Handbrake

[V8 Junkie]

Am wanting to get into TVR Chimaera,s again after owning a 400 HC One of my dislikes of the one I had was the handbrake, are they all only marginal? as I live in a hilly area where a lot of handbrake start.s are required The one I had was adjusted but still wasn,t good although it passed the MOT

[phazed 11.83]

I believe a lot of problems stem from people adjusting them so that the handbrake is applied on one or two clicks.

The design and the leverage leaves a lot to be desired and in my opinion you need to pull up 3 to 4 clicks to obtain decent leverage to apply the handbrake. Mine certainly works better this way.

HTH

[bobfather]

phazed 11.83 said:

I believe a lot of problems stem from people adjusting them so that the handbrake is applied on one or two clicks.

The design and the leverage leaves a lot to be desired and in my opinion you need to pull up 3 to 4 clicks to obtain decent leverage to apply the handbrake. Mine certainly works better this way.

HTH

This is how I solved the problem too. Loosen the adjuster behind the off side rear wheel to get two or three more handbrake clicks. Very much easier to hold the car on a hill

[Pupp]

There's a couple of tricks, including getting the adjustment right as described. Another easy one is to push the footbrake hard whilst applying the handbrake... just helps a bit.

Less easy insofar as it takes money and time is to put larger discs on the rear (correspondingly balanced by bigger fronts, obviously)... a completely unintended but welcome consequence of the Reyland conversion I run is the handbrake is now pretty effective.

If tugging the lever hard, be aware it will bend easily and eventually break... ask me how I know

[The jiffle king]

Needs to be 3 clicks..... Mine nearly failed an MOT some years back when the tester only did it 2 clicks. He said it was a fail and then I asked him to retest with 3 clicks and it passed

[QBee]

Foot on the foot brake while applying, as said above. Works for feeble old me

[N7GTX]

Pupp said:

There's a couple of tricks, including getting the adjustment right as described. Another easy one is to push the footbrake hard whilst applying the handbrake... just helps a bit.

Less easy insofar as it takes money and time is to put larger discs on the rear (correspondingly balanced by bigger fronts, obviously)... a completely unintended but welcome consequence of the Reyland conversion I run is the handbrake is now pretty effective.

If tugging the lever hard, be aware it will bend easily and eventually break... ask me how I know

^^^ this. After fitting larger Mondeo calipers with Focus ST discs there was a huge improvement in the handbrake.

[ChimpOnGas]

N7GTX said:

^^^ this. After fitting larger Mondeo calipers with Focus ST discs there was a huge improvement in the handbrake.

This sounds like a sensible well thought out modification using readily available and OEM quality parts, my standard setup works acceptably but I'd hardly call it user friendly, even adjusted correctly and with everything working as it should it still needs a good strong pull compared with almost all other vehicles with the noticeable exception of an old grey Ferguson tractor.

I could see the heavy handbrake stopping me using the car if I was every unfortunate enough to lose strength in my left arm, and in my endless pursuit to make the car ever more user friendly a lighter and more effective handbrake would make an excellent addition. It sounds like your Ford Mondeo rear calipers with Focus ST discs could be a fantastic solution where the consumables (pads & discs) are readily available and cheap to buy.

Do you have any pictures and further details of the conversion, for example did you need to fabricate a caliper adapter bracket?

[Tony91]

Just had a go at adjusting my handbrake to see if I could get from 2 clicks to 3 clicks.
Am I missing something as I could not get anymore movement on the handbrake.
I jacked it up took off the offside wheel and got to the large white plastic adjuster but no matter what way I turned it I still had only 2 clicks
Is there another adjustment that I am not seeing there is nothing where the cable joins the caliper.
I would be interested in the conversion so any info would be great thanks just measured my rear disc and they are vented grooved 280mm is that standard?
As it stands don't think I could ask the MOT tester to push on the brakes and then test the handbrake
Forgot to say its a 2000 450

Edited by Tony91 on Wednesday 31st May 15:54

[TwinKam]

Tony91 said:

Just had a go at adjusting my handbrake to see if I could get from 2 clicks to 3 clicks.
Am I missing something as I could not get anymore movement on the handbrake.
I jacked it up took off the offside wheel and got to the large white plastic adjuster but no matter what way I turned it I still had only 2 clicks
Is there another adjustment that I am not seeing there is nothing where the cable joins the caliper.
I would be interested in the conversion so any info would be great thanks just measured my rear disc and they are vented grooved 280mm is that standard?
As it stands don't think I could ask the MOT tester to push on the brakes and then test the handbrake
Forgot to say its a 2000 450

Edited by Tony91 on Wednesday 31st May 15:54

The adjustment is on one side only, so the inner cable needs to slide and resettle itself on the equaliser yoke to share out the available free play to both sides. What's happening at the moment is that it's just pulling on the nearside as all the new slack is on the offside, hence it's making no difference to the lever travel. Pulling harder on the lever may help, but you may have to free the cable and persuade it to move along at the equaliser. It's as a result of the cable's 'memory' from being in that position for n years with a bit of corosion thrown in for good measure.
HTH

[bobfather]

It's a long time since I did mine but if I recall correctly the adjuster is in two parts so that it can be locked onto the sheath. You have to twist loosen the adjuster first by partly unscrewing the outer plastic part from the inner. Just turning it doesn't do anything

[Tony91]

bobfather said:

It's a long time since I did mine but if I recall correctly the adjuster is in two parts so that it can be locked onto the sheath. You have to twist loosen the adjuster first by partly unscrewing the outer plastic part from the inner. Just turning it doesn't do anything

The locking part of the adjuster is just to clamp the longer section of the adjuster it is castellated so they fit together and make a tighter friction on the cable outer to stop it undoing It will adjust the position without separating by turning the whole assembly.

[Tony91]

TwinKam said:

The adjustment is on one side only, so the inner cable needs to slide and resettle itself on the equaliser yoke to share out the available free play to both sides. What's happening at the moment is that it's just pulling on the nearside as all the new slack is on the offside, hence it's making no difference to the lever travel. Pulling harder on the lever may help, but you may have to free the cable and persuade it to move along at the equaliser. It's as a result of the cable's 'memory' from being in that position for n years with a bit of corosion thrown in for good measure.
HTH

Thanks TwinKam sounds logical will give it another go and see had plenty of slack on the cable adjuster mounting point but did not give a thought to the inner cable moving in the Yoke will give it a dose of penetrating fluid see if it helps.

[N7GTX]

ChimpOnGas said:

N7GTX said:

^^^ this. After fitting larger Mondeo calipers with Focus ST discs there was a huge improvement in the handbrake.

This sounds like a sensible well thought out modification using readily available and OEM quality parts, my standard setup works acceptably but I'd hardly call it user friendly, even adjusted correctly and with everything working as it should it still needs a good strong pull compared with almost all other vehicles with the noticeable exception of an old grey Ferguson tractor.

I could see the heavy handbrake stopping me using the car if I was every unfortunate enough to lose strength in my left arm, and in my endless pursuit to make the car ever more user friendly a lighter and more effective handbrake would make an excellent addition. It sounds like your Ford Mondeo rear calipers with Focus ST discs could be a fantastic solution where the consumables (pads & discs) are readily available and cheap to buy.

Do you have any pictures and further details of the conversion, for example did you need to fabricate a caliper adapter bracket?

I did a full write up with pics last year. Think I covered everything

https://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=0&...