Handbrake

[neil-yaj396]

The travel on my handbrake increased suddenly on a hill start back just before Christmas. I naturally suspected the cable and have just got round to buying one.

However it turns out it wasn't the handbrake cable afterall. The collar that retains the end of the cable has broken off the body of the caliper, hence the cable has nothing to work against. Bit of a design fault really, albeit that the Betas were some of the very first cars with all round discs (the Fulvia has them but with the little drum for the handbrake).

If the sun hadn't been out today I'd have sent it to the local garage, and with the best will in the world would have suspected them of breaking off the collar while removing the cable!

Anyway is this repairable or is the caliper a write off?

[fay66]

The travel on my handbrake increased suddenly on a hill start back just before Christmas. I naturally suspected the cable and have just got round to buying one.

However it turns out it wasn't the handbrake cable afterall. The collar that retains the end of the cable has broken off the body of the caliper, hence the cable has nothing to work against. Bit of a design fault really, albeit that the Betas were some of the very first cars with all round discs (the Fulvia has them but with the little drum for the handbrake).

If the sun hadn't been out today I'd have sent it to the local garage, and with the best will in the world would have suspected them of breaking off the collar while removing the cable!

Anyway is this repairable or is the caliper a write off?

Neil,
Sorry to be pedantic but series 1 Fulvia's with Dunlop brakes had a seperate set of pads in the rear caliper,  but sorry to hear of your problem, hope it doesn't prove too expensive.

Brian
8227

[neil-yaj396]

No Brian, I think I have found some reasonable second hand calipers. Didn't know the S1's had a disc handbrake. Out of interest why go back to drums? I take it the Dunlop caliper is problematic?

[fay66]

No Brian, I think I have found some reasonable second hand calipers. Didn't know the S1's had a disc handbrake. Out of interest why go back to drums? I take it the Dunlop caliper is problematic?

Neil pleased your sorted, Dunlop brakes have a pretty fearsome reputation of seizing and not being very good, but (hope I'm not tempting providence!) in the 12 years I've been running "Fay" and over 20,000 miles I've never had a problem, but and it's a big but, they must be kept well maintained.
I've been over the Alps and the Pyrenees and many thousands of miles on motorways running at 70mph with no problems in stopping, however I do leave a bigger gap between me and the next car, until some idiot jumps into it.

Why change, Fiat & Cost cutting ? I hate to think what the Dunlops cost to manufacture.
Brian 8227

[neil-yaj396]

The Dunlop caliper is certainly far more complicated than the Beta one. A lot of advanced designs in the 60's fell by the wayside because they needed a lot of maintainance. My Grandfather used to be constantly greasing and fettling his cars but once cars started to be bought by non enthusiasts as day to day transport low maintainance became a given and the car companies were forced to keep it simple.
Lancias have enjoyed the priviledge of being generally bought by enthusiasts.

[fay66]

The Dunlop caliper is certainly far more complicated than the Beta one. A lot of advanced designs in the 60's fell by the wayside because they needed a lot of maintainance. My Grandfather used to be constantly greasing and fettling his cars but once cars started to be bought by non enthusiasts as day to day transport low maintainance became a given and the car companies were forced to keep it simple.
Lancias have enjoyed the priviledge of being generally bought by enthusiasts.

I remember those days well,  besides my own cars I used to service & maintain quite a few cars on the side to earn extra to keep mine going, but I used to enjoy it as cars were so much simpler, and what really helped was having a decent size garage with a pit and an RSJ for slinging engines in & out, all work was for friends or by recommendation, and I got changing Vauxhall Viva clutches down to a fine art as most cars of that era needed the clutches replacing after about 30,000 miles, and they were all that nasty asbestos stuff 
Brian
8227

[neil-yaj396]

Finally got a working handbrake! (I was dreading any steep hill starts on the GNW!)

Via a bit of confusion re the handedness I ended up with two calipers (£30 each then a pair on eBay for £25 within weeks!!). Anyway I had them both reconned at BigRed for £120 and finally replaced the broken off side caliper today, along with new pads on both sides.

Only hiccough was that the finish around the inlet was a bit lumpy so I couldn't get a seal. Took it all off and went over the area with a file and then abrasive paper after filing the port with some rag. Still had a tiny bit of seepage but this appears to have cleared up after a test drive and still seems OK this morning.

So hopefully just a wash and polish before the long drive to the LMC Weekend. Hope to see some of you there.

[the.cern]

Glad to hear its all done and working as intended. Always a relief.

On my first car, a 1956 Morris Minor, the handbrake lever assembly parted company with with the top of the transmission tunnel and banged on the roof, an understatement to say that I was surprised. However, a couple of pop rivets later all was well until the thing finally expired with terminal rust problems.

Compared with the Appia that car was appalling, I daresay there was a cost difference, but all the same ....

A Rover 90 of mine had much better build quality, but the handbrake on that suffered from the classic aluminium/steel interaction and had to be stripped and re-assembled every 8 months or so !!!


                      Andy