Parking brake cable/brackets installation

Tonight we worked on parking brake cable paths.... left hand side of the car routing works out rather nicely, but the left hand side is a bit of a challenge!!!

I had removed my parking brake cables years back, when I found them being mangled by the exhaust...when suspension was full on or off....(ie no load, up in the air), so I have only a partial idea of how they were run at that time.....I need youse guys to help fill in the blanks, but also, take a look at how I have run these, or propose to do so....and provide feedback!

I do not recall, but the way I ran them here has them BOTH going up and over the lower frame rail. I can't say if this was the way they were, but the paths to the parking brake mechanisms is pretty straight.....without kinks perhaps is a better way to say it!

I'll start with the LH side, since it is the shortest, and easiest to route!

View from top, angled from the rear:


Plenty of room in front of muffler and over the top of the inlet pipe:



View of both cables from bottom rear view:


(That brownish looking stain on the bottom frame rail, to the rear of the cables, was caused by a piece of the rubber that I used for muffler hangers, when I put a thin piece of it on top of my jackstands to prevent damaging the paint.....well the paint is intact, but it's color is now off!!! Oops!)

View of both from center rear towards left:



Same view from camera elevation a couple of inches lower, gives you a good idea of LH cable route from frame at front to where it curves up and over the top of the frame rail:



Now let's move over to the problem side. View from LH side over towards the right. You can again see that there is space in front of the muffler and above the inlet pipe:



Here is the potential problem area.... over the top of the lower frame rail, under the shifter, across the top of the center of the frame crossmember, and out to the third picture above (under the bellhousing and lower left chassis rail:


I fear the shifter rod getting tangled with the cable housing! I want to come up with some means to use the second hole from the right in this picture to pull the cable housing down such that it stays away from the shift linkage. A through bolt and a metal hook of sorts that would hold up to the massive pressures exhibited by a parking brake cable!


What I would like to understand, is how are your cables running? Do you have interference issues, non-operational issues.....other problems?????

I know there is at least one hook for the RH cable on the front of the lower chassis crossmember, but I cannot say that it should be used........it would suggest a much more complicated path for the cable to run....such that contact with the starter cable and tigher bends are of concern!

I fab'd up this parking brake cable from an old Pantera cable that I bought at a swap meet. I had it the same length as my original, but the routing was not working....and when I tried to get a new cable made, in order to get the small brass housing ends off, the shop cut the cable in half. Only after he made the new one did I realize that I had asked for it to be made too long..... I could never get muffler clearance I was happy with, nor could I get the cables to stop pulling the parking brake pads onto the brake rotor! So, I took the new cable off too...... Now I use the pieces of the modified Pantera cable to show how it all would look! I will need to make a new cable about an inch longer in length from what I previously specified my cable length was! The housing lengths seem OK. We'll see!

One last question: How are your front parking brake cables (up to the handle in the cabin) secured to the chassis, to keep them from flopping about and getting hung up on things??????

Ciao!
Steve

Steve,
My cable goes down to the little wheel on the bottom of the underbody in front. It turns around the wheel and goes back to the other wheel and linkage that has a spring on it near the drivers side rear wheel. From there it splits to two cables, they continue horizontally toward the rear, each turning in the direction of the rear brakes. They then turn up to the emergency brake levers giving the levers a straight pull.
The cables are tied to the rear cross-member. If you could look in plan view the curves are very gentle from the rear link near the brake spring to the levers.
In side view they run horizontally from the front of the car and rise to the brakes.

Steve, maybe its a trick of the light in the photo, but that one unsupported aeroquip brake hose looks AWFULLY close to the inner (?) right side u-joint! I certainly would tie-wrap or otherwise reangle the hose back against the frame rail or something.... You had a fitting erode away like this years ago, I think.
The 'mystery' bracket at the PCNC meeting may be a csble support from a GT-5 or GT5-S Pantera with the big 3-piston rear calipers & e-brakes very similar in design to your 'Goose except much larger. Take a look at Brian Bernard's '87 when you get a chance.

Jack,

Yes, that is a trick picture.....the braided hose actually is going rearwards to the caliper, away from that massive spinning u-joint! In reality, there is lots of clearance. It is the hard lines that loop up, to the inside, and then down, that you must watch for!!! I had worn one of them through, or a PO had done so......and I just popped the weakened line one day when I decided to do a "brake system test"......ooops!

Thanks!
Steve

Just a FYI, I was able to order a new parking brake cable from Wilkinson Pantera. Its only for the rear portion of the parking brake.

Ben,

That's great!!!!

It is rare that an "off the shelf" part actually fits a Goose......

Steve's cables do not work for my car.....

"Your mileage may vary!"
Steve

Where did you get your cables for the goose.

Ben,

I am custom making my cables due to the odd config that was used with my 3 piston Fiat-Girling calipers..... I have had no one chime in and say that they have the little "extensions" that are on my car.....and the length becomes critical.

I bought bulk metric material from a place that escapes my memory at the moment but they do motorcycle stuff and are in LA I believe..... it will come to me and I will post you with it......

