8 inch Front Brake Drums

[Eric Smith]

Hi guys, a question.

Can anyone help, as I am looking for your help yet again, so can anyone offer some wisdom?

I want to improve the front brakes on my Standard 8, they are currently fitted with 7 inch drums, it’s been suggested I fit 8 inch drums off an early 1200 Herald or fit a disc conversion. I prefer the idea of fitting bigger drums as it’s more in keeping with the restoration I am doing.

Having looked on line, the early Herald brakes are thin on the ground, I have looked in all of the usual places (Flitchetts, Rimmer Bros, Moss and Canley Classics) - I have to admit I have not phoned anyone yet but so far, I cannot find all of the new parts I need so I am struggling.

With the above in mind, if I get negative answers from the usual Triumph suppliers where do I look next, did other manufacturers fit the same drums, backplates etc, do I look at BL cars like Minors, Marinas etc because of the connection to Triumph?

your advice would be very helpful

Thanks guys

Eric

 

 

[johny]

I believe the front brakes are basically Vitesse/GT6 rear brakes but of course some of the components will be unique and yes difficult to source these days. Once it would have been much easier as lots of Heralds were being converted but now very few are left and all you can do is keep trying the dismantlers...

[johny]

Saying that I see spitfiregraveyard has used backplates and hubs on ebay at the moment👍 

[mpbarrett]

Canely announced on there FB page, yesterday, that they have  a new batch of drums made for GT6 rear brakes and are used for Herald front brakes.

[Colin Lindsay]

49 minutes ago, mpbarrett said:

Canely announced on there FB page, yesterday, that they have  a new batch of drums made for GT6 rear brakes and are used for Herald front brakes.

They are; same size and originally made by Qualcast the Lawnmower people! Sadly I got rid of the last set of Herald front drum brakes that I had to a Lotus driver, I hope they stopped him better than they did my Herald.

 

[Eric Smith]

Hi Guys, thanks to all of you for your input and help.

If MI5 and MI6 run out of spy’s, people on this forum could find second jobs filling in for the missing spy’s. I don’t know how you get to know the information you do, I could not have got my car as far along as she is without the help from people on the forum.

GT6 rear drums = early Herald front drums, I would not have thought of that, I was thinking way off track with something like drums off a Ford or Vauxhall, I did not think of something as close to home.

With the drums are looking accessible is using second hand back plates the only answer? I hope not, I know beggars cannot be choosers but I would rather fit new if I can find some.

Thanks for your help as usual, as said before - you lot are great!

Eric

 

 

[johny]

I can see the argument for new drums as they wear and can go oval (although as always quality of new is an unknown) but the backplates are just a piece of metal! Alright they might need a clean and paint but with front ones you havent even got to worry about the handbrake pivot wearing a slot in them. Then I reckon finding new would be a miracle🤞

[Pete Lewis]

and many replacements get turned on a lathe with a chuck  the jaws make for a thruppenny bit brake surface  .

by using a chuck , had some for the 2000 that  went strait up the tip ..fine if you like a lot of judder 

and these were reputable supplies .

Pete

[Eric Smith]

Hi Guys

First off - many thanks to Johny for telling me about the pair of Herald front Back Plates on eBay - got them here now - they don’t look bad at all, so just got to refurbish everything.

1: If I paint the plates after cleaning and de-rusting - what is the best paint to use. Is stone chip too thick or should I use heat resistant?

2: Need to buy drums, when ordering, are the GT6, Spitfire and Herald rear drums all the same.

3: I guess the brake shoes have different compounds dependant upon the power output so GT6 would be better than Spitfire/Herald?

As usual, I can only say thank you to everyone who has helped or continues to help drive my project onwards.

Cheers guys

Eric

 

[johny]

Glad you got sorted and hope it all fits ok.

Dont know about paint but the drums are GT6/Vitesse not Herald/Spitfire rears as they are smaller diameter. Then the last of the GT6 had slightly wider drums which are rare and you dont want them so make sure you dont get by mistake.

However thats where the similarity ends so youre probably best going to somewhere like the Canley Classics site which have a good drawing of all the required  components:

Brakes : Canley Classics

[johny]

You might notice that the bigger diameter drums (by 1 inch!) cost well over 3 times as much as the smaller - something which as a grumpy old man has annoyed me for years😤 Then if the casting hasnt been treated properly before machining they can later go oval quite easily so I would consider original second hand...

[ahebron]

Years ago I knew a Mk1 Spitfire owner who fitted Herald drums to the front of his Spitfire as he preffered the pedal feel compared to the discs.