So.. like many here my 1986 Camaros emergency brake did not enagage properly. Parking on a hill was questionable.

I tried to adjust the linkage underneath by the drive shaft but it was frozen solid and not enough room to get breaker bar in to fix it.... so pure genius hit me after 3 hours of wrenching.

The rear engagement is predicated on cable tension. The tension wasn't there, even with the E Brake fully pulled back. I noticed I could add tension manually by squeezing the driver and passenger brake cable together.

This being said... I used a huge zip tie to squeeze them together and a second to tether the zip tie to the top of the driveshaft well so it wouldn't slide.

Set her back down... no engagement with E Brake off, but now the E Brake handle only pulled about 3/4 the way up.... and was tight.

Tried to push it down my driveway... BINGO!

E Brake now fully engaged and holding on a hill while attempting to push it at only 3/4 lever.

Cheap, easy, functional and takes no time. It may not be the "proper" fix, but it damn sure works!

 

That's a horrible idea.

 

Yeah, I dunno about that either. Would sketch me out every-time I parked thinking about the zip tie breaking.

 

Atleast it's not rolling down my driveway now. Ive test drove it and there are zero negative effects to actually braking.

So you can say what you want, but it works.

 

Imagine parking your car on a hill and walking away. (granted, you're in FL, where there ARE NO hills; but still, you might want to drive to some other state someday)

Then while you're gone, the zip tie breaks.

What just happened?

Please don't park your car anywhere near me or my family or my car or anything else.

 

Don't worry. I only park my car next to nice cars, so yours won't ever be by it.

 

Jack-legging a repair with a piece of plastic or wire or whatever will sometimes get you by until a proper repair can be made, but anything to do with any part of the brake system is an area that is off-limits for such actions.

 

It was never intended to be a permanent resolution. If you took it that way, then oh well. I was providing a way to temporarily resolve the issue, fast and easy until you can fix the issue properly.

My Camaros only issue is that ebrake and this will hold me in those rare situations until I get it fixed properly.

Some of you guys are real ****ing ****** who think alot of their opinions though.

 

Some of the guys posting here have formed their opinions based on 20-30-40 years of actual mechanical experience in the real world.

Good luck with your repair goals in the future.

 

I'm not worried so much about "next to"; I'm more concerned about … down the hill from it.

Thank you for your classy and complimentary comment. It's always good to be able to appreciate the inner quality of those we converse with. And of course I'm ever so glad to be nade aware that you consider a car with its BRAKES half-a$$ed in a way that's dangerous to EVERYBODY ELSE around it is more of a "nice" car than whatever I have, which you don't even have a clue what it is.

Kind of make me glad I only go to FL a handful of times a year. It doesn't take much of a hill to get a car rolling; even just a sand dune would do it.

 

That E-Brake linkage ( from handle to the tranny tunnel ) is a kind-of-a-bitch to replace. If you drop the driveshaft ( 5 minutes ) than you should have decent access to the adjustment nut. Maybe soaking it in PB Blaster a couple times over a couple weeks before dropping the D-shaft for access will allow for it to free-up so a proper adjustment can be made.

 

I think what got the troops riled is that the thread title ; "Solved! Cheap and easy fix for E-Brake" does make it sound as if it's being proposed as a permanent resolution . A thing to consider also is that when your new at a forum it's not always easy to figure out if there is any humor , trolling , or backyard hackery being applied , as there ARE those people who show up here thinking it'd be perfectly fine to leave the tie wrap as a permanent repair .

Anyway , I like John's method , PB blast it a few times and then have at it .

 

lmao funny thread

 

Well THAT was entertaining for 5 minutes of reading.
I fixed mine in an hour....the right way.....and it holds like a champ

 

There's a time and a place for shortcuts and home remedies. BRAKES aren't one of them.

When it comes to the LIVES of people around me that I don't even know who they are or how many I might be putting at risk, and those that I care about like wife, parents, children, siblings, friends, etc., HACK JOBS like what the OP talked about are NOT my idea of A Good Idea.

 

Not the best introduction and those early cast iron morane calipers lack some desirability, especially the e-brk design. The fix is to swap them for the later PBR brakes.