Funny I bought the car in 2000 and was never able to get the title from the seller. I was led to believe it was an 85. I dug around fr the material that came with the car last night. As you would expect Alex is correct, it is in fact a 1983 Mini City E. I bought the car completely stripped of any parts. Thanks for clearing that up. I'd rather know what I'm talking about. Of course I have run into a lot of mini owners who don't know or care what year their car is. Steve (CTR)

Maybe it was an 84 that sat around on a dealers lot and got sold and registered in 1985.

It's not an '85 City E then Steve - everything post '84 had discs and 12" wheels, including my '85 City E.

Thanks for the follow up.

Sorry to dig up an old post, but just thought i'd share my remedy. After replacing the front calipers with 8.4's, double checking every fitting, and bleeding through a massive amount of brake fluid, the culprit was a bad master. Brand new unit with "POWERTUNE" on the casting. replaced with a genuine AP unit and the problem is solved. Lesson learned. 

I have an 85 1000 E which I have upgraded the brakes on twice. Started out with drums all around. I realized from the start that was not going to work for me. New single line plastic bottle master, 7.5 Cooper S disc and 3/4 cyls in the rear. Locking rear brakes was an issue on sandy or wet conditions. Changed out the rear cyls for 5/8 and cleared that up. Being a firm believer in driving on the correct side for where you live I picked up a late model combo master/booster with cross over torque tube assembly. I already had 100,000 miles on the brake system and only the rear shoes needed replacing. I was not impressed with the braking effort required. I recently changed out the disc pads and the braking is greatly improved. I currently run 12 s but like the idea of being able to run 10 s when I again find a set I like. 

Also when was the last time the calipers were rebuilt? I have spoken with a couple of people who have had issues with new masters out of the box. I'd suggest if your rears are not locking up on loose conditions something is not right. Steve (CTR)

We have two Travellers with 7.5 conversions. The woodie had a servo and I removed it. All it changes is the pedal effort required, stopping ability is the same.
Terry

Yes, all cars with 7.5" discs (Cooper S, Oz Clubman GT, UK 1275GT (early) had a servo.
I drove my Mini for 20+ years without a servo, fitted one last year and now it stops like a modern car.

Comparing them to other minis. Have driven a number of cars with 8.4 calipers. this is the first car we've dealt with that has 10" wheels and front discs. Have had a couple drum brake cars and this is quite a bit worse than those. So ALL cars with the 7.4 calipers had a servo? would explain a few things if thats the case. 

What are you comparing the brakes too? A modern car? The 7.5 discs were designed to work with servo assist without you get a nice firm pedal but high leg pressure, if the brake pedal is firm it's not air in the system, I would explore fitting a servo

Rear shoes are correctly installed.

Last thought before replacing components: does the bulkhead mounted limiter work with 7.5" calipers? the valve regulates pressure to the rear brakes based on the pressure going to the front brakes correct? Theoretically, because of the smaller caliper pistons in the 7.5 rotors, compared to those in 8.4 or 4 pot metro calipers, the line pressure in the front brake circuit would need to be higher to achieve the same amount of stopping force yes? Which would limit the pressure to the rear brakes before they have the chance to work properly? Sort of grasping at this point. 

I'm not sure its just a rear brake issue, but then that leaves it up to a bad master? which would be pretty lame, but not impossible. gonna crack the fittings on the master and see if maybe somehow theres an air pocket somewhere. Will verify the rear shoes are correct. i know the front brakes take care of the majority of the braking, and they are trying to stop, you can hear the rubber squeal a little under hard braking on pavement, it just requires a whole lot of effort to do so.

if stopping power is dismal, then are you sure it is just a rear brake issue? - they don't do nearly as much % of the braking as the fronts

also, are rear shoes installed properly (no offense)?  i do not know how much difference it makes but I have heard that many get installed wrong. When installed properly, the shoe's pad surface position should appear as if they to had slid in the direction of forward rotation. The front shoe and back shoe's pad are in different positions.

I've read through a few posts about bad limiting valves but, everyone seems to have an issue with the rear brakes locking up, whereas i have just the opposite. I have all new components, Yellow band master, late style bulkhead mounted limiting valve, front 7.5 calipers, rear 3/4" bore wheel cylinders, and all new brake lines. The brake pedal feels firm, but stopping power is pretty dismal, it takes a lot of effort and space to bring the car to a stop. On a gravel road the front brakes will lock up, but rears will not. With the rear of the car off the ground i can still spin the rear wheels by hand (with moderate effort) with someone pressing firmly on the brake pedal. The rear drums are properly adjusted, parking brake works well, all wheels bleed plenty of air-free fluid. Brake lines are run so that the top of the master feeds the side of the limiting valve with the metal cap thingy, and the front brakes. Bottom of the master feeds the side of the valve with the "end nut" and the rear brakes. 

Any input or advice is much appreciated.