I have a question for anyone who has reshaped or bent a Hand brake Backwards, or towards the rear of the car for a speedster. I know there are many threads here about bending sideways, but I would like to bend mine back. Easy enough to do with a torch once I take it out and then readjust the rod mechanism. I am just wondering if anyone here has actually done it and their experience if they did .
that should be "rear OF the car " Opps!
Dan,
Rather than bending it back, why not relocate it? Check out this article...looks very simple with only minimal fabrication.
http://www.nwvs.org/Technical/MTFCA/Articles/1302SpeedsterHandBrake.pdf
A Superior machinist in the Long Beach club is casting repros of the extension handle. Don't when they'll be available or how.
heat the brake lever and the brake rod at the same location and bend it which ever way you want. Don't heat the brake rod to the point of melting it. The heated rod you will have to work with a little in forming the way you want. I have bend one brake lever and rod in two places and worked out fine.
I relocated it like the other Gary White posted. Works great. Looks good.
Good idea to relocate it but I can't because my Ruxtell shifter is on the outside . I took the assemble off today and am leaving to go borrow my dad's torch to bend it .
See also Lang's hand brake extension at: http://www.modeltford.com/item/A-HBEX.aspx
Respectfully submitted,
Hap l9l5 cut off
My uncle bent his back with a torch and dumb luck that it worked. his is mounted inside the body on his speedster.
Good Ideas and suggestions all around . Hap, The hand brake extension looks like it would work, but at $150 Bucks, I would make my own. Also, as you don't see many of them from "Back in the day", my guess would be they didn't work so well or were more of a gimmick.
I heated mine up and bent it back 5 inches or so, enough to give better clearance from the high low pedal and make it easier to grab. I also replaced the taper pin with a new one which I left long , and put a 1/16 th cotter pin in the small end, and a 3/32 hole in the other to hook an auxiliary spring in for safety. I also dressed up my pawl using my dremel tool and a grinding bit. I'll put it in tomorrow and we will see how good it fits...should be much better.
I have always put a double bend in mine. The bottom one to kick the handle back goes just above the pawl. The second one just below the grab-handle to bring the handle back up to straight makes it easier to grab onto. Most of the times I have heated them and bent them in the car to get the fit just right.
BUT! Be very careful not to set anything on fire that you do not intend to have a romantic dinner by. Several pieces of scrap sheet steel will help. Use lots of coverage and multiple layers to protect everything behind the handle including wiring, oil drips, wood framing, paint, etc.
Also make sure that no part of the handle can hit the seat, pinch your hand or fingers against any body parts (especially watch the top of the handle near the dash and your thumb on the top of the handle don't ask me how I learned this), and has adequate room for future adjustment needs.
Drive carefully, and enjoy, W2