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MG Midget and Sprite Technical - Minifin Drums

I have recently acquired a pair of Minifin drums for the rear brakes on my 1275cc axle, thanks to Malc I have machined the outside diameter to suit the standard back plates, but I have not bored a hole for brake adjustment.

Therefore my question is should I machine the hole or not - the actual act of boring the hole is not a problem it's just should I?
Martyn Wilks

Forgive my ignorance but don't the brakes adjust from the back? What would the hole be for?
Stan Kowznofski

I thought it was an inspection hole, not an adjustment one? It allows you to check thickness of linings without removing the drum.

It might actually be a good idea if the adjusters had a screwdriver slot at the pointy end, but they don't.

AdrianR

Got it, you confused me when you typed "a hole for brake adjustment". I just gently turn the wheel until I hear a slight scrape & back off one click. I don't even take the wheel off to adjust the brakes.
Stan Kowznofski

Martyn,
AFAIK originally the hole was for the earlier screwdriver slot brake adjuster so I can't see why you'd need to drill it unless it's as Adrian's put.

Adrian,
as above, I've never looked, does the hole line up so that you can check the brake shoes then?
Nigel Atkins

Of course you are all correct, I forgot that month's and month's ago I had put all new brake components and the adjuster is of course at the rear of the back plate.

So at least I do not need to waste a few hours on the Bridgeport.
Martyn Wilks

Nigel - actually I have no idea. I doubt many of us do enough miles to worry about wearing out brake shoes. Things rusting up or getting contaminated with fluid when seals dry out is the more usual problem.

I didn't realise there actually were slotted adjusters once, but if there were then suddenly the hole makes (or at least made) a lot more sense.
AdrianR

Yes I lost my last set of shoes to a brake cylinder leak.

For a long time I thought about buying the rubber plugs for those holes and did finally get around to it.
When I went to install them I found the rubber plugs have a shaft on the middle of them presumably to pull them out to get at the adjuster hole but these raised bits of rubber get in the way of Minilite copy wheels so I cut them off but it also proved that the Minilite copy wheels cover the holes anyway.
Nigel Atkins

This thread was discussed on 03/07/2017

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