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I recently picked up a C4 (1996) and among other issues, the parking brake handle is damaged. It works fine but it's a touch painful because the button is missing so you're depressing the metal pin with your bare fleshy thumb.
I'm looking to replace the plastic bits like the button and grip but all I can find are full brake handle assemblies! there's no way there isn't someone selling just the plastic bits because that's necessary for refurbishing units....
Anyone else know where to find just the plastic bits for the parking brake handle?
Nobody is breaking down a parking brake handle to sell a button. Either on a cost or time basis.
I mean sure, but someone out there either has to have a generic compatible part or a 3D file cause otherwise how would people refurbish parking brakes where the mechanism is fine but the plastic is shot (like on the one I bought)
I mean sure, but someone out there either has to have a generic compatible part or a 3D file cause otherwise how would people refurbish parking brakes where the mechanism is fine but the plastic is shot (like on the one I bought)
The C4 parking brake, is bespoke to the Corvette. So maybe there is a button that would work, but I would venture that most people buying a replacement would buy one in good shape.
not the worst idea. it would look pretty classy, some enthusiast somewhere most have put out the measurements for it....
It should not take more than 10 minutes to measure up what would work. Use a hard wood like oak. Paint it black and epoxy it on. I bet nobody would ever notice. Dan
It should not take more than 10 minutes to measure up what would work. Use a hard wood like oak. Paint it black and epoxy it on. I bet nobody would ever notice. Dan
If I go that route I'd probably actually stain it and make sure the wood grain shows. I think that'd be kinda classy.
I could do just the button pretty quickly but I think peeling off the rest of the handle and making a full handle assemble will take a bit of time. Still.... would look pretty nice.
If you start calling Corvette junk yards they will think you need it for top flight judging and will charge a bunch. When I bought my 96 with 27,000 miles the owner was wanting to get it judged. He spent hours looking for a top radiator hose clamp with a 1996 date code. He never did find one. Dan
Hah... I would just buy a used one and remove the button from it, and / or refurbish the complete unit you buy. There's enough C4s sitting in specialty junkyards (I used to see them in the U-Pull-It yards) that you can probably get them cheap.
I just looked on eBay, the early 80s ones are that hooked one, like I have on my 84. But the later ones 89+ look identical to the one in the Fiero's I've owned.
Hah... I would just buy a used one and remove the button from it, and / or refurbish the complete unit you buy. There's enough C4s sitting in specialty junkyards (I used to see them in the U-Pull-It yards) that you can probably get them cheap.
I just looked on eBay, the early 80s ones are that hooked one, like I have on my 84. But the later ones 89+ look identical to the one in the Fiero's I've owned.
EDIT: Here's the one in the Fiero, for the later years, it might even fit right in if someone is looking for an orange button replacement, haha...
Well I'm hoping to avoid buying up one in good condition. It's always been my opinion that once something ceases to be manufactured you should ere on the side of refurbish because full replacements will become increasingly rare. Maybe the number in junkyards far outweighs the number surviving on the streets.... that'd be a sad realization for me though.
Well I'm hoping to avoid buying up one in good condition. It's always been my opinion that once something ceases to be manufactured you should ere on the side of refurbish because full replacements will become increasingly rare. Maybe the number in junkyards far outweighs the number surviving on the streets.... that'd be a sad realization for me though.
I was at Old Car City in GA a couple of weeks ago, and my daughter expressed dismay for how many amazing cars there were in this junkyard. She's not wrong, but to that I said... had these cars not been left to sit here, they would have been crushed a long time ago. The fact that the old guy in Old Car City keeps them there for generations (including several 80s and 90s cars) means that they'll be there for another several decades to come.
But really... man, you have no idea. When I was in my late teens and early 20s... I came from a pretty well-off family, but my dad was all about learning to do things on your own. So, at 18, I was out of the house (in a nice way) and had to get a job pay for my own school, and get roommates. I had a Fiero (which I still own and have had for 30+ years), and couldn't afford to fix it. So, I used to hit the junkyards in South Florida looking for parts so I could fix it myself. In South Florida... the junkyards in the late 90s and early 2000s were filled with all the cars from the Miami Vice era.
The U-Pull-It in Davie was filled with Porsches, C3 Corvettes, an entire row of Smokey & the Bandit TransAms... 12 cyl BMWs and Jaguars, 10cyl Mercedes... rare Fiats, Rolls Royces, dozens of Maseratis (Quattroportes mostly, and a few of the less-valued BiTurbos), and just dozens of super rare cars, including 60s muscle cars like a pair of AMC cars, an AMX and a Javaline, totally complete... I mean, it sickened me. Make no mistake about it either, these cars didn't sit. They would put new cars on the lot on Thursday, and within 2 weeks, they were all crushed with new cars back on the lot. I can't even really begin to cover the number of exceptionally rare cars I saw at that yard, most of which had only a few parts taken from them before they ended up in the crusher.
The point of all that is to say, when cars end up in the junkyard, even specialty junkyards like Corvette Generations, the change of them being put back on the road at this point is almost zero. So, regardless of whether you buy a part from them or not... they're still going to end up with the same fate. I say, buy a used assembly if you can find one, make one really good emergency brake assembly from the best parts of two of them... and then offer up for free the rest on here, and if no one takes it, throw it in your recycling bin. :/
EDIT: Times have changed too... at the time, that old U-Pull-It in Davie, FL used to have a huge selection of cars, including older ones. I took a job with the NSA (at the time) and moved out of South Florida for a long time. But the last time I was down there for work, I hit the local harbor freight and got a tool-bag and checked out the yard... figuring if there was anything really cool I'd just ship it home ... there was NOTHING. The place has since been purchased by LKQ, and every fender, and nearly every part of every car had a QR code stuck to it. It was definitely not like how things were back in the day. I also didn't see a single car in there that was older than 15 years old. They were all newer cars, which basically looked like eggs... the usual bull-s**t Buick SUV / Mazda / Toyota Rav-4 / whatever crap that was in there. Nothing cool. The only remotely interesting car was a couple of Porsche Boxsters... but absolutely no classics. Back in the day when I would go in there, they had a broad range of cars... everything from NASH Metropolitans to cars from current time. They'd even leave all the nasty stuff in there from the medics when there were fatalities and it was an accident. But it was very sterile, and nothing outside of 15 years or older... it was so different.
I was at Old Car City in GA a couple of weeks ago, and my daughter expressed dismay for how many amazing cars there were in this junkyard. She's not wrong, but to that I said... had these cars not been left to sit here, they would have been crushed a long time ago. The fact that the old guy in Old Car City keeps them there for generations (including several 80s and 90s cars) means that they'll be there for another several decades to come.
[.........]
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I guess I didn't consider it from the standpoint of perfectly good parts getting crushed cause no one took them. Gods that's sad to me.
I grew up the opposite way. I've got decent means and live comfortably now but I grew up less than well off. Like Juice is a luxury and it's only available when someone's sick kinda not well off. My parents sacrificed a lot to make sure we had educational opportunities and now, I'm a senior programmer making more than anyone in my family ever has. Not rich by any means, but comfortable especially with no dependants and no dating life.
My background is from nothing can be wasted, fix everything. So the very concept of crushing perfectly good parts to get them out of the way .... I know it happens I just never could do it. It's why I have a whole sorted thing of screws and bolts in my garage they came from things that couldn't be saved but hey that's a perfectly good {insert bolt size}
I'll take a look at what's around. I got other parts I need like new rear amps etc. I'd rather save a good part from such a pointless fate as that.
I guess I didn't consider it from the standpoint of perfectly good parts getting crushed cause no one took them. Gods that's sad to me.
I grew up the opposite way. I've got decent means and live comfortably now but I grew up less than well off. Like Juice is a luxury and it's only available when someone's sick kinda not well off. My parents sacrificed a lot to make sure we had educational opportunities and now, I'm a senior programmer making more than anyone in my family ever has. Not rich by any means, but comfortable especially with no dependants and no dating life.
My background is from nothing can be wasted, fix everything. So the very concept of crushing perfectly good parts to get them out of the way .... I know it happens I just never could do it. It's why I have a whole sorted thing of screws and bolts in my garage they came from things that couldn't be saved but hey that's a perfectly good {insert bolt size}
I'll take a look at what's around. I got other parts I need like new rear amps etc. I'd rather save a good part from such a pointless fate as that.
I know man... it sucks, I totally agree. But that bucket of bolts will always come in handy. When my daughter was restoring her Fiero (almost done), the previous owner had used whatever he could find for whatever bolt in whatever slot... whatever would fit. He kept it running over 200k miles, but man, when we took everything apart, it was crazy. I have this "Hechinger" 5-gallon bucket (shows how old it is) of everything from bolts, to screws, nuts, washers, tiny brackets, clips, injectors, you name it. I dump it into an old DeSoto hub cap that I got at that very same junkyard I mention, and we were able to find all the correct bolts from the dozens of GM cars I'd stripped over the years. It's so important too because every bolt in every spot has specific tension and strength requirements... and many people just put back whatever fits... and then they get broken bolts and studs... but yeah.
Having difficulty finding part
