Emergency brake cables.

[Jay Kempf]

Tried spraying the adjuster. Not a chance. This thing sat for 5 years and
did 100k miles in Vermont winters before that. What I am looking at now is
how to cut the rod so I can withdraw it through the boot and then replace
with another good handle and rod with a new or good nut and yoke. I will
blast