gr8vet
Well-known member
I finally managed to fix my parking brake on the 82. I re-connected the broken cable and hey, it pulled up and stopped the car, then would not release! 
Helpful things I discovered.
The ZIP products kit is a great kit. $60
The $9.00 tool is not a must, but worth the $9.00
I am assuming that the brakes have not worked for maybe 20 years, good Lord I have never seen so much crap, dust, dirt, etc in such a small area.
Cleaned it all up.
Re-used the existing brake shoes.
Had to cut out the upper portion of the dust shields to remove, clean and paint.
You can find one article about changing the brakes from Vette Magazine I think. I love their pictorial, there was a couple of those "and a miracle occurs" cause it was not as easy as they portrayed.
I attempted with a lot of cussing to first get the side springs attached. Tried dental Floss to hold the pin in and thread the spring and cap together, as soon as pliers or a screw driver touches the dental floss the spring becomes a projectile!. If you kinda sandwich everything in and hold the cap with the "tool", and then use needle nose to then hold the cap, remove the screwdriver tool, grab the pin and pull out into cap with another set off pliers. The trick, do not try to twist the pin, take the other pair of pliers and twist the cap. Yes, you have to hold it with the screw driver, then swap to pliers, then grab another set of pliers. Oh yea, while doing all of this you have to take your other hand and hold the pin in place from the back of the dust shield. I also did all of this with the shoes swung out a bit working around the spindle, not through that flipping 3/8" hole. The rear pin goes in before the dust shield and is held loosely in place by the trailing arm. This one was the biggest pain.
Once both side spring sets are in, I simply swung the upper spring in, grab it with the tool, and pull like hell, then the lower one, then popped in the adjustment mechanism at the bottom. All the time pulling the shoes out from behind the spindles.
Once all together, I hung the rotors back on, with nuts, and tightened the adjustment screw until the shoes bottomed out on the inside of the rotor. Backed off 8 clicks. Do both sides. Now pull up your brake handle 3 clicks and tighten the cable until you can feel a drag on the brakes.
Dats it.
Clean up, removal, took about an hour.
First side of install took about an hour, second side took less than 15 minutes, another 15 to adjust cable.
I have heard others say their brakes would not hold car. I reused the old shoes, did not have the rotors turned, and I can pull handle at speed and lock up rear tires. (I could do some drifting now! Wahoo!)
If you venture into this fix, let me know and I'll be happy to help you through. I'll try to get some pics one day when I do another one.
With another set of hands, it may have been a bit easier, maybe.
Beer would also make things better, I am sure!
Later
tt
Helpful things I discovered.
The ZIP products kit is a great kit. $60
The $9.00 tool is not a must, but worth the $9.00
I am assuming that the brakes have not worked for maybe 20 years, good Lord I have never seen so much crap, dust, dirt, etc in such a small area.
Cleaned it all up.
Re-used the existing brake shoes.
Had to cut out the upper portion of the dust shields to remove, clean and paint.
You can find one article about changing the brakes from Vette Magazine I think. I love their pictorial, there was a couple of those "and a miracle occurs" cause it was not as easy as they portrayed.
I attempted with a lot of cussing to first get the side springs attached. Tried dental Floss to hold the pin in and thread the spring and cap together, as soon as pliers or a screw driver touches the dental floss the spring becomes a projectile!. If you kinda sandwich everything in and hold the cap with the "tool", and then use needle nose to then hold the cap, remove the screwdriver tool, grab the pin and pull out into cap with another set off pliers. The trick, do not try to twist the pin, take the other pair of pliers and twist the cap. Yes, you have to hold it with the screw driver, then swap to pliers, then grab another set of pliers. Oh yea, while doing all of this you have to take your other hand and hold the pin in place from the back of the dust shield. I also did all of this with the shoes swung out a bit working around the spindle, not through that flipping 3/8" hole. The rear pin goes in before the dust shield and is held loosely in place by the trailing arm. This one was the biggest pain.
Once both side spring sets are in, I simply swung the upper spring in, grab it with the tool, and pull like hell, then the lower one, then popped in the adjustment mechanism at the bottom. All the time pulling the shoes out from behind the spindles.
Once all together, I hung the rotors back on, with nuts, and tightened the adjustment screw until the shoes bottomed out on the inside of the rotor. Backed off 8 clicks. Do both sides. Now pull up your brake handle 3 clicks and tighten the cable until you can feel a drag on the brakes.
Dats it.
Clean up, removal, took about an hour.
First side of install took about an hour, second side took less than 15 minutes, another 15 to adjust cable.
I have heard others say their brakes would not hold car. I reused the old shoes, did not have the rotors turned, and I can pull handle at speed and lock up rear tires. (I could do some drifting now! Wahoo!)
If you venture into this fix, let me know and I'll be happy to help you through. I'll try to get some pics one day when I do another one.
With another set of hands, it may have been a bit easier, maybe.
Beer would also make things better, I am sure!
Later
tt
