Handbrake Adjustment

porker914 · Post by **porker914** » Sun Oct 29, 2006 3:14 pm

Im sure a long time ago someone emailed an article on how best to adjust the handbrake on the 14. If anyone has any good links to sites or an article on this can they please email it to me?

David

fourteener · Post by **fourteener** » Sun Oct 29, 2006 6:04 pm

Pretty sure they'll be an article in the 914 technical section on pelican parts.
Funnily enough I've just done this...good vent clearances are crucial or you'll have no handbrake

porker914 · Post by **porker914** » Sun Oct 29, 2006 7:49 pm

Fourteener,
I have had problems for the last 4 years with the handbrake and the MOT. Each time it seems to be the crap design of one short cable and one about 3 times its length!

Whats the secret with getting the same amount of leaverage on each cable?

the nearside locks up nicely but the offside locks but aply pressure to the wheel and it will turn!

David

abm914 · Post by **abm914** » Sun Oct 29, 2006 8:56 pm

David

Handbrake on a 914 is a real pain. Think I had my car up at the MOT station 4 times before it passed. Ended up with new rear calipers and pads (already had new cables on it) and it still only just passed! Few things that I noticed was make sure that the cables run as freely as possible in their sleeves and make sure that the sleeves are held in place well (so they don't flex too much when you pull the handbrake. Also make sure that the T piece inside the car is not rusted up.

Ad.

Robster · Post by **Robster** » Sun Oct 29, 2006 9:16 pm

Hi Dave,

It is frankly a piece of utterly crap design. Even with new cables, it is always 'lopsided' as far as pressure on each caliper is concerned. The key is to find a sympathetic MOT station, who realises that it impossible to get it any better, and that the car is after all at least 30 years old!

I use Luccombes Garage in Bristol. It is a bit of a trek, but Rob at Luccombe's is a top guy, knows his Porsches and VW's, and has always been 'generous' as far as the handbrake is concerned....

kind regards
Rob

fourteener · Post by **fourteener** » Mon Oct 30, 2006 7:51 am

If your vent clearances are cock-on they should be fine (My handbrake is solid & will stall the car easily) You will want to set them so the brakes are binding and then back it off slightly, rather than setting them to the clearances as stated in the manual.
The other thing to look at when you're getting uneven pressures is the cable splitter yoke just behind the drivers seat. It equalizes the leverage between both cables. Mine was seized but after about and hour of heat + lubrication + 'wiggling' it back and forth it now works as intended.
They are fiddly to adjust and a compromise design-wise but can be made to work well if you have the patience ( or know a good mechanic )

kevster · Post by **kevster** » Tue Nov 07, 2006 10:08 am

Also make sure the t piece under the back of the seat is the right way round as the longer cable needs to be pulled further than the shorter one. Having the t piece that pulls the cable the flipside of what it should be would mean giving much more mechanical advantage to the shorter cable.

The longer cable should have a 'longer' pull so where the t piece hooks in to the cable end this should be further from the centre of where the t piece pivots (hope that makes sense!)

porker914 · Post by **porker914** » Tue Nov 07, 2006 12:44 pm

Well having adjusted and replaced my original rear clipers with my re-built using all new parts calipers destined for my 75 its passed the MOT!!

Not however without a little adjusting while at the MOT. My local garage is fantastic and even let me use there tools while I adjusted the brakes.

All i can say is that even with re-built calipers the handbrake on the offside is still crap.

Has anyone used any other caliper for the rears or even a hydraulic system to replace the original? I know my friend wayne with his Gulf race car has used a small caliper for the handbrake but has anyone else done it?

David

fourteener · Post by **fourteener** » Tue Nov 07, 2006 12:58 pm

I've learned something -I didn't know that Kev.

kevster · Post by **kevster** » Tue Nov 07, 2006 1:10 pm

Yeh - worth knowing that fourteener! - mine were crap but I put on a good 2nd hand pair of cables and had to replace the nearside caliper & both pads but mine are spot on now

Gilbert '71 T · Post by **Gilbert '71 T** » Tue Nov 07, 2006 2:28 pm

porker914 wrote:Has anyone used any other caliper for the rears or even a hydraulic system to replace the original? I know my friend wayne with his Gulf race car has used a small caliper for the handbrake but has anyone else done it?

David

Congratulations on the mot

Here's a 914 handbrake solution, lotta work but it looks really good though

http://www.914club.com/bbs2/index.php?s ... =4909&st=0