57 MGA Drum Brake Upgrade

Related Post ==> Other Repairs

The factory drum brakes on 1500 model cars are a little on the agricultural side. The stopping power of modern cars in traffic and freeway conditions made me quite nervous and got my heart racing. Visions of the precious MGA rear ending a Hyundai or whatever is not a good scenario.

The options, upgrade to the disc brake system of the later 1600 model, and/or to install a brake booster system.

With some research and a chat to the MG repairer, the conclusion was that what many drivers are concerned about is often the "feel" of the brakes compared to a modern car. The MGA peddles being so close together for me makes the whole action of operating the peddles slow and awkward which makes getting used to the "feel" that little bit harder. It was decided to start with installing the after market brake booster with the option to go with discs later if needed.

As it turned out, the booster works fantastically. The brake pedal has a feel and touch more akin to what we are used to in modern cars, I also found the brakes a lot more responsive, to me it seems to speed up the response time, important because of the close proximity of those peddles. The car readily dives in the front end now, it's easier to apply the brakes firmly which translates into confidence driving in traffic. Gone are the visions of rear ending a fellow road user with the precious MGA.

The cost in my opinion was very reasonable for the transformation it makes to confidently driving the car in modern traffic. It was a very cheap performance upgrade well worth doing. The MG repairer did a fantastic job of making it a neat and ascetic installation on the plate on the rear shelf in the engine compartment, it can be taken out and returned to factory specs easily and there are no additional and unnecessary holes in the bodywork.

Great job.

Happy MG trails.

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