Park Brake Mods

So, on to mocking-up the refined handbrake design/layout...

First, gathering the bits. The threaded rod from the pedal needs to be lengthened. We used 5/16" UNC threaded rod to match the existing, with a union and lock nuts on either side (only one shown here)...




A view of it assembled in the car - without lock nuts (this shot also highlights the need to shroud the threaded rod to keep in from abrading on the trans x-member)...




The rest of the bits...




Was unable to find swaged ends for the intermediate cable, so resorted to screw links, clamps and thimbles (if requied, I'll get the final cable swaged at the right length).

Here I just have the one clamp in place to finalise the cable length. We have since ganged clamps together on both sides and trimmed the cable length to suit...



J

Melting and Moulding

Rather than trim down the fan fins, we decided to try heating the shroud to soften it and mould it to give a bit more clearance to the fan.

I had a Holden Commodore 6-cylinder shroud lying around, so it became the test mule to see what was/wasn't achievable. The shroud was clamped to the workbench and the kids' mini skateboard used as a moulding tool.



A butane torch was the heat source and - after a bit of trial and error - I got a bit of a technique down on how to heat and mould the plastic.

The test also showed it was easier to clamp the skateboard to the workbench and bring the shroud to the modifying wheel like so...



If I was to do it again, I would have had a 2nd person heat while I worked the shroud over the skateboard wheel as it was hard to heat, then quickly work the softened plastic.

But, I got there!



The fan sits low in the shroud, so there is a larger gap a the top than the base, but it should be an improvement over no shroud at all.