I drive a 1988 Camaro 305 TBI with manual 5 speed transmission.

The handbrake has always been a bit dodgy ever since I have had the car, by not holding the first few ratchet clicks, you'd have to really pull it up hard to get it to lock into place.

Well today, the handbrake will just not hold, it just flops back down. I had a look at the mechanism through the small slot the lever pokes through, and as far as I can see the ratchet catch (the thing operated by the lever release button) has had its barb/pointed bit sheered off, theres metal dust all round the area but as far as I can tell the toothed half-semi-circle part seems to be ok.
I guess this has been slowly wearing away over the past few years.

This leads me to two questions, what is the technical name for the small catch that I need to replace?
And how do I get at the mechanism to allow replacement of the part? I cant see how to get past the plastic housing over the transmission tunnel, there does not seem to be any obvious way of removing it.

I would really appreciate any help, has anyone else had this problem?
For now I have a lump of wood wedged under the lever to hold it up just to stop the car from rolling away!

Thanks

 

I don't know the name of the thing, I'd have to check my service manual and I'm not at home.

To access the area you have to remove the upper center console. Remove radio trim plate, shifter trim plate, console box, and finally the upper center console.

 

theres also 2 bolts inside the console storage bin i think that hold it down, along with the bolts under the radio i think. if i remember right theres even a bolt inside the cig tray. first u have to take the plate that covers the shifter itself off then u can unbolt the entire center console if you want.