Hello everyone,
I have a 61' mini with the original single pot brakes all round.
I am about to put it in for blue slip and thought that maybe the brakes may fail me because of the engine size (1100). Anyone have any thought on if it will pass?

Discs are only a legal requirement on 1275 engines or bigger.
all minis with 1100 engines from new had drum brakes, so you're perfectly fine.

My mini was not originally an 1100. It was an 850.

doesnt matter, my 1100 has drums, the only time you have to fit disks is if your putting in a 1275 motor, you'll be perfectly fine.

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'73 clubby s "cryo" - sold
Operation Evil Sesame Street!

Almost correct , all mini's with 1100's came out with twin leading shoe brakes (two wheel cylinders in each front brake assembly) while an 850 only had single leading shoe brakes (one wheel cylinder and a prayer in each front wheel assembly) . By using the same technical rule as the 1275 argument you should fit twin leading shoe brakes as a minimum . As someone who's driven a lot of miles on single leading shoe brakes I say for gawd sakes fit twin leading shoe brakes .... 850 brakes will need more regular adjustment than the later , twin leading shoe ones and the later brakes have a wider brake shoe as well . 850 brakes fade quicker as well and for the simple procedure of swapping backing plates and brake shoes you have a much safer car with less frequent adjustment required .

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I would say that to be safe and truely legal it should be fitted with the later twin leading shoes drums not the single ones, I doubt that a blue slip inspection will notice this as they don't take the wheels and drums off just do the normaaal brake test with metsr so as long as they are working it will pass

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Roundies and Clubbies(except vans) are both ugly that is why I have Midas and a van
1293 Mini Midas Bronze,1275 Clubman van

I understand that I will be better off with the newer brakes, it is more the blue slip that I am worried about.
I have the back plates for the swap but it not on my get the car running to do list.

Blie slip is only a safety check with a identity check, the extra is to check for body and engine numbers, nothing speccial, they will not know if it has what type of drum brakes they just check to see if they work in a driving brake test so just put it through

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Roundies and Clubbies(except vans) are both ugly that is why I have Midas and a van
1293 Mini Midas Bronze,1275 Clubman van

Thanks posters

Just make sure your brakes are adjusted well so that it gets the best results it can and if it doesnt pass then take it from there

Twin leading shoes will get you through the inspection a lot easier than singles will too , remember that most mechanics now haven't driven a non boostered brake car (ever or for a long time) so won't be expecting to push the pedal hard for the results ....

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The other thing that made early 850 brakes poor was the master cylinder.
They were 0.750" bore, up to car no 28044.
Then they changed to a 0.70" MC.
This simple mod increased brake line pressure to the wheel cylinders by about 15% for the same pedal effort.
A worthwhile mod IMO, if you want it to stop with 850 brakes.

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DrMini- 1970 wasaMatic 1360, Mk1S crank, 86.6HP (ATW) =~125 @ crank, 45 Dellorto (38 chokes), RE282 sprint cam, 1.5 rockers, 11.0:1 C/R.

But then the pedal will travel 15% further for the same volume which means you have to adjust the shoes even more often

Yeah but at least it might stop then.
You might think it is small, but all Minis from then until the end of production had the 0.70" cylinder. The 0.75" was simply too big.

BTW, the last of the 998 Coopers had a 0.625" brake MC, now THAT is small!

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DrMini- 1970 wasaMatic 1360, Mk1S crank, 86.6HP (ATW) =~125 @ crank, 45 Dellorto (38 chokes), RE282 sprint cam, 1.5 rockers, 11.0:1 C/R.