Irish Mini Owners Club

Hi

I’m from Dublin and i have a 1983 mini 1000 saloon.

I bought this a year ago and the restoration has gone very well, having said this when I drove it for the first time there was a moment where I had to break hard and the car spun out. Luckily nobody was hurt and the car is not damaged. I then realized that a previous owner had customized the braking system with a breaking servo underneath the dash which gives the car great front breaks but no back breaks which means the car is prone to spinning out under breaking suddenly.



Does anyone have any advice? I don’t really know where to start when it comes to breaking systems?

Thank you to all who read and thank you to all who reply.

a servo under the dash?? got any pics??
if both front brakes are really good it shouldnt spin the car, only if 1 side is stronger than the other

I will upload pics when I have the chance I am not at the car for the rest of the week but as soon as i can ill get some for you.

To be honest when i did spin out i was going straight but the back still caught up with the front and it. I never thought that it could be one side is more than the other but ill check that when i can.

But my main question is what can i do to get all the wheels braking? Because even if i do get equal braking i still want all four wheels braking for safety purposes.

Your back brakes may need adjusting or have a look and see if theres a seized wheel cyclinder

since the last fella has put this custom job in does that mean that he may have left the back brakes alone? is it possible to put a servo for the front brakes in without touching the back breaks?

im not a mechanic as you can tell

The autotest guys usually put a servo under the dash (roughly in the middle), and sometimes use a seperate master cylinder on the handbrake just for the rears. This might explain your situation.
It would be relatively easy to get a proper mini servo and bias unit from the likes of Paul Kelly (Minifix).
He could also make up the brake pipes needed to plumb this all in.

The system you have should work ok if all the componants are in good condition. As standard your car would have drum brakes all round, has the front being converted to discs?
Something I come accross quite often that gives an imbalance at the rear is odd cylinders, check the diameter of the pistons.