Minis - You keep learning!
Discussion
Whilst working on my 1991 car yesterday evening, I learned something new, something which is so stupid from a safety and engineering standpoint it is no wonder Rover Group were in trouble.
On the later cars which have the front/rear brake balance cylinder on the front bulkhead adjacent to the servo, the threads for the brake pipe connections are, wait for it... metric at the balance cylinder and UNF at the caliper connections and rear sub-frame union.
The UNF union will, however, appear to screw up tight into the metric threaded hole but would probably leak if used. It could easily strip the threads if tightened up. Bloody unsafe, in my opinion!
I didn't know this, but Chris Spennewyn came around to give me a hand running the brake line inside the car and happened to remember this - fortunately.
Could you imagine VW, Mercedes, Ford or any of the others doing this? It's almost unbelieveable.
I thought I would pass this on to you guys as it may save you a lot of grief later.
On the later cars which have the front/rear brake balance cylinder on the front bulkhead adjacent to the servo, the threads for the brake pipe connections are, wait for it... metric at the balance cylinder and UNF at the caliper connections and rear sub-frame union.
The UNF union will, however, appear to screw up tight into the metric threaded hole but would probably leak if used. It could easily strip the threads if tightened up. Bloody unsafe, in my opinion!
I didn't know this, but Chris Spennewyn came around to give me a hand running the brake line inside the car and happened to remember this - fortunately.
Could you imagine VW, Mercedes, Ford or any of the others doing this? It's almost unbelieveable.
I thought I would pass this on to you guys as it may save you a lot of grief later.
It's bloody ridiculous, but not surprising given the 
witted appraoch to a lot of the updates made to the car over the years.
One reason I intend to strip out as much as possible and redo it in a sane manner (a proper bloody fusebox and no inline fuses for a start). Makes you wonder if it's worth ripping out things like that and replacing it with a VW/BMW etc part instead, for the consistency...
witted appraoch to a lot of the updates made to the car over the years. One reason I intend to strip out as much as possible and redo it in a sane manner (a proper bloody fusebox and no inline fuses for a start). Makes you wonder if it's worth ripping out things like that and replacing it with a VW/BMW etc part instead, for the consistency...
I don't know if the brake balance cylinder is Metro-based. I would have thought it would be different as the weight distribution is probably different on a Metro. However, maybe it's the same casting/drilling as the Metro.
It just struck me as crazy to have a UNF fitting on one end of a brake pipe and a metric fitting of almost the same size on the other.
I would definately have used new UNF fittings at both ends had Chris Spennewyn not come round to help me, and he only remembered on his way over. I think I'm a bit of a Mini expert, but this brought it home to me that we all have things to learn. The beauty of this site is that we can share what we learn.
It just struck me as crazy to have a UNF fitting on one end of a brake pipe and a metric fitting of almost the same size on the other.
I would definately have used new UNF fittings at both ends had Chris Spennewyn not come round to help me, and he only remembered on his way over. I think I'm a bit of a Mini expert, but this brought it home to me that we all have things to learn. The beauty of this site is that we can share what we learn.
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