Thread: Tech1, Parking Brake?

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Tech1, I would appreciate it if you would look at the picture here of my parking brake cable. I bought a Gennie shifter along with a nice chromed parking break which does look pretty much like the original Model-A parking brake/emergency brake and I am pleased with the shifter and the brake but it mounts to the right of the trans housing. When I had the rear rebuilt (new 3.55 gear) they graciously added new brake cables which were standard for a '74 Maverick, but the left one was too short so I ordered a cable kit from Gennie. After my immersion short course on rear drum brakes and studying an old Chilton's manual I got the cable on the left rear drum but now it has to cross over the trans tailshaft, mighty close to the front universal joint. My simple solution is to provide a standoff using a 5/16" eye bolt through a hole I drilled in a fin-like boss on top of the tail shaft. Obviously I don't want the brake cable to get caught up in the universal joint! there is now about 3" clearance between the cable and the front universal, is that enough? Will that pass a NSRA Tech inspection? If necessary I can add another eye bolt through the left rear 4-bar mount but that will distort the cable more to the left and I am trying to minimize the kinks in the cable. I chatted with John York in his shop this morning and he indicated you should be able to put quite a few bendy kinks in the brake cable outer sheath but I think it is best to minimize the kinks. Is the standoff too close to the u-joint? Anybody else have another solution as to how to mount the left brake cable over to the right of the transmission housing?

Don Shillady
Retired Scientist/teen rodder

"is that enough?"

That should work fine. If you want to be bulletproof on the driveshaft installation, install a driveshaft loop within 6" of the front joint. Lakewood makes a NHRA legal unit that you can bolt in or weld in.

When front u-joints break, the shaft doesn't always fall to the ground. They've been known to chew their way through the floor of the car and get the driver in the butt/hip area. Not pretty.

I'm not techie, but you better think about where your exhaust will be.

Tech1, Thanks, I forgot to say I ordered a loop from Speedway today more to hang another eyebolt on the outside of the loop, but also as Bob says, to keep it up away from the exhaust pipes. I also thought I might have to use the loop cross strap (1/4" steel) for additional supplemental exhaust hangers. Bob, what else can I do? What do folks do about this crossover cable? I guess Bob's comment can be incorporated if I attach another eye bolt near the top of the 4-bolt bracket as high as I can get it to stay above the exhust pipe? I mainly asked Tech1 because he can tell me if this will pass an NSRA Tech inspection.

Don Shillady
Retired Scientist/teen rodder

DennyW, surely you jest, I would still need an anchor to park on a hill! Seriously DennyW what else could/should I do?

Don Shillady
Retired Scientist/teen rodder

DennyW, I see what you mean about merging the cables into one, but the Gennie unit is set up for two cables coming to the same lever. I plan on calling them next Monday because surely other folks have this problem since the mechanism is on the right side of the transmission. I guess I will just use the loop Tech1 mentions and try to keep the cable high. As far as the angle of the cables they come out of the backing plates at an angle toward what was some central point on the original Maverick.

Don Shillady
Retired Scientist/teen rodder

Don, here's the list of 23 check points from NSRA so that you can get a leg up on it.....

http://www.nsra-usa.com/safety.htm

By the way, I disagree with #23 allowing lock washers on chassis components. As a matter of fact, lock washers should not be on any car or any component of any car. I've seen too many of them break, fall out and leave a loose fastener.

Originally posted by Don Shillady
DennyW, I see what you mean about merging the cables into one, but the Gennie unit is set up for two cables coming to the same lever.

The connecting block can be mounted further back, and then a single cable forward from there too.

Don, here's a pic of how I did my Wescott bodied 32.

It has the smaller Gennie Shifter E-Brake mounted left side of the trans tunnel.

Note the Gennie Shifter bracket that retains the front of the GS cable at top left of photo.
That starts the brake cables out right next to the floor and they stay up close to the underside of the floor till they get to the rear.
About a foot in front of the rear tires, the cables are still next to the floor and they break off there with one cable going down and to each side.

The cables run near the center of the car, just to the left of the driveshaft, but far enough away so there will be no problems - very much like the CAD pic Denny W posted.

Cables are retained by Adel clamps (flat sheet metal clamps with a rubber protective piece to protect hoses/wires/cables and they're held on by a single 1/4" bolt - button head allens work well under carpeted areas).

The cable are under the floor as mentioned and run over the top of the frame crossmembers.
There is room to thread them between floor and crossmembers.

That red cable running around the trans rear is for the B&M competition shifter.
I run a Gennie Shifter now - Swan model) cuz Sweetie wanted a shifter that was less confusing so she could drive the car.
You guessed it, she's driven the car one time since the shifter swap.
It's ok though, she knows it's available if she needs it, but she'd rather drive her pickup.

For those who may be curious as to why my 32's E-Brake cables are on the left, it was done to gain some room on the passenger side of the car.

Seems that most who use the smaller GS Vega type E-Brake handle mount them on the right side of the floor near the trans tunnel.
That takes away from the passengers foot room.
A passenger is going to move around and girls in particular like to pull their feet back, but the driver ain't going anywhere.

The E-Brake handle doesn't impinge on the driver side ergonomics and it's reasonably easy to operate.

Even with the brake set and the handle up at 30-45 degrees the handle still doesn't interfere with the driver.

Another view to show how the drivers foot fits in.
Size 10 shoe and it's sitting about 2" too far up on the gas pedal.

You can tell where the heel usually goes by the worn spot in the carpet.

The different colored carpet is due to swapping shifters.
It was cut from the same roll the original carpet was, but after six years or so the original stuff had faded.

