DDK - Die Deutschen Klassiker

Hi.

1972 914 with two-part hand brake lever.

I knew it was going to be trouble when I bought it - the hand brake locked on at the end of the test drive...

I thought at first it was a problem at the caliper end(s), but they are both absolutely fine - one recon unit, the other has had a rebuild kit, and they work perfectly. The trouble is at the lever end, where it is all too possible to pop the little floppy toothed thingy (keeping up?) over the end of the matching ratchetty toothed thingy attached to the car, thus locking the brake firmly on with no possibility of release without removing the driver's seat etc.

So having detatched the cables at the calipers, I dismantled the lever (fine so far) and gave it a good clean, checked it had plenty of teeth and not too much loose play, and reassembled with some new lubrication.

Now all I had to do was use the hand brake and see if it caused trouble again...

Well it worked fine, right up until the same thing happened again (last night) - thankfully, in the driveway.

I know I can replace the handle with a later 'one piece' handle - but my god they are expensive to import - anyone know where I can get one in this country? - and is the design (of the later handles) exclusive to 914s?

Better still, does anyone know just how different the design of the later ones is? I (and my wallet) would much rather modify the existing handle - either locking it into a single piece (can it be that simple?) or I'm thinking of putting a bar through the body of the handle, positioned to prevent the pivoting ratchet-piece from rotating so far that it passes the end of the toothed bar attached to the car and causes my problem.

Thoughts?

Inspiration?

I'd love to just avoid using the hand brake, but of the four roads into the village, the two neaest me are over narrow hump backed bridges - I would REALLY like to have a reliable, operational handbrake.

Am I being thick here, or is it that the lever is simply going too high?

If that's the case, on mine, there were adjuster nuts near the bulkhead ends of the outer handbrake cables (you have to raise the car a little to be able to get underneath the rear of the drivers floor/bottom of the rear bulkhead area). Be nice if all you had to do was adjust these down a bit: how high does the lever go? Then again I'm sure you've looked at all of this anyway ...

Whatever the case is, I know it's not you being thick - if anything, it's me being a newbie, but I'm grateful for the response

Yes, in fact, it could be the lever going too high - and no, I didn't know about the adjustment possibilites on the 'other' side of the bulkhead. It actually makes a lot of sense, as the rear calipers and all cables have been replaced / renewed in recent times, and I can't be sure that the garage that performed the work would know about that adjustment either!

I do know that the work was undertaken 'for the MOT', and as such, the previous owner avoided using the hand brake having become used to not being able to, prior to paying for the work to be done.

I hope you are right (and I'm reasonably confident that you are) - and please don't ever fail to answer one of my questions simply because the answer is obvious to you!

Thanks.

Carl

you can still get Haynes manuals for 914s, I bought one of their website the other year, about £15

Haynes don't always cover everything, but I'm sure the hand brake mech would be in there.

Also checkout http://www.pelicanparts.com/914/914tech_articles.htm

My handbrake ('74) is in bits at the mo, so if you need any photos of how it goes together then let me know.

Cheers,

Thank you all - what a great place this is!

If I can't make any adjustment at the bulkhead, I'll come back to you about those photos of the '74, thank you.

Nige wrote:you can still get Haynes manuals for 914s, I bought one of their website the other year, about £15

Haynes don't always cover everything, but I'm sure the hand brake mech would be in there.

Also checkout http://www.pelicanparts.com/914/914tech_articles.htm

It came with a Haynes manual....

Sorry you are still having trouble dude .....I remember the words Alam said as I bought it ..."dont use the handbrake...!"

I thought with all the work I had done on those bloody brakes it would be fine...

Good luck Mark

boomy wrote:

Nige wrote:you can still get Haynes manuals for 914s, I bought one of their website the other year, about £15

Haynes don't always cover everything, but I'm sure the hand brake mech would be in there.

Also checkout http://www.pelicanparts.com/914/914tech_articles.htm

It came with a Haynes manual....

Sorry you are still having trouble dude .....I remember the words Alam said as I bought it ..."dont use the handbrake...!"

I thought with all the work I had done on those bloody brakes it would be fine...

Good luck Mark

Hi Mark!

Don't even think about apologising for selling me this car - I want you to notice I'm being very careful not to blame the previous owner for anything.

Anyway - you've spent the money in the right places on the brakes - I think it's just adjustment now (I hope).

How's the new life?

If you're interested, the carbs have been cleaned and balanced, and it's woken up a bit more performance (and sounds very different, I'm told because things are happening properly in phase now), and the passenger door has been removed, had its lower hinge mounts cut out and replaced / re-welded, so it's back as good as it should be. I've also got the front running / sidelights working, and fixed the speedo and the trip reset. Oh, and the steering wheel's on straight again.

I think I love my 914.

Sounds like you are going great guns at it .

You are very lucky to start off with good calipers and handbrake cables: they are both notorious (sp?) for giving problems. You might just find that the new cables have settled in and need re-adjusting. I don't know about the 14, but generally you often find that new cables take a while to fully 'work out' their initial give.

Best wishes with your new purchase .

swapped wrote:
... Oh, and the steering wheel's on straight again.

used to be on straight until my mechanic did the brakes !!

Yep we have moved but still in Poole bunked up with parents until the end of term, when I start my new teaching job in Cornwall !!

Have fun

I spent some time on this on Sunday morning...

I imagined I would be under the car, adjusting the cable length (and therefore the lever travel) at the back of the bulkhead, but looking at the installation with the drivers seat out, there didn't seem to be much wasted cable-length in the cabin, and trying the lever, it didn't feel as if it was lifting unreasonably high to apply.

I took the lever assembly out again and sat on the patio, playing with it and figuring out how it was physically able to rise into a high enough position to let the locking bar drop off the end of the release lever.

Turning the lever upside down and looking into the space where the handbrake button / lever slides back and forth, there is a bar, bridging the two sides of the pressing, and acting as a stop on the button spring. This bar seems to be formed with a pop-rivet, and the pressure of the release lever spring upon it over the years looked to have dented the bar, allowing the release lever to rest just a couple of mm further along its travel than it should. This had the effect of allowing the locking bar to sneak past the end of the release bar (I hope you're keep up here,) causing my problem - the locking bar thoroughly locked, and at a point past which the release bar could reach...

Solution?

I drilled out the distorted pop-rivet and replaced it with a new bar, using a carefully selected bolt made fat enough for purpose by using a threaded sleeve I found, left over from building kitchen cabinet fittings.

Result?

A handbrake! - I don't want to tempt fate, but I've tried my darndest to pull it on to a locked position, and it steadfastly refuses to do anyhting other than just be a handbrake, and feels MUCH more secure and predictable in use than previously.

Job done, I hope - of course it would have been more satisfying if I'd been able to go out for a run, but that would be to ignore the fact that the car was (and is) currently stuck on the driveway due to the failiure of the (known to be dodgy) electronic ignition unit. Replacement new unit in transit to me as I type...