Manky Monkey Motors

I decided to fit twin-leading shoe mini brakes and finned 'Minifin' drums to my reliant axle, for a couple of reasons: I liked the 'hot-rod Buick drum' look and also had heard that Reliant and mini brakes were virtually the same.(and I hadn't seen it done before.) I bought a pair of new TLS backplates (TLS drums were standard fit on early minis at the front) and my mate turned-up some adaptors when the three-hole fitting on the axle proved different to the three-hole fitting on the backplate. With the axle all bolted back together I am struggling to fit the Mini brake shoes to the backplates without having one spring at the back and one at the front. That is not how I remember it being in my mini-driving Misspent. With both springs at the back of the shoes they are dragged inwards out of square and consquently will drag against the drums. The opposite also applies. I know that mini shoes went from 1-1/4 to 1-1/2" wide but the design of the shoes themselves and the holes and slots on them looks the same. It also appears that the slots in the slave cylinders that the shoes fit into are a little wide, but then clearance is needed for the heat and to help stop binding.
Does anyone have a better memory for old minis than me?

if my memory is right, you have a pin thru the backplate and shoe, then a spring and then a dished cap which you put on and then twist. the hole is basically in the centre of the shoe. this holds the shoes to the plate, and im sure both springs go on from the front.

Thanks for that. I see that there are raised areas on the back-plate that would be a good site for just such a pin. I had considered using a bolt but not through the shoe, rather to give something for the shoe to float against under pressure from the springs.
I'll keep looking for images and handbooks in the library!

i think this is the sort of thing you need peanut
http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/MINI-REAR-BRAKE-SHOE-SPRINGS-FITTING-KIT_W0QQitemZ220233059591QQihZ012QQcategoryZ43122QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem (http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/MINI-REAR-BRAKE-SHOE-SPRINGS-FITTING-KIT_W0QQitemZ220233059591QQihZ012QQcategoryZ43122QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem)

Thanks. I think that those are for the SLS brakes on the rear. None of the drawings I have from BLHeritage for fronts show anything like the posts and springs. I'll have to give it another coat of thinking about but that does look like a possible solution.
(I have lost quite a bit of memory following a head injury and unfortunately this seems to be one of those areas!-I do know that a Short Stirling had a wingspan of less than 100 feet so it would fit through the standard 1930's hangar door, though. Neither question has ever featured in a pub quiz, unfortunately)

I've been trying to work out how to post a picture but now I know so the next chance I get I'll take photos of the brakes. This is just the mocked-up axle so I can check mountings, rake and trail etc

Wow! That looks impressive! I think we need a "story so far" series of piccies if you've got them please, so we can see just what you're building there.  ;)

Thanks! Things always look better in photos, especially on e-bay!
It started with a drag-bike, a bad accident and the need to encourage an injured mate that he could ride again. Then that Russell Mitchell built the most cartooney-looking trike ever and it all spiralled downwards.
I have basically got an XS1100 motor with an extended frame to include a narrowed, Reliant Kitten axle and a  70's chopper girder. I am teaching myself as I go along with help from my mates at BlackDog Racing who run turbo 'Busa drag bikes. In my pile of treen (randomly collected bits) I have a turbo, headlight off of a German tractor, Beach buggy alloy fuel tank, pump from a clio williams, rear light from a Bantam etc etc.
Despite the best advice from this site and Chopperbuilders I have re-made all the mistakes that everyone else does, such as buying a crap frame off e-bay, using a pipe-kinker masquerading as a bender and my personal favourite, running a frame tube through the line of the drive-shaft.
I am currently thinking my way through the design of the back suspension, as I think that my fifth link, which is responsible for preventing sideways movement, will put too much strain on the diff casing where it pivots, (The blue bit in the picture, which is actually a bit of sawn-off Renthal)
The actual build process has been very slow, partly due to my working away a lot, partly due to sharing a garage with what seems like a B&Q wharehouse and partly due to sloth masquerading as 'thinking'

cracking looking build there m8e

Found a much earlier picture with the frame just having been raked, but not finish welded (it still isn't). The rear tubes just meet rather than cross over as they do now. The wooden 'jig' is just for building ease rather than accuracy, since it placed the axle and frame at the right height.

"sloth masquerading as 'thinking"
-ohh, that sounds horribly familiar!

I'll say it again -wow! That's a thing of beauty you have there Mr P.  :) What sort of bender are you using to get those nice flowing curves? Yup, we've got a pipe kinker that only bends at one point, rather than a mandril bender that pulls the tube through a continous curve, (although the cheap old ERW tubing we use is soft enough to bend without the unsightly kinks). A much more complex frame design than our deliberately low-tech Reliants but beautifully done.
Very, very nice.

