Fitting a Ford Axle to your Austin A40 

Before you start you must choose your axle. Compare the axle dimensions of your own car with those of the donor axle. Too narrow and you'll need spacers. Too wide and you'll need wheel arch extensions. I chose a Cortina Mk1 for my Mk1 A40.

	I tried a Ford Anglia 105E axle at first but it was narrow and needed wheel spacers. A nuisance, so I replaced it with a Cortina Mk1 axle instead. The mounting pads are in almost the correct position for the A40 leaf spring centres. As my car used A35 van springs I had to use quite long "U" bolts.
	I used the backplate assembly from a Corsair 2000 with 9" drums and shoes to match. The Capri backplate (not 1300) is the same size as far as I know. This gives you serious stopping power at the rear and you'll need a pressure limiting valve in line if you still have standard front brakes.
	Now you have the choice of MkII A40 telescopic dampers (yuk!) or Mk1 A40 lever type. I chose the latter because I had picked up a pair of very rare adjustable ones from a racing Midget. Brackets had to be welded onto the Ford axle. I used the lifting brackets from a mini rocker box.
	All new brake pipes were fitted. I used Kunifer 10 because it doesn't rust and it can be bent and flared by hand. The front brakes were replaced with Sprite disc assemblies. The front hubs were welded and redrilled to take Ford wheel studs. This was tricky because it's easy to turn the cast iron hubs into something as hard as diamond when you weld them - impossible to drill! A mini Cooper "S: dual brake master cylinder was used. The front pipe went through a mini Cooper "S" servo to the disc callipers. The rear pipe went direct to the brake cylinders in the rear 9" drums.
	Initially I used the old A40 handbrake compensator which had to be welded on. This was soon replaced by a proper cable handbrake - not difficult to fit.
	Here I am grinding down the A35 van leaf spring studs to allow the Cortina axle to fit snugly. (In those days I had hair!)

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