removed the hubs, discs, calipers. Can these be used on the existing A arms/king pins on my BE?
Click to expand...
BE A arms are fine. You need the king pins from a disk brake car.
mxp01 said:
- Should I remove the A arms/king pins from the '68 and replace those on the '60?
Click to expand...
That is the easiest way to do it in my opinion assuming the parts are good.
mxp01 said:
- The '68 only had one caliper. I looked up a '68 Sprite at AutoZone, Advance, and O'Reilleys and they all sell new calipers. Will these work? Recommended?
Click to expand...
Yes they will.
mxp01 said:
- Will the disc brake set up work with the dual MC?
Click to expand...
Yes, but the real issue is getting the dual MC in the BE. This requires some cutting for the larger pedal box. What is in the BE now?
 
Chris:

I have the BE pedal set up with the dual MC.

Does this need to change? I have the pedal box from the 1968.

MXP
 
Thanks everyone. The answer appears to be a spacer. The MiniMania article was the ticket. If that ends up not being the cure, I'll be back here with an update. BTW, this car had a stock Sprite/Midget disc brake conversion (the question Mike asked about)from 20 years ago, and I didn't bother changing the master cylinder to the later model and never had any problems; of course if I were doing it today, I'd use the later MC.

BTW this car has one of the first rear disc brake setups from Frontline (now being sold by Moss) with a Tilton pedal box so we can fine tune the bore sizes and front/rear balance. It's a really elegant setup, but like everything else, you got to work on it here and there to make it work right.

Don
 
I am working on a stock disc conversion. Putting it on a 60 sprite MK1. The origonal MC is froze up and needs replacement anyway so I ordred a pedal box from a midget with a single line MC and a seperate MC for the clutch. Also new MC for both. Am I going about this correctly, modifiying the firewall to accept the larger pedal box. Any advise on how to do this, simply cut out and drill a couple holes or is there a better way? This is a simi-surprise for my dad. This was his first car and he doesnt want to sell, but hasnt drove in over 20 years, mainly because it never stopped very well.
 
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