Parking Brake Adjustment

Can someone please confirm my theory that the parking brake is adjusted at the handle, inside the cockpit? I have the Wilwood 4-piston calipers installed by Hi Tech.

Thanks.
 

Dave Hood

Lifetime Supporter
Based on my experience, there are two settings for the SPF parking brake.

1. Completely useless.

2. Almost completely useless.

The best solution is to park on a completely level surface. In that situation, the parking brake works extremely well.

Great car. Not so great parking brake.
 
Based on my experience, there are two settings for the SPF parking brake.

1. Completely useless.

2. Almost completely useless.

The best solution is to park on a completely level surface. In that situation, the parking brake works extremely well.

Great car. Not so great parking brake.

Hi Dave,

Well you may have a problem with your parking brakes ??? mine works very well even in high slopes !! and I have the factory kit !

OliveR
 

Rick Muck- Mark IV

GT40s Sponsor
Supporter
When properly adjusted the factory drum park brake works well. You can go to a disc operated unit as was covered here some time ago.
 
I'm not a regular user of it, as Texas is mostly flat where I live. However, I'm coming up on the "ASE Certified Inspection" part of my registration and I need it to work. Thanks!
 
When my car was originally assembled by HRE, I don't think it was tested and it did not work. Shortly thereafter when the car was completely taken apart and redone, we were able to make it work properly as well as the rest of the car. Part of the problem is the routing of the cables. The other part is that you really need a substantial bracket to hold the cable at the rear wheel area so that not all the load is on the tub clips located away from the wheels. We fabricated a 1/4" stainless bracket and it really works.
 
When I mentioned routing of the cables, I mean that the radius has to be respected. If the radius is too tight then the cable will just bind. That is exactly what happened to me.
 
This is a follow-up to the parking brake investigation.

There are NO adjusters inside the cockpit. The adjustment is performed in two ways:

1) The cable connections to the Wilwood drums are adjustable. You have a few inches of travel there to play with.
2) Just as importantly, there are threaded adjusters on each drum that expand or contract the brake shoes. With the wheel and tire off, you can see this adjuster on the upper forward side of the hub/rotor. This adjuster can be moved with a small screwdriver and pushing on the small ridges. This adjuster is very similar to the rear drum brakes on my 1966 Mustang, in case you're familiar with that setup.

After adjusting #1 to the middle of the range and playing with #2, I now have a functional parking brake that doesn't drag when OFF.

On to inspection!
 

Rick Muck- Mark IV

GT40s Sponsor
Supporter
This is a follow-up to the parking brake investigation.

There are NO adjusters inside the cockpit. The adjustment is performed in two ways:
There are two threaded adjusters where the cables attach to the handbrake lever. I don't have a picture I can find right now, but they are forward of this where they attach to the handbrake lever.
 

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Interesting. I couldn't find them, but probably didn't realize what they were. There are now 3 adjustment points! That just adds to the mystique of getting it right.

Tim
 

Mike

Lifetime Supporter
Mine would make clickity click noises at times when rolling. With separate master cylinders for front and rear circuits, the chance of total brake failure I figure is very low. Bye bye e-brake and all unnecessary bits.
 
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