Thanks again. it was a hydraulic bender . The pipe was marked along its length and every 20mm or so along it. I used the same number of pumps , (say 3)at every spot, not trying to do all the bend at one go.

see what I mean about buick drums?

yup thats well smart ;D

i love the frame , it's the dogs  ;D ;D ;D

Just noticed your shocks are mounted wrong should be like this... see below.

The set up you have is for independant rear suspension.

Ahhh, but as its got a 4 link type setup it should be like mankys pop axle. The axle doesnt move in an arc, but more up and down in a straight line.

I think! :D

Sorry for the delay in replying but I have been away.

The original design was a five link, with four radius arms and a single, central arm that made the diff move in a vertical arc. As it came together, I simplified the design to split the lower arm into two (but still fixed together) pivoting on the original lower mounts for the bottom links so it was a wider triangle for stiffness. The design is now effectively a three link. (I have left the lower mountings on the axle for the wheelie bars!)

I'll take some pictures when the frame is finish welded next weekend.

here's me trying to follow this thread cos I'll have mini brakes when the new trike is finally on the road - but I didn't understand a word of that!

Don't worry Bobbi, you're not the only one!  ;)

Sorry!
Reliant axles seem to be fitted with two types of brake, one of which is very similar to the single-leading shoe ones on the rear of Minis. They have one slave cylinder with two opposed pistons and a cable operated handbrake actuator. I decided that twin-leading shoes as fitted to the front of drum-braked early minis would be better and got really excited when I saw that the backplates had three holes, just like the axle. Unfortunately this proved to be a different three holes...
'Bert, a genius machinist mate of mine turned up some adaptors that welded into the backplates to convert the spacing and I bought all the correct cylinders (handed pairs) and shoes (wider of the two widths) to suit the alloy SuperMinifin brake drums with built-in spacers that I had.
I intend to fit a cable-operated minibike caliper working on a pitbike disc mounted to the nose of the diff as a handbrake.

I hope that this makes sense, now, although I don't know if it will work, yet!
So far as the suspension design goes, I need to take some pictures when I finish welding.

As promised, pictures of frame now a bit more welded. (but not completely, because the gas ran out)
Perhaps the suspension design is more apparent from this, despite the swinging fork being upside down!

This is a three-link design, with a lower swinging fork and two upper arms. It was originally a five-link design with two upper and two identical lower arms and a central, fifth arm that located the axle from side to side. I changed because the mounting for that central arm was too narrow and weak. I may yet link the top arms with an anti-roll bar if it proves a trouserly preservation necessity.

'Tis truly a thing of beauty is that.

Thank you very much. I've been conscious of 'lines' wherever I could and picked-up clues from all the other trikes and bikes I've liked. Not so long ago someone said in a magazine that they had built their trike to look as if it were a bike from the side, that is to say that the wheel and seat placement were in a 'bikeish relationship. I thought that that made sense and was why I went for a bike rather than a car style.

I was gettin a crick in my neck so I hope you don't mind but........

And now I understand!  That's a very pretty frame!

Must be, no one's told me my drive needs weeding, yet

love the back bone of the frrame 8) 8)

I'll get me coat, now I understand the back end Kool!

It certainly is a wicked frame.

Just read through this and have to say, what everyone else has really, that looks right nice!

HI IM NEW TO THIS SITE RE THE MINI BRAKES IF YOU TAKE THE BACK PLATE OF THE FRONT PUT ON SHELF THEN TAKE THE REAR BACK PLATE MILL THE CENTRE HOLE BIG ENOUGH TO GO OVER STUB AXEL THEN RE DRILL THE POSIONING BOLT HOLES YOU THEN HAVE HANDBRAKE AND SHOES ALL GOING IN THE RIGHT DIRECTION HOPE THIS HELPS THIS IS ALL PROVIDING YOU ARE USING THE FRONT STUB AXEL

Thanks for that, Bitzman.
I wanted to have twin-leading shoes brakes so needed the front backplates. The question of having brakes the 'wrong way round' only applies to the type with a single-piston sliding caliper design. Mini rears have a single cylinder but with two opposed pistons, so you can get them upside down but not wrong way round. (I think!)

Not sure what I have, don't remember mucking about with the brakes but they work ok and have done for the last 10 years, so not sure if it's that important and hope to convert to disc in the future.


I do love that frame tho'

You should try filling and sanding it - it is driving me mad!