Hey all, not exactly a HAMB car, but it's fairly traditional. Anyway, gotta question regarding some choices I have to make here.......... Front end is 4 lug Ford pattern, (with disc brakes), so I'd like the rear pattern to match as well. Ok, fine. Rear end is stock, and I have a Jeep CJ rear end which is only an inch wider than stock. I'm wondering what my best option is. 1) redrill and use stock Nash rear with Nash rear brakes 2) use Jeep rear, if it will fit and redrill it to match. That gives me better brakes. 3) use Nash rear and adapt better brakes/ backing plates to it. This is a 4 cylinder driver for my daughter, not a race car. Good handling / braking is important. Thanks for any help!
I think this ones a no brainer..... chuck that metro rear for the jeep if it will fit! wonder what else might work here, geo tracker rear maybe??
The RE is pretty fragile, basically a Sprite with a Morris Minus diff. Sell it to the owner of a hot Sprite, they can pull the higher ratio.
How about a Pinto/Bobcat rearend? The 74-80 station wagons have bigger brakes. And they are 4 bolt hubs too.
They're too wide, actually. I don't know if all rears can be narrowed. Trying to keep it on the cheap side, yet safe.
the jeep rear should be fine, in fact the entire 4 cylinder driveline (minus T-case) out of a jeep would probably be pretty good for this. what about a chevette rear??
What about a toyota corolla , 1200 datsun, chevette,etc not sure on width but they are used in drawf and legend race cars.
What you need is a rear axle assembly from an MG Midget - it's a bolt in swap and has a 3.62 rear ratio, instead of the 4.10 or 4.56 your Met came with stock. Don't worry about braking it - it'll handle that little Met 1500 engine just fine. In case you were unaware, that Met 1500 is EXACTLY the same as the engine in the MGB/GT, and accepts all of the same hop-ups and bolt-on's! A set of dual Weber downdrafts, anyone??? Make that little bugger scream for not a lot of cash! BTW, it is not a Sprite rear diff.
I used an 80 Datsun B210 engine and auto trans and mated driveshaft to Met rear ---car honked !!!! Shoulda kept it....
Actually the GT's came with the 1800 4 banger. I know my daily driven '67 has it and it's original and a Mark I car. I believe the early Mark I MGB roadsters had the 3 main 1500. Either way, "tomato tomahto" the same hop up stuff should fit. -Chris
The engine is an Austin A52 Cambridge, but was used in the MGA 1500's. MGB and GT's had an 1800CC 4 cylinder from the beginning (1963). The Met rears are very similar to MGB's. And they are clever enough to make the carriers removable. Why not keep the housing and everything else, and just change the carrier out to a MGB unit. This will give you better ratios, but why go through all this if your powerplant and trans are original equipment? Give us an idea of anything else you are doing with powerplant. I had one about 40 years ago, and seriously wanted to put a V6 Buick in there with a 4 speed trans and a stronger rear end. Perhaps you may want to consider this or just leave it stock. The stock steering makes swaps pretty limited as it mounts above the engine.
I guess I should mention it's a stock Ford 2.3 with an auto overdrive in there. Nothing hot, just a cruiser. I swapped out the front suspension because of that steering disaster
I would just swap carrier with the MGB unit. This should provide plenty of beef and lower the gear ratio. Curious, what front suspension/steering did you use?
diff are the same as mg midget A-H sprite, different ratio though, you can get harden axles, double bearing hubs later brakes from mg midget etc. try the spridget.com or moss motors.com, RD
I think I would opt for the rear swap. Those Morris axles are about as strong as a number 2 pencil. My 948cc Morris Minor whent thru a couple. Luckily they are floating. As long as thye jeep has the correct gearing you want, I would go that route.
The stock rear ratio is 4.22, so with overdrive you should be ok. Many Metro owners look for MG Midget or Austin-Healey Sprite rears with 3.90 gears or the much harder to find 3.70's. These gears drop out just like a 9" Ford, so changing is not so hard. Strength -wise, I think the stock rear is fine, especially with an auto trans. That said..since you have discs on the front; I'd just rebuild the stock rear brakes with new wheel cylinders, shoes,etc. Your daughter is gonna have a cool ride! I'm going a '55 Met for my wife, tho not as quickly as she'd like
You might find a 4.62 diff. in your Metro, as said, 3.9 & 3.7 are in later Midgets. Double bearing hubs are used by SCCA guys, often with modded Midget wire wheel axles that have a separate hub flange.
I should take the rear apart and see whats in there. If the rear brakes are at least a decent design (self adjusting,...) I'd feel better. I don't even know if the Ford bolt pattern would fit on the small axle flanges.
not self adjusting brakes, might be single piston, i know the later brakes are double piston, if you can get a rubber bumper mg midget you'll get 3.70 gears, with the best stock axles, just my $.02, RD
I want to put a 81 Datsun/Nissan A14 engine in my 61 Metro with the 5 speed manual. Having trouble figuring out exactly what to cut out to mount the motor. What did you do?
In my 1959 Met I used a mid 80's 153 cube Chevy (Mercruiser) motor with a TH200-4R overdrive automatic. Runs just fine with the 4.22 rear end but I need to redo the front brakes, not because the stock ones won't stop it, but because they are so worn out it's better to put money into discs than redo the old ones. Rear diff whines like crazy so may change that out too and use a 3.90 Midget unit. I was going to use a 5 speed stick out of a small Blazer but the starter was a problem as the motor had to use the 168 toothed flywheel for the clutch and the starter hit the suspension. The auto allowed me to use the 158 flexplate and with a little cutting, the starter cleared. Goes lie a rocket, chirps tires in all gears. Climbs hills at 70mph and never slows down. Of course, going from a stock motor of 55hp to a 120hp does help....... LOL.
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