There was no cutting it ,all went on ,as per mg but left on right hand and right on the left the handbrake bracket/cable is very close but its ok will have to look into puting pics on hear

Yeah I would aslo be interested in some pics of the handbrake setup, I have discs on my rear using std 1275GT rotors and VW golf calipers. I used the original Coupe cable and handbrake and it all works but the handbrake is very heavy to operate and not too user friendly, I was wondering if anyone had suggestions on why this would be the case. The only difference I can see is the physical size difference between the VW handbrake and the mini handbrake and it could just be a case a ratio difference between the two. Any suggestions would be appreciated.

These are the best shots I've got of the handbrake at the moment.

I would say that it is partly down to needing more leverage and partly down to the disk being smaller and not having as much force.

I redrilled the pivot on my old Coupe, so that it increased the leverage, which helped on the drums. You could try that, or try and get a handbrake that matches the brakes you have got fitted.

Tim,

Thanks for the comments, the discs are exactly the same sze as the golfs, ie width and diameter, that why I used them so it must just be the handbrake level ratio, I was going to use the VW one but its too long so as you say maybe a modified lever point is what is needed.

Andrew

Rapid update from me on this one - I've got MGF calipers on, working and through an MOT with no probs

As said earlier the mounting lugs of the Mini hub need to be machines on the rough face and the final thickness needs to be 12mm. As the man with the miller said "that's just licking them" - there is very little metal removed to get them to this thickness.

The mounting holes are then pulled outwards a little to allow the caliper carrier to fit. I did this part bit by bit with a rough file making sure to keep it even in both directions and keep trying the carrier to make sure you don't go too far.

I made new brake hoses with Goodridge fittings and braided hose.

And finally I moved away from what's mentioned here with the handbrake. I measured the pull of the Mini handbrake and the MGF handle I'd bought and they are identical so I actually modified the existing cables and kept the Mini handbrake.

Three clicks of the handbrake from wheel spinning freely to holding the car on a slope

I had a bit of a test of the brakes and I can now choose whether to lock the front whees or all four in the wet whereas before with the Mini twin pots on the rear it was a little easy to lock the rear wheels. Got to say I'm impressed. I didn't take as many pictures as I should of the cables but if anyone wants more info give me a PM.

Iain

I'm struggling with the cables for this set up -- maybe its my age!
I've bought a set of MGF cables but there's no adjustment on them -- is it on the lever? Should I have bought the whole assembly?
OR
Can you use Mini cables/standard lever and if so what mods do they need to fit to the calipers?
I'm assuming the GTM cables won't fit as they work inside out with the outer part doing the pushing.

steve it will be very easy to fitt the mgf handbrake leaver it took longer to fit the cables in and the results are great ,press the clutch in and i can lock the back wheels
all the best nigel

I've got the early Mini handbrake handle still. I think my cables are Morris Minor - they were on the car when I got it but look similar at first glance to what is fitted to a mate's Minor. They have very similar end fittings to the early Mini cables (two identical cables rather than a long one and a short one) but unlike the Mini they have a sheath over the cable and they are much longer. They were waaaay too long for the new setup with the MG calipers so they have been modified.

I cut through the cable just behind the wheel end fitting so that I could pull the cable out of the sheath. I'll return to the cable itself in a bit. Next was to get the sheath to fit. The handbrake end was unchanged but at the caliper end it needs to fit the arm on the caliper (you can see it in the pics above). Length is a matter of routing the empty sheath and marking it just shy of the big hole in the arm (making sure it's running through nice gentle curves and not tight anywhere). I was looking at turning a bush on the lathe that would fit into the arm and I could counterbore for the sheath to fit in but an easier solution presented itself. I bought my calipers from ebay and when they arrived they had about 6" of the old cable attached. On examination the sheath is basically a coiled spring that the end bush has been crimped onto - cut the plastic coating off and grab the sheath in the vise and you can actually unscrew the bush. A layer of heatshrink tubing on the Minor cable sheath and the fitting from the MG cable now screws onto that. Some epoxy too to secure the whole thing and then I used a larger piece of heatshrink that goes over the top of both and they will only ever be in compression anyway so there's no way the end is going to come off. SO now I've got a cable outer with a Minor/GTM fitting on one end and an MGF fitting on the other.

Cable..... The Minor end is almost identical to the MGF end. I had to run a file inside the Minor fitting but I'm not sure if that's just because I was using old cables. I suspect a new set with no surface rust would fit without and messing. I cut the cable off flush and then drilled through the fittings where the cable had been crimped in. Finally I tapped them M6 in the same hole. I then turned the head off a high tensile M6 bolt and drilled a 3.2mm (1/8") hole up the middle of it - this is a nice snug fit for the cable so long as you haven't managed to fray the end when cutting it. The cable is then inserted through the outer and the whole thing fitted to the car the bolt is slid over the cable and screwed into the end that I tapped earlier. At this point it still slides along the cable so you can move it to the point where the hole in the fitting lines up with the hole in the arm on the caliper. I did it with the handbrake handle off, the adjustment nuts right at the end of the cable and the caliper at res so that I knew I was making the cable as long as it ever needed to be and then I made it about 10mm longer than the point where the holes lined up. you can just about squeeze the end of the bolt to grip the cable at the car and then do the rest at a bench or use a marker on the cable. Unscrew the fitting from the bolt again and squeeze the opposite end of the bolt in a vise. Cut the excess cable off flush with the un-crimped end of the bolt and screw the fitting back on. Finally fire up the welder and melt the end of the cable, bolt and part of the fitting into one so that it'll never come apart.

Re-fit

Drive.

Sounds more complicated than it is - honest.

Iain