I had to make a plywood ring to adapt the shifter/carpet finish ring.

One small word of advice if you're running a Gennie Shifter - don't let the upholstery guy glue the stainless carpet trim ring and boot to the carpet.
Trouble with that is, you may have to access the Gennie Shifter to make a friction adjustment.

When you get the Gennie Shifter the friction adjustment - that stops the shifter from moving too easily - feels about right.
A few hundred miles down the road it will be looser.

If I did another one of these I would increase the friction a little tighter right off the bat and then after the wear in period it would be about right.

One last pic.

This one shows the electric fuel pump and the heat shields, but the main thing I wanted to point out is how the cable goes through the 4 bar bracket - which is actually a ladder bar bracket - and into the brake drum backing plate.

Laying out the brake cables this way makes for very few bends and the bends that are there are mild ones.

The small white filter in the background is the gas filter.
It mounts to a single remote oil filter adapter.
The adapter had a new nipple turned on the lathe so as to adapt the smaller threads of the small filter to the adapter.
The gasket ring is the same size as a Fram PH8a filter.

Since then I've found a gas filter that's the same size, same threads as the Fram PH8a.
The PH8a is a very common filter and used on many Fords.

If you set up a fuel filter like this you'll need a shut off valve between filter and tank to make changing out the filter easy.


The four bar bracket I alluded to is an Alston ladder bar bracket with the top hole drilled a little further down and the top corner cut off.
That allowed the top 4 bar to come down in the rear and made for a level - as viewed from the side - 4 bar setup that's on the outside of the frame.

People tell me the car squats on a somewhat hard launch and I'm not getting optimum bite.
I'll agree with that, but I also note that if the throttle is not hit too hard, which flashes the converter the car will launch hard and in fact I've gotten a few looks from Sweetie when I failed to tell her what was coming.

I guess I'll find out in a few weeks how well it does.
We have a combined two day airplane/car show and 1/8 mile drag racing will be availalbe.
No times, just pick your (potential) victim and go from there....

C9, beautiful pictures of incredible high tech underpinnings with lots of neat filters! I have several comments. After a night's sleep I think you are right about having the cables come into the cable bracket parallel together rather than at an angle. Since I don't have my body on yet I will have to figure out something like some light duty cross members to put the clamps on. I wanted the type clamps (Adel) you used but have not found them yet locally, I will search for them now that I know they exist. I can use the driveshaft loop for one but may add enother to secure the cables to under the body which is completely flat until the rear punpkin area. I also note your headers are full headers while I bought the shorty type so I will just have a single header pipe on each side. Your picture shows that your air cooled trans pan is protected to some extent by the H-pipe. I recall seeing brake cables with a fairly large difference between the two lengths and a big swoopy gradual kink with the cables entering the bracket parallel as you show. It would seem necessary to have sturdy clamps as you show so when the cable is pulled up the compression is taken up by the cable cover. I should have thought of the small floor mounted hand brake for the added room by my "sweetie" but my original goal was to get my car to look a little like the original Model-A hand brake, although the one I got sure will take up comfort space on the passenger side. What is the drop on your front axle? With a 5" dropped front axle my stock trans pan is already at the same height of my engine pan and much lower will be fair game for the center ridge in my driveway. I think I will just get the B&M model which only holds one additional quart but is not so deep. I also purchased a 24" two-tube frame cooler (Derale from Summit) and it looks like the fender apron along the front OUTSIDE of the frame forms a partial scoop that would have access to fresh air and is wide enough for the cooler and air space. The running board apron narrows close to the frame but inside the '29 front fender there is a wide place for the cooler that will be hidden and because the '29 fender rounds down so fast (compared to the '30-'31) the cooler will be hidden from rocks, at least from the side. I need to get the body into the garage on some kind of lift setup because winter is coming eventually and I really think I need to put the floor-fenders on and off several times to fit things, but I wanted to get the chassis as finished as possible before fitting the floor-fenders. I added two wooden arches in the roof of my garage formed from laminated 2"x10" and that should hold the weight so I can use an engine hoist to pick up the floor-fenders and attach ropes to slowly lower it over the frame and check clearances as well as nibble out the hole for the trans and brake. Well C9, you really have a neat setup, thanks for the pictures, they are very helpful.

Don Shillady
Retired Scientistteen rodder

Originally posted by DennyW
Good luck on the street drags. Nice setup, and I like the heat shields. The shifter is a cool design. The colum looks pretty much like I want mine. I just wish I was going with you in mine.

October 1st and 2nd.

Kingman, Arizona airport on Route 66 3-4 miles east of town.

Go here for info.
http://www.kingmanairshow.com/

Have your speakers turned up....

Originally posted by Don Shillady
C9, beautiful pictures of incredible high tech underpinnings with lots of neat filters!

Not so high tech, home-made after a bit of thinking about it.



I wanted the type clamps (Adel) you used but have not found them yet locally,

Earl's carries them in colors, Total Performance carries them as well as they can be found at most airports that have an aircraft parts house. Also available through Spruce Specialties (an aircraft supply house with Website.)

What is the drop on your front axle? With a 5" dropped front axle my stock trans pan is already at the same height of my engine pan and much lower will be fair game for the center ridge in my driveway.
Don Shillady
Retired Scientistteen rodder

Axles on the 31 and 32 are SuperBell 4" drop. I'm not sure how you're measuring your drop, depending on the axle you have it could be a 4" drop. 5" drop axles can create scrub line problems, but most of that depends on the type of lower front shock mount you use.