Hoping to see Denis tomorrow or Sunday!
Steve

Hi Steve, can you explain the differences in the 3 piston Fiat-Girling calipers vs the other type. I think I may also have the three piston variety. Does it take a different type of fitting on the brake cables. Ben

Ben,

Most "normal" rear calipers are aluminum "two pot" (piston) calipers, by Girling. Just like the front ones, only smaller. Once piece body.

The more rare Fiat-Girling units are cast iron, have three pistons, and say "Fiat-Girling" right on the casting.

I guess I didn't post any pictures that I can recall.....

They have the same parking brake mechanism for the most part, but it seems like they have a little extension on the lever as seen way back in the top of this thread. (5th pic down.) Some guys may have this, some don't...and I cannot tell you if they should or shouldn't! They also appear to cause the cable to "offset" just a hair too..perhaps 3-4mm.

What this spacer or extension or offset thingy does to the cable besides require a slightly longer cable, is reduce the travel of the activator arm. This shouldn't be a big deal as long as your cables are adjusted properly, and are not forcing the parking brake assy one way or the other too badly....something that occurs easily!!!!! Not the greatest system in the world....but it seems to hold the car when it works....NOT an emergency brake by any means!

I have still not finalized the routing of the cables yet on my car.....the above posts were possibilities, and it seems like while the early cars got one routing....some of the later cars got the "other routing" .....meaning that you should be able to route them however you need them so that they do not contact bad things.....like halfshaft axles and exhaust components!!!

If it turns out you do have the cast iron calipers, they take a very common "Jag" type pad, and seals and pistons are still available from Girling sources.

Ciao!
Steve

Just to let you know I got some brackets for the parking brake from Wilkinson pantera

Ben,

Were you missing those brackets that connect the caliper to the cable jacketing? Like the one that I lost way back in my first post on this subject?

Steve

Yes mine were missing and I was able to locate a set from Steve Wilkinson. Apparently the brackets from a GT5 also fit the Mangusta

Alright, air cleaner project is behind me for the moment....looking around the garage...and working on my mental list of stuff to do on the car to "get it ready" ...not to mention...get it off of my mental list before I go mental!!

Back to the parking brake situation!
I'm making my main rear cable 88" center to center of the end clevis holes.... I have a small roll of 3mm 17 strand cable....so...time to do it!

One of the guys here made me up a set of the end hoozits in brass just like the originals. They worked fantastic!

I got this amazing piece of toolage, from a friend for helping sell all of his various car collection. This is a swaging tool for aircraft cables...and anything else that may use a cable with a ball or sleeve type end.


It took a little bit to get it working right, as it is air powered, and it has been sitting around for a good part of 2 decades! Some air tool oil and patience and eventually it started rat-tat-tatting away!

Here is a pic of the progressive dies I used and the end result. I started with the die on the right and reduced the OD of the cable end, and then worked it in the smaller die on the left, to finish it off!



I routed the L & R cable ends as illustrated in above entries and fixed up the main cable from the front (it had jumped off of the pulleys).

The last couple things I need to address are fabbing up a hooked affair to hold the RH cable down out of the shifter linkage, and decide what to do for a helper spring on the main activation lever at the rear, on the underside of the chassis.

A question: Do you have some sort of spring holding this activator lever towards the rear to assist the cable returning to the "rest" position???? Where does it connect to??? (I have no holes.....in any brackets or the lever!

I am also considering some means to sheath the front cable such that it won't get hung up on road stuff...as currently, it just flaps around.........

Any really cool ideas on this one??????

Ciao!
Steve

OK, cleaning up small stuff here....but big stuff that has been big nagging on me to finish for years!

Fabbed up a hook for keep the RH cable out of the shifter for the up and over the frame lower rail route. The cables could get into the mufflers on ally-ooops on the roadways, where you come up off of the road...but it will be a momentary thing...but running them under the mufflers was less of an option where the cables would be in constant contact with every bump an axle hit! The lesser of two weevils!

Used some scrap 16 guage steel from a project that I was working on for work... and came up with this.


Looking around under the chassis revealed a great spot that this will mount on. The inner a-arm mounting bolt!!



Now the RH cable looks like this at rest:


LH cable looks like this only a little better after I took the picture. Some upwards convincing of that retaining bracket out at the caliper, and loosening the caliper bolt and rotating the bracket a tad, got the cable out of the front of the muffler! AND yes, I did tighten the bolt down....really good!!!



I hit the new bracket with some primer and paint, and will mount that up tomorrow or Sat once it cures real well!

What remains is to play with the adjustment to relax the parking brake mechanisms, and then someday..... deal with the long primary cable....to do something else with it....rather than use it as fishing line for road garp!!!

Ciao!
Steve

Steve...

Looks good! Doesn't look like the cable will come in contact with anything. Just a thought, it's kinda hard to tell in the photos, but will the heat from the mufflers melt the coating on the cable?

Thanks for the photos
Curt

Curt,

I think as long as I drive triple digits....the heat should never catch up with the cables!!!

I guess it is possible, but this is the path where these cables ran originally, either just in front at the top or the bottom of the muffler cans. They typically were melted, smashed, crushed, and just looked pretty bad all the time.....

SO, we'll see how this all plays out!

Sort of a works in progress!!!! Every Mangusta is a prototype....

Ciao!
Steve

Maybe wrap some of that header insolation tape around the cable? Might help with the melting...and you not having to replace the cable again. Just a thought?