Lotus Europa Community
Lotus Europa Forums => Garage => Topic started by: Alan K on Wednesday,April 06, 2016, 08:10:30 AM
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I'm just doing some work on my 1969 S2 and have noticed that the handbrake cable is rubbing against the cooling pipes running through the chassis, with the handbrake horseshoe adjuster sitting just slightly above the pipes (much lower than on my last S2). The looped cable enters the rear chassis plate through the two holes connected by a slot as it should, but as these are below the heater pipes, I'm scratching my head as to how to get the cable to the horseshoe if it is positioned as I think it should be, below the gear linkage, without rubbing against the pipes
Any suggestions greatly appreciated.
Thanks
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Having now done 2 of these recently, the horse shoe is best left one side up, one side down.
You cannot get both sides down.
The radiator pipes go to the front right one up left one down, as they stop the clear path for the hand brake cable.
Alex in Norfolk
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Thanks Alex,
Can you clarify please? OK with the radiator pipes, they are as is: right one straight through chassis, left one with double bend exiting chassis at front top right, but not clear what you mean by one side of the horseshoe up etc. Do you mean turn it so that it is vertical rather than horizontal?
Thanks
Alan
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The only way the horseshoe works is if it is vertical with one side up and one side down.
There just is not enough room in the tunnel for it to be horizontal.
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Is this the situation for the S2? The horseshoe for my TCS handbrake is horizontal. The weird thing was that the horseshoe was crimped over the cable that went to the brakes. I had a devil of a time getting it out when I took it out of my original frame and when I reassembled it in my current frame, I used zip ties to keep the cable in the horseshoe.
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(http://i301.photobucket.com/albums/nn56/rascott_2008/011%206.jpg) (http://s301.photobucket.com/user/rascott_2008/media/011%206.jpg.html)
mine ended up like this.
there is no conflict with the shifting gear.
bad picture from today...
(http://i301.photobucket.com/albums/nn56/rascott_2008/IMG_0237.jpg) (http://s301.photobucket.com/user/rascott_2008/media/IMG_0237.jpg.html)
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Many thanks for the helpful replies. The zip ties to hold the cable are a good idea. The horseshoe on mine has been beaten over to stop the cable coming out and possibly as a result of this, the whole thing appears to be very badly bent out of shape.
I'm determined to get to the bottom of the problem, but will first need to qualify as a contortionist. This is far more advanced than the usual Lotus position.
Thanks again.
Alan
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http://www.lotuseuropa.org/LotusForum/index.php?action=dlattach;topic=917.0;attach=4631;image
re:horseshoe/swingtree.........
i modified the handbrake horseshoe to use zipties rather than the crimp, to hold the cable in place.
my s2 doesn't have the hole in the back of the tunnel that will allow the horseshoe to be pulled out the back(w/cable)- just the slot.....
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Good job, rascott. When I did mine, I didn't do nearly the work that you did! I just wrapped a couple of good-sized zip ties around the horseshoe and trusted that they wouldn't fall off. In the end, it didn't matter since I never use my handbrake. I got out of the habit when I was advised at Bob Bondurant driving school that using them could warp the brake drum since only one shoe was used. Some disagree but it doesn't matter. My handbrake is useless anyway with the rear disc calipers I have!
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http://www.lotuseuropa.org/LotusForum/index.php?action=dlattach;topic=917.0;attach=4631;image
re:horseshoe/swingtree.........
i modified the handbrake horseshoe to use zipties rather than the crimp, to hold the cable in place.
my s2 doesn't have the hole in the back of the tunnel that will allow the horseshoe to be pulled out the back(w/cable)- just the slot.....
Easiest way to get the horseshoe out is to disconnect the cables from the drums, take out the 2 C clips holding the cables to the chassis where the spring rear attaches, and then the whole lot comes up through the hole in the tunnel.
You can then put the horseshoe in a vice to open and close the crimped ends to put a new rear cable in.
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i suspect 4129r has much more experience with the handbrake than i, but in my case(and only case) the cable housing prevented pulling the setup into the tunnel very far. had to uncrimp the horseshoe inside the tunnel.
then the cable could be pulled thru the slot(back of tunnel) and removed.
when i pull the drivetrain, i will modify that slot w/a hole, in case this needs to be done again........
http://www.lotuseuropa.org/LotusForum/index.php?action=dlattach;topic=917.0;attach=4622;image
my unit is 54/1846. must have been sometime after that the hole for the horseshoe was put in......
does yours have it?
hmmm- not a good way to copy pics- sorry
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I stared at mine for some time trying to decide if I really had to uncrimp the cable from the horseshoe to get it out and trying to figure out why they would crimp the horseshoe inside the backbone. I am occasionally guilty of missing the obvious so that may have been one of those times, but for the life of me, I couldn't figure out how to take the horseshoe out without uncrimping it in the backbone (and conversely how to crimp the brake in the horseshoe and then get the assy. installed.
Thankfully, I was able to get the car built without resolving those issues.
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My handbrake cable was a tight fit into the horseshoe, not fully crimped over. Enough to hold it in place. I can't see how you can install it pre-assembled on the cable. But am sure if you can someone one here will have done it!
dave
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I can't see how you can install it pre-assembled on the cable. But am sure if you can someone one here will have done it!
dave
See my post above.
Easy, just disconnect the rear of the cables and the whole lot comes up through the black hole.
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Opps I did miss that, the slot between cable mounting points in the chassis does have a hole in it which I forgot about which you can pull the cables through
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I removed the entire hand brake assembly. Hated dealing with it. I'm installing an electric one like on the new cars. Little motor bolted to rear shock brace or trans and cables run to the emergency brake arms. Flick of a switch does it. its all theory right now but I'll work out the details.
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Once you remove the C clips in the tunnel which hold the cable outers in place, the cables will pull back towards the engine until the inner cable is showing. This inner will then easily slide along to the central hole.
You then feed each outer in turn into the tunnel, and the whole lot pops out for easy working in a vice.
You need to undo from the horseshoe the spring from threaded bar to back hole, and both 1/2" nuts, to detach the bar/cable which comes from the reaction bar in the front plenum chamber.
Alex in Norfolk.
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This inner will then easily slide along to the central hole
ahh, the central hole.
this is what is missing on my unit........
richard
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This inner will then easily slide along to the central hole
ahh, the central hole.
this is what is missing on my unit........
richard
When looking from the engine side, the chassis on a TCS has a horizontal slot about 4" wide, and about 1/4" in depth. To each end of this horizontal slot is a round hole about 1/2" in diameter in which the hand brake cables fit. In the middle is a central hole about 1 1/4 in diameter which is big enough to feed the cables through from the centre of the chassis to the rear of the chassis Y. To one part of the central hole, there is a small hole to clip the spring to, which tensions the threaded bar (which passes through the horseshoe and has two 1/2" nuts to adjust the whole hand brake cable system) and cable to the reaction lever.
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better pic of brake cable slot......(?)
'69 s2
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I see the problem !
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Hole cutter or dremel then to make the hole?
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I've been over to Banks Engineering today (luckily not too far from me) and spoken to Richard to try to resolve the issue of the handbrake cable fouling the cooling pipes. He told me that the horseshoe should be horizontal and given this, it is inevitable that the handbrake cable will foul the cooling pipes as the entry point for the handbrake cable is below the pipes. He advises that although this is quite normal he sleeves the cooling pipes with short polyethylene pipe (1 1/4" ) on his cars, cutting a pipe down its length to retro fit) before securing with cable ties.
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I've been over to Banks Engineering today (luckily not too far from me) and spoken to Richard to try to resolve the issue of the handbrake cable fouling the cooling pipes. He told me that the horseshoe should be horizontal and given this, it is inevitable that the handbrake cable will foul the cooling pipes as the entry point for the handbrake cable is below the pipes. He advises that although this is quite normal he sleeves the cooling pipes with short polyethylene pipe (1 1/4" ) on his cars, cutting a pipe down its length to retro fit) before securing with cable ties.
Oh, that's a good idea Alan, thanks for posting. It should cut down friction if nothing else ?
Brian