emergency brake

[homer]

I am looking for some tips to make my emergency brake function without brute force. I have a flush mount brake handle that is on the top of the tranny tunnel. I fabricated a bracket that bolts to the underside of the lever to hold the cable and to prevent deflection. Where the rear of the cable meets the brake calipers it simply buts up against one caliper and is fixed to the far left caliper. For some reason I cannot get enough bite to prevent the car from rolling. Its not the length of pull because the handle still has more room to go and stops firmly about half way through its travel. Any help would be much appreciated.

[jalley]

I don't know if this will help, but here are a couple of pics of how I fabbed mine. I have the same issue. If I'm on an incline I use the ebrake and leave it in first or reverse.

[mbenoit]

I used opposing cables and brackets on the caliper arms. Specifically, I used two e-brake cables I had in the shop for a 1994 Volkswagen Jetta. One end of each cable attaches to a clamping block which is attached to the bottom of the Lokar brake handle. The other ends of the cables then run to opposing caliper arms. It basically the same setup as the attached pictures but has redundant cables (should one decide to snap - call me the Master of Overkill). If I pull hard on the handle, I get decent grab but I really have to pull. I attribute part of this to a kinda crappy e-brake setup on the Jag rearend but I may be using this as an excuse in lieu of better engineering on my part.

[Aggressor]

I have the same problem. I believe the brake handle that I'm using is too short and not providing enough leverage to actuate the Jag emergency brakes to the point where they grip. I'm going to weld a couple of inches of metal sleeve under the boot covered area to lengthen it.

-Geary

[KrAzEcJ]

I used the E-brake setup from Unique. When I installed my e-brake calipers I removed the cotter pin and ran the adjustment bolt in so the pads were as close to the rotor as possible without them actually touching. In testing, the e-brake is engaged while the handle is at 1 o'clock giving me a few more teeth available when the pads wear down some. I live on the side of a mountain and I have a very steep driveway and it held very well while I tested it.

PS: I noticed when I installed my calipers that I had to pay close attention to how the pads engaged the rotors. I had to readjust the drivers side once I got the cable installed to make sure the pad engaged flat because it was favoring the heel of the pad.

[eliminator]

Like CJ stated:

"I removed the cotter pin and ran the adjustment bolt in so the pads were as close to the rotor as possible without them actually touching."

You must adjust the emergency brake calipers and you need return springs on each lever coming off the caliper.

I was the person who developed the emergency brake set-up that Unique is now using. I have done my car and one more and they both work as you would want an emergency brake to work. But if your not using the original handle, brackets and cable that Unique supplies I dont know. You definetly don't need any two cable deal to make it work. You may want to try what works instead of trying to fabricate your own set up.

[homer]

I think the brake that unique supplies is a side mount to the tranny tunnel, mine is a top mount - will try to play with the adjustment and see what happens

[scott h]

i know this may be obvious but have you checked to see if your handle has more travel than where it is stopping, perhaps your handle linkage is binding before yor brakes are fully set.