Parking Brake cable routing

[SWhiteley]

I purchased a new parking / emergency brake cable and can't understand the routing.

On the left (drivers) side it goes under the lower trailing arm, via the small bracket welded onto the trailing arm. The right / passenger trailing arm has this bracket above the trailing arm. The old brake cable goes above the trailing arm, but this puts it in contact with the exhaust. Currently, a metal clamp and spacer holds it off the exhaust.

It also convolutes the brake cable. This all just doesn't seem right.

Should the brake cable go under the lower trailing arm, regardless of the bracket position?

This shows the cable routing under the exhaust and over the trailing arm:


This is the left cable, disconnected from the brake (lower right) and would go under the trailing arm:

[124JOE]

ya i had that problem sortof
it does go in the bracket on the lower arm then straight into the caliper

the other brackets are also for holding the calbe.i used the drivers side.
but on the pass side i ran it above the hole and over the exhaust"it still burned"

[dantye]

ya i had that problem sortof
it does go in the bracket on the lower arm then straight into the caliper

the other brackets are also for holding the calbe.i used the drivers side.
but on the pass side i ran it above the hole and over the exhaust"it still burned"

My 31 year old e-brake cable was really beat up and sticky, and new ones are quite reasonable, so I have replaced it.
I agree there seems no way short of modifying the exhaust system to create reliable physical separation between that pipe and the cable, so I rolled two layers of tough foil-backed polly padding around that section of the cable, then wound a couple of layers of foil duct tape around that. It shouldn't rattle or burn through, but we will see ...

[redcars]

If your exhast is up tight to the car as it came from the factory the parkig brake cable clears the exhast with room to spare. On my 81 Spider this is the case, but on my 82 Spider the PO had the cat replaced with a universal unit and the exhast was not supported except at the rear. By the time I got it it had broken up the exhast and bent the pipe from the engine. The exhast on the 82 Spider does rub on the parking brake cable. I need to bend the exhast back up so that I can get the exhast back up where it belongs and then it will clear the parking brake cable OK.

[baltobernie]

A muffler shop can supply you with a short piece of braided fabric heat shield that will slide over the cable prior to installation. I've not seen this advertised in our vendors catalogs. Maybe one of them should offer it! (Or include it with the cable.)

[124JOE]

my car is a 78 and a cal cal also
and this falls into play because the floor pan is setup for the cat
its like 6"over and so the path is different and the hangers are wrong for me
as i have aftermarket headder a stock mid with a anza muff

[dantye]

If your exhast is up tight to the car as it came from the factory the parkig brake cable clears the exhast with room to spare. On my 81 Spider this is the case, but on my 82 Spider the PO had the cat replaced with a universal unit and the exhast was not supported except at the rear. By the time I got it it had broken up the exhast and bent the pipe from the engine. The exhast on the 82 Spider does rub on the parking brake cable. I need to bend the exhast back up so that I can get the exhast back up where it belongs and then it will clear the parking brake cable OK.

After reading your post, I did some more checking, and I believe the interference I am experiencing was caused when my rear muffler was installed: I think the front pipe on it is pushing the center resonator section down because one pipe was not trimmed or inserted far enough into the other before they were clamped. This mal-fit also appears to cause a clearance issue between the front pipe of the muffler and the Panard rod. I did install stronger than stock support springs on the Cat, but, while an improvement, it did not create the needed separation at either point. I will try to find a better muffler shop when it warms up a bit here. [edited - front, NOT rear pipe.]

[Fi8spider]

SWhiteley, it looks like you might need a pinion seal too either that or you have something going on back there on that diff housing.

Bit of a pain as the diff crown wheel and pinion shaft have to have the preloads done again once you disturb the front pinion nut. Which is a reason for many a 124 rear end failure, incorrect preload settings in the diff.

Good work on the hand brake insulation, I did the same on mine, well I should say my exhaust mechanic did it the same but he used some sort of insulation that they use to protect brake parts from hot turbo's. Silver on one side and fiberous on the other. Wrapped it with wire he did, nice job.

Sorry for the slight off topic.

[124JOE]

no thats good stuff i may need a seal also

[seabeelt]

Can you explain the pre-loads. I have to do the seal on mine as well

[giuliot60]

My 81's exhaust pipe was also hitting my panhard. I put new springs (Home Depot screen door springs) on and it cured the problem. Csaba suggested adding an extra support, a little before the rear axle.

I need to check my cable as well, but I think it just clears it.