...Not the usual cable question, already took care of that.

My rearend is from a '96 TA, and has the aluminum calipers that are similar (identical?) to the late 3rd gen ones, but not like the LS1 brakes.

Did the swap about 9 months ago, used the cables from the donor car. The brakes work fine, pads and rotors are new, the cables are nice and tight. I mean really tight, I made sure. It takes all the muscle I can give it to ratchet that handle all the way back, and as a PARKING brake, it holds just fine. I thought it was okay.

...And then I moved to Memphis.

I came here from Jackson, Mississippi. Among the many other things I can say about my home town, one positive thing is I've never had to get a car REALLY inspected. If your horn and all your lights work, you're good. Mississippi doesn't do a sniffer, doesn't care what you've done under the hood, and you can get an inspection virtually anywhere that sells or works on cars. But sadly, I have to play by the rules now because my Mississippi tag expires this month and I don't live there anymore.

In Memphis we have a much more thorough inspection. Most importantly I'm told they check the parking brake by asking you to engage it, put it in gear, and give it some gas.

Yeah, right. If I do that, there'd better not be anybody in front of me who enjoys having functional legs. Maybe if I had a 2.8...

Can ANY RWD car with a healthy V8 do that? Or is there actually something wrong with my parking brake? If so, what do I need to look at?

Thanks!

 

They should hold your car, to an extent. Your car will move, but not REAL easily, and stop INSTANTLY, when you let off the gas.


Just don't floor it, or you will have a legless inspector.

 

My concern is that if I give it any gas at all it will move. Here's a good example. With the air conditioner on, car in gear, I can pull the hand brake and the car won't go anywhere, but if I turn the AC off it will ease forward.

 

If it moves at idle, you have issues.

I would start by checking that the cable length is good, then see if the pads actually MOVE, when you pull the parking brake lever.

 

Oh, they move. I can feel the resistance when I pull the brake while driving, and if the cables were any tighter I'd be worried about the brake being engaged all the time. The brake will hold at idle, as long as idle doesn't go up past about 750, which happens when the AC is off.

I guess what I'm asking is this: Given that the brakes work fine, pads and rotors are in good shape and the pads do move, what can I adjust other than the cable to make the parking brake grip harder? Or is that pretty much it? My engine's not quite stock, but I know there are countless other cars on here with a hell of a lot more torque than my modest 305's got, and surely their hand brake works right.

I suppose I just need to just take a wheel off and look again at the way these brakes work. There's got to be something, unless my pads just suck.

 

You need 3rd gen disc rear cables, not the cables from the 4th gen donor car. They are a different length and won't operate correctly.

Ed

 

Alright, thanks. I'll try that then. Can you recommend a source?

 

I've got them of course.

Ed

 

I'll try again to adjust them this weekend... If I end up giving up, I'll probably hit you up for some cables. I'm just not 100% sure yet that the cables are going to help. I did actually modify the donor car cables and I think I got the length right. The handle feels tight and the brakes do grip, just not hard enough apparently... Is there any kind of adjustment at the caliper? Do these auto-adjust like drums?

 

Blah. No, it can't be the cables. I adjusted them again, now they're so tight I can't even pull the handle all the way back, and yet it still won't hold the car. Got to be something else. I suspect there might be damage on the caliper side somewhere, but it got too dark for me to check...

 

I have cast iron rear disks and my parking brake acts the same way. It's fine on idle but if I give it a little gas the car will move (and I have a 3.1L). I am a little worried about it because I'm hoping it's just the parking brake and not how the calipers grip when the brake pedal is pressed because I need an emission this month and if the rear brakes won't stop the dyno when they do the sniffer I'll fail.

Hey Ed, how much are your LS1 rear cables? I've been seriously considering going ahead with the LS1 rear brake swap but I won't do it without the e-brake functioning.

 

Spent all my daylight this evening chasing down a short in the dash... (thankfully I did fix that) Got too dark again to get seriously into fixing the brake problem, but I did finally look at something besides the cables. Seems one side is stuck somehow. It's not noticeably affecting the main brakes, so I'm thinking it's just the e-brake mechanism, but at a glance it looks stuck closed. Maybe if I get a chance to take it apart tomorrow I can reposition, un-stick or un-bend whatever's messed up. Or at least find out what part I need...