Should one be able to lock up the rear wheels with a properly adjusted emergency brake on a '65? Also it seems that there is more braking effectiveness when rolling backward than forward in my car. Why would that be?

 

Opinions vary - but I don't think you're gonna grab a patch of asphalt with the E-brake....it'll slow you down and hold the car on a hill if properly adjusted. When you pull that handle you don't have the advantage of the 'force multiplier' of hydraulics working for you as when pressing the brake pedal...its muscle power and levers..

 

May be an advantage of drum brakes vs disk but I can lock them up on my 64.

 

My '62 can also be brought to a pretty quick stop with the emergency brake . . . although it's not the handiest to apply. It doesn't actually "lock 'em up", but it definitely will stop the car.

 

The 65-82 disc brake parking system was just that a parking lock, now I have used them to slow down a slow rolling car BUT the system has to be in working order and properly adjusted. If you are not familiar with the system it is just a mini drum brake setup, using the rotor hat as the drum. If this car is new to you or you know the system is original( rotors still riveted on) chances are it needs attention. The parts were steel and rusted up pretty quickly on these cars, the levers froze and the springs broke often allowing some type of action rolling backward but nothing forward. I have rebuilt 100's of them and they will work. I adjusted my own 69 brakes to hold the car on a 30* incline but found they do move a little and had to back them off so they wouldn't drag and overheat. If you rebuild them you should check the fit of the new SS parts, I don't care where you buy them as I got them from all the direct suppliers, they need to be fit. Also you will probably need new cables if original since once the shoes lock up and the brakes applied the cable will stretch out. A good time to rebuild them is when you do the rear bearings. Good luck, if you have any questions I think my old how-to threads are still here or contact me directly and I'll get you the link.

 

E - brake/1st gear/ pretty sure car won't roll.

 

There is a procedure in the '65 Corvette Shop Manual Supplement and later CSMs to adjust the parking brake. I suspect that many C2/3s with disk brakes have NEVER had this done.

My '88 MBZ 190E 2.6 has the exact same design parking brake and adjustment procedure as the C2/3 system. Over the years the parking brake lost effectiveness, I suspect due to lining glaze, and I was able to restore proper operation by dragging the parking brake for a few seconds, which knocked off the glaze and restored effectiveness.

However, after several of these procedures it got to the point where I pulled the handle to the limit and the parking brake would not hold on a slight grade.

So I finally went through the adjustment procedure, and it worked like new and was effective holding the car even on a 15 percent grade, which is about as steep as you will ever see on a public road.

Duke

 

Best answer.

 

Hi Gary
Thanks for this response. Yes I am familiar with the drum/rotor design of my '65 and the e-brakes were recently rebuilt along with the rest of the trailing arm assemblies. In setting up the e-brakes, I have followed the parking brake adjustment procedures as outlined in the Service Manual and find that the brakes will slow the car down while rolling and will hold the car on a hill (not sure of the grade) but I don't think the e-brake as I have it adjusted, is capable of locking up the rear wheels in an emergency stop. Was just wondering if that is "normal". I was also curious as to why the e-brake seems to be more effecting at braking in the reverse direction.

 

IMO - you''ve got the E-brake about as good as it gets....

As to being more effective in reverse, that's true but its just an idiosyncrasy about the self-adjusting brake features, leading vs trailing shoes and the geometry involved. i wouldn't overthink it.

 

I've owned several 65 and 66's. None would stop the car while driving. All held better in reverse then forward. I've tried repairs, but have learned to live with it. My 60 with drum brakes on the rear holds much better than any of them did.

 

I guess the upshot is don't depend on the E-brake to bail you out of a catastrophic hydraulic system failure. It might, if you're quick enough and have enough time to react -- another reason for ALWAYS maintaining excessive following distance and occasionally 'test-pumping' your brakes. I drive an all drum/single M/C 63 and adhere to this.

However, I do remember my old Boy Scout leader who drove a bunch of us kids to a camp-out in his beat-up station wagon with bad brakes using nothing but the E-brake.

Nobody thought a thing about it back then...now, it would be a lawsuit.

 

I guess that's why it doesn't say "E-brake" or emergency brake on the handle.

 

I tried several times recently to adjust the E-brakes after replacing broken cables and lubricating where necessary. Wouldn’t hold the car. I don’t like the procedure given in the service manual, Motors is much better and less subjective. They will hold the car now, but the best thing I did was run with the brake slightly on to break the shoe glaze as Duke suggested. That procedure was also in the Motors manual.
Yeah, I know, probably voids my warranty.

 

If your engine won’t hold the car on a grade while in first gear or reverse you have a engine problem

 

The right rear brake retractor spring on my '65 rusted away about 40+ years ago. I could go forward okay but couldn't back up. The trailing shoe would lock the wheel. This was prior to any SS brake parts being made so I just took the guts out and forgot about it.

I've never needed it since then.

If it didn't work any better before it broke than after, it was almost useless anyway.

 

Newer vehicles use the terminology of Parking Brake only, never Emergency Brake. Strictly for legal reasons. The manufacturers do not want to be held accountable for stopping distances and effectiveness of the mechanical parking brake in case of accidents and lawsuits. So, by calling it a parking brake, they have an out. Just meant to be used to secure the car or truck while it is parked.

 

In the interest of those inquiring about fitment of the SS parts I mentioned.

To save yourself a lot of frustration you have to fit the parts, best off the car. What I have found now for many years:

1- Hold down pins- the heads should be "arrowheads" to grip the spring cup, they all come in stamped out and radiused. If I don't file them to shape they can pop out of the spring cup in use. Springs will come out, shoes will be sloppy or bind up.

2- Upper spring curl too long - hits the lever sometimes and will pop out. I radius the levers so they don't come close to the end of the spring

3- Star Wheels -these come in many times too long. Even fully screwed in they are borderline too long, this can cause the shoes to hit the rotor. I automatically face them shorter in my lathe now.

The action when done should be smooth, no binding, and with fast release. The rotor hat ID should be smooth no grooves. You should be able to easily adjust the shoes with a long thin flat blade enough to lock up the rotor. I back off until free recheck, and make final adjustment on the cable adjuster.

 

Had the same issue with my 65. Would hold tight if rolling backwards but not at all if headed even slightly down hill. I tried all of the suggestions stated above. Zero success. Finally took it to a mid year specialist who discovered the e brake pads were installed incorrectly, backwards actually. Yes that's possible. Reinstalled them correctly and they now work well holding the car in either direction. Good luck it worked for me.

 

The emergency brakes on 65-82's never worked well. Even when these cars were new, the e-brake was just about useless.

When we use to have annual inspections in NJ, you had to take your car to a State run Motor Vehicle Inspection Station. You had to turn your car over to an inspector, who drove it through the inspection process. When they got to the brake station, they applied the e-brake, and would give the car some gas, to see if the brake held. Before doing this, if you had a Corvette, invariably the inspector would look over and smile, if not outright laugh, because they all knew that the brake wasn't going to hold the car. Usually the inspector would pass you anyway, but sometimes you got a harda$$ who would fail you.

In high school I worked at a gas station a block from an inspection station, so a lot of people who failed, came straight to us from the DMV. Back then, NJ didn't have private test facilities, and required you to take the car back to the state run facility, for re-inspection. We got pretty good at getting Corvette parking brakes to hold for one or two pulls. We'd adjust the brake and tell people to get right back in line at the DMV, and not to use the brake again before it was re-inspected.