Removal of old handbrake cable

[iana]

I’m now in the final stages of sorting the brakes on the vitesse, I need to swap the handbrake cable as the threaded length has badly corroded. Any tricks on how to remove the cable or is it easier to cut the cable and just pull it out. Need to clean the hardened grease from the guides and then fix the new cable (i saw a recent thread on how to do this)

[Clive]

I would use an angle grinder and cut it in a few places. Getting the new one in is a bit of a faff....

[Bordfunker]

If you are binning it anyway, I would simply cut it and remove it, as from experience on my Herald it’s a pain in the arse to get past the cable channels on the rear of the chassis.

Karl

[Nick Jones]

1 hour ago, clive said:

I would use an angle grinder and cut it in a few places. Getting the new one in is a bit of a faff....

Bit of a faff......? on a swing axle car maybe. If talking Rotoflex it’s ALOT of a faff!

Nick

[iana]

Thanks for the suggestions, Ive tried to find a way to reuse the existing one, the passenger side threaded section is clean and useable, the drivers side is a lot worse but as concensus seems to be that replacing is a faff I will see if Ive got a suitable die and try and recut / clean the thread

[Pete Lewis]

when refitting , lock up hard the shoe adjusters , keep wheels lifted not hanging, , set the compensator lever to the angle in the WSM  fit cable to a nice neat fit 

then back of the adj cams to free up  should give you a good HB .

pete

[Clive]

10 hours ago, iana said:

Thanks for the suggestions, Ive tried to find a way to reuse the existing one, the passenger side threaded section is clean and useable, the drivers side is a lot worse but as concensus seems to be that replacing is a faff I will see if Ive got a suitable die and try and recut / clean the thread

Using a wire brush, ideally on a drill, will help. Then run a 1/4unf nut up the thread a few times with some oil. That should clean the threads up if you don't have a die. 

A good covering of your favourite anti-corrosion wax will mean future adjustments are easier.

[Gary Flinn]

I Remember swapping my Mk2 Vitesse Handbrake cable during it's rebuild with the Rear Tub off the car and upside down, it was easy😉

With the car built up and the right way round it is a pain!😖

 

[Colin Lindsay]

11 hours ago, iana said:

Thanks for the suggestions, Ive tried to find a way to reuse the existing one, the passenger side threaded section is clean and useable, the drivers side is a lot worse but as concensus seems to be that replacing is a faff I will see if Ive got a suitable die and try and recut / clean the thread

Might be a false economy, the first time you come to a junction on a steep hill and it snaps. Been there.... It's amazing how difficult is is to drive a car with no handbrake!

I'd buy a new one, grease it well before fitting, and it'll slide through the brackets eventually. Just persevere. It's fiddly but one less thing to worry about.

 

[Nick Jones]

Oh yeah..... and if buying a new one, make sure you check it carefully for length against the old one before fitting. Doing the job twice on a Roto car really spoils your day.  Guess how I know that......😤

[Pete Lewis]

Ha who remembers these from the olde days of MOT failures 

[Clive]

5 minutes ago, Pete Lewis said:

Ha who remembers these from the olde days of MOT failures 

Me! Last bought one 15 years ago? Never used, it may still be in the garage somewhere (if it wasn't deleted in the move a few years ago)

[daverclasper]

What is that?

[JohnD]

Threading the handbrake cable is difficuclt, or nu threading it.  Best to put a loopin in it and then slot it in:

 

[Clive]

17 minutes ago, daverclasper said:

What is that?

You put it on a handbrake cable, then do the screw up to take up any slack (puts a kink in the cable)

[Nick Jones]

Not legal now.  If they ever were?

[PeteH]

On 06/12/2019 at 14:19, Nick Jones said:

Not legal now.  If they ever were?

Those old enough to remember the "10year test ?". Will know that it was a case of the "as long as it works", it passed, approach taken by many of the early "testing Stations". I got a "pass" on a Ford van, whose chassis rails where stiffened with seasoned Oak timber driven into the cavity. It was a 7cwt van. But most days we had over a half ton in it at a guess!!. Pumping HMP grease into all the nipples was "mandatory" in order to take up as much "slack" as possible. A handful of porridge in the rear axle quietened it down. As for braking, it was by guess and by god, until they introduced the "tapley meter", so long as it pulled up straight(ish) it passed!. Father and myself, spent many "happy hours" "adjusting" the cable brakes on his Hillman. Getting them to pull up evenly, was more "art form" than engineering!.

[dougbgt6]

11 minutes ago, PeteH said:

I got a "pass" on a Ford van, whose chassis rails where stiffened with seasoned Oak timber driven into the cavity.

When the MOT first came out a colleague got a fail for wood worm on his wood modified chassis! (True! Honest.)

Doug

[Colin Lindsay]

21 minutes ago, PeteH said:

Pumping HMP grease into all the nipples was "mandatory" in order to take up as much "slack" as possible. A handful of porridge in the rear axle quietened it down. 

That Prison regime works every time!! HMP Porridge!

[JohnD]

I do know of a racer who holed his sump in practice, and competed with a wooden stick driven into the hole.    TRouble was, it fell out!

J.

[Peter Truman]

John that's how you fix large steel transfer water mains still in service depending on the size of the rust hole drive in the appropriately sized softwood tapered turned peg (I have one 4in dia I've kept since I retired & threatened to use it on my replacements if they bugger the system up) till it grips the ragged edges of the hole then seal any water leaking with smaller pegs till dry, then cut the surplus timber off and then plate over with a 8mm thick welded patch. We used to do around 180 repairs annually wet, ie a fully charged main up to 7ft dia, only around 5 reqd a mains shut down & dewatering, now the softies are lucky if they do 1/3 wet, they blame OHS their just wimps!! Next they'll want carpet in the excavation holes there've got safety shields what more do they want!

When I rebuilt my Mk2 Vitesse, after transferring the rotoflex brake guide bracket onto the old but very good convertible rear tub, the replacing of the cable was a b*** pain as I couldn't get the proper cable and ended up with one a couple of inches short?? (no Vitesse spares in Aus) so I had to extend the cable length at the wheel end by shortening the threaded length then using short threaded barrel nipples and a length of threaded bar to fit the square bolt into the yoke. I did both sides & I used lock nuts on the barrel nipple to ensure nothing will come loose. Looks good works well, handbrake appears to work better than original.

Peter T   

[JohnD]

Peter T,

I do not mean the following as in anyway personal!   But is that why England and Wales lose 3 BILLION LITRES A DAY from the water distribution system?  I know that it relies on ancient pipage, cast iron and installed under the rule of the Queen Empress Victoria, but isn't that a crap 'repair'?      No, I'd call it a bodge!   And the water authorities have been doing it since you were a lad!   No wonder the water system is in the state it is!

The Gas Board - or whoever has replaced it - is digging pits along the roads on my housing estate, to line those same ancient gas pipes with plastic.    The water pipes were similarly lined twenty (?) years ago.     The work has been going a week, and will not be completed until after Xmas, so its not cheap, but isn't that what should be done universally?   I imagine that all those pegs driven in over the years will properly bugger up the smooth threading of new pipe inside the old!

JOhn

[Peter Truman]

No this is in Australia, but 40 plus years ago was the same practice in UK.

its not a bodge a patch large enough to cover any eras less is welded on could be a half pipe repair once it’s dry. It’s only a bodge if it’s  found out, classic car parlance. 

after repair a stack of sacrificial anodes are attached to arrest any further corrosion if practical CP protection would be installed provided the pipe was fully welded no lead joints.

you should see a welded top hat section which is circumferential over a lead joint to stop future leaks from the lead joint.

cast iron pipes cannot be repaired a section has to be removed and replaced CI cracks and blows a section/piece out it doesn’t perforate.

thats today’s lesson

Peter T

 

[Colin Lindsay]

Can't they just push a plastic liner down the inside these days? It would be a lot less bother and the cast iron outer would help protect against errant drills etc... just a thought, ignoring tradition, current procedures and common sense of course.

[Clive]

Colin, he did mention up to 7' round! that is a huge pipe. 

I suspect if there were better repair techniques they would be used, but sometimes the old fashioned ways are still best. 

as an aside, having been involved in 3 full house refurbishments in the last few years it seems the modern ways mean everything is done with gripfil and builders foam. OK, not everything, and some new ideas are good, but so many skills are being left behind as the skill levels amongst many "tradesmen" drops. Still some really good ones out there, just harder to find. Modern techniques are often designed so less skilled workers can complete work. Probably applies everywhere....