73Corvette

O4 Vert, MN6, I NEVER use the parking brake here...we live in the flatlands of Oklahoma... but, on our trip in Arkansas there were a couple of times it would have been REAL handy to have had a PARKING BRAKE that worked... our car had about 29k miles on it during the trip...
SO... when we got home I decided to fix it...
The parking brake works like an old style drum brake... actually it IS a tiny version of drum brakes...
There are two clips that are shoved over the studs,

supposedly they were used to hold the rotors in place during assembly and they are NOT needed when reinstalling the rotors... (the wheel and lug nuts will hold the rotor in place.) I destroyed mine getting them off, but I didn't care, I knew I wasn't putting them back on anyhow... if your super **** you can get new ones and put them back on... After removing the clips, I took the 10mm bolt out that holds the brake line bracket on the inside of the wheel well...

so I could move the line without worrying about breaking it... just made it a little simpler..
Then you need to take the TWO bolts that hold the BRAKE CALIPER BRACKET in place ( they are 13/16 I think) and they ARE TIGHT...125 FT LBS

It is NOT required to remove the brake line... I took the whole caliper and Zip Tied it on top of the upper arm so it wouldn't fall and get in the way and/or break the brake line..
Some tapping all around the outside edge and lightly tapping around the back side of the rotor freed it up so I could gently work them off...
then you can see the star tensioner that spreads the pads for the parking brake.

You turn the tensioner to lengthen it and spread the pads out till you can barely get the rotor to slip back over them... it's just turn a little and try the rotor... turn some more and try the rotor... once it WON'T go on, you can back it off till it WILL go on and call it good... rotor on, put the caliper and bracket back in place and LOCTITE and TORQUE the bolts to 125#... then put the brake line bracket back in place with the 10mm bolt... LEAVE off the star thingys... and replace wheel.. MAKE SURE your BRAKE HANDLE IS IN THE OFFFFFFF position when doing your procedure... I left the car jacked up, started it, and put it in 1st gear, revved it a bit and slipped it out of gear... with the wheels still turning I applied the PARKING BRAKE to make sure it was working and then released it and put in gear again to make sure it was RELEASING... PERFECT... works great now... stops the handle at about a 45 degree and releases with less than an inch of downward travel...

Took about 2 hours... total.. and I didn't hurry... of course the first side was the first time I have done this, so it took longer than the second side did... very easy DIY.
I at least HAVE a PARKING BRAKE now, even if I don't use it till our next trip to some place that isn't HOT and FLAT..
Good luck.... git r done

Vetteman Jack

Thanks for doing the writeup. Nice job.