Parking Brake Adjustment

[jstinson]

I recently purchased a Superformance #633. The brake worked a little when I first got it but now its worthless. Is this an easy adjustment? Any available documentation on this maintenance item?

[Blas]

Congrats on the purchase. I’m assuming you still have the rear wheel parking brake and have not been upgraded to the driveshaft style? Let me know.
There is a single threaded rod linkage between the bottom of the parking brake handle assembly and a “T” linkage that has the 2 cables that connect to the left and right parking brake assemblies. The threaded rod has double nuts on each end that connect to a yoke (for lack of a better term) that act like jamb nuts. The two at the bottom if the brake handle should NOT be locked together.there should be about 1/4” of rod projecting thru the nut farthest to the front and maybe 1/16” of clearance between the yoke and the second nut. This is so the rod an freely rotate. There is a similar arrangement on the other end of the rod at the “T” linkage but those two nuts are snugged up tight against the yoke so the rod does not rotate. If you loosen those two nuts up you can effectively shorten the linkage by screwing in the threaded rod to the rear most nut. I suggest no more than 1/8” to 1/4” shorter linkage length adjustment at a time. Tighten those rear two nut up and test the handbrake. The rear wheels should spin with the brake disengaged without dragging. Too tight and you trash the pads and overheat the rear disks. That’s the reason for the 1/8-1/4 adjustment increments. Be sure to lubricate the cables using a good quality chain lube, NOT WD40 or grease. If you PM me I’ll give you my phone number and I have some photos of mine as I just did this maintenance on my car. This is a good time to remove the rear wheel (and front) to clean and anti-seize the wheel pins and spinners. Also with the rear wheels off, inspect the rear top shock mounts and shock bushings. I can talk you thru that if you like.... very important to check them.
Remember:
These cars all come with 2 guarantees, the top leaks and the parking brake doesn't work.... They will usually keep the car from blowing away in a stiff breeze, but... don't trust them on an incline...
Enough typing.....
Blas

[Guppiedriver]

I'll second that notion that early cars=no usable parking brake. I have #739, never could get the brake to work well. Went to the driveshaft mounted upgrade, same thing-worked ok for a while but eventually almost useless. Finally took it to a shop & had a custom system fabricated pretty much like the original. However, it has larger cables, mounts & calipers. So far it's working great. Original parking brake on early cars, better carry a wheel block if you're paring on a hill!! Good luck. Still a lot of fun though to drive

[tortuga]

After replacing the shaft mount pads and following the adjustment procedure, my shaft brake is actually pretty good...but still prefer these..

[Blas]

Mine works pretty well now that I adjusted it. Holds it in my driveway which has a slight slope. I have a set of custom made pads that I have yet to install. A grabbier compound. Every time I go to adjust mine I threaten to install them and the adjustment does the trick. Try removing your pads and roughing up the surface with some sandpaper to take the glaze off them.
Blas

[jstinson]

Hi Guys. Thanks for the advice. I will attempt to do the adjustment as well as buy a set of parking blocks.

John