Rear Brakes [from hi-jacked thread]

[mightymidget]

Didn't really want to continue to Hijack the thread (on Austin Texas brake mechanic needed)

Concerning rear brakes on a Bugeye and upgrading to later year brakes. I went on the Moss website and it appears that they change very early during the 948 motor.

I have the complete rear deffrental that I got off a early 1098 wire wheeled Midget. So the Bugeye differental and the Midget differental are identical except the Midget has the wire wheel set up from the factory I desired.

Would the Midget rear end already have the upgraded brakes?

 

[spritenut]

No, The improved rear brakes started with the 1/2 leaf springs.
They are a direct bolt in upgrade with some minor modifications.
You need the rear back plates, wheel cylinders, shoes, springs, and adjuster wedges.
The 1/2 leaf back plates bolt on at a 45* angle from the 1/4 leaf plates but that doesn't matter. The drums will need to be ground down about 1/16" on the back edge, for some reason the drums rub the back plates when you replace the plates from the 1/2 leaf axle to the 1/4 leaf axle but it has something to do with the axle itself as all the drums are the same. A hand grinder and a few minutes fixes this.
The emergency brake rods need some alterations too but easy enough with a couple of union nuts and some 1/4" rod.

 

[mightymidget]

Do you think the factory wire wheel set up make any difference at all as far as clearences

 

[mightymidget]

The Moss catalog is showing a 3/4 & 7/8 bore wheel cylinder. Does the size matter? Bigger is better? So the 7/8 would be best

 

[Morris]

I think the bore of the wheel cylinder should match the bore of the master.

 

[markberry]

The 948 Bugeye brakes used 7/8 bore wheel cylinders to match the 7/8 bore master cylinder. To do the job corretly you should match the correct wheel cylinders to the master cylinder. My Bugeye has the 1098 disk brakes in front which utilize 3/4" bore wheel cylinders and 3/4" master cylinder. However I still have the original 948 Bugeye 7/8" rear brake setup. My car stops really well as it is but I still want to put the later rear brake setup on the car after the restoration is complete. I think the biggest problems people have when they convert to disk brakes and still use the original 7/8" bore master cylinders. Gerardsgarage.com has a really good writeup on this subject if your interested.
regards
Mark

 

[mightymidget]

This brings up some interesting points, Yes I plan on updating to disc brakes also. and since this cars will not be judged or sold as correct restoration the master cylinder set up will most likely be changed also.

When I grabbed the Wire wheel set up off the early midget it had front Disc brakes, I cut off the frame so I have the complete set up. Also I saved the pedal box with master cylinder attached also.

Is there a year master cylinder that would most servicable?