Beck TD, Part 75: Remediating the Handbrake

 Here in the US we've always called it the "emergency brake" or "parking brake," but in 1950's Great Britain it was just the "handbrake." Just another brake, with a ratcheting lock that you had to explicitly engage if you wanted to use it as a parking brake. On Beck TD, it was the only part of the braking system that I hadn't renewed, and it was time.

In Part 70, when I installed that new-to-me rear axle from an MGA, I needed a way to route the handbrake cables to the hubs, and I made this less than perfect solution:

It worked, but the routing wasn't conducive to clean releases. After I caught a brake dragging because the worn cable had not fully released, I broke down and ordered a new set of cables. While waiting for those to arrive, I made measurements and a couple of prototypes of a different style that would route in front of my expensive Koni tube shock conversion, instead of behind. Once I felt I was close to a solution, I made a rough sketch so I could make a pair that matched.

I cut some material to match (3/16" thick steel, 1.25" wide) and drilled the holes while the material was still flat.

Then I moved to the 20-ton press and my homemade bending jig, and made the bends, matching by eye to the prototype.

One small problem was that the MG bracket where I was mounting this wanted 1.375" wide stock, which I didn't have. My solution, once the brackets were bent. was to build up the back side with beads of weld.

After cleaning up the weld a bit on the belt sander, I gave it a try and pronounced it good.

A couple of coats of paint, and then it all went together nicely. That cable routing is not optimal, but it's better and seems to work fine. I can see that if I could twist the brackets in a different direction on each side, I could get a straighter pull, but I didn't see a way to do that with my current equipment.

Nice to have that sorted. Now, every part of the braking system has been renewed - some times more than once! Now to go practice handbrake turns to impress my friends...

Continue on to Part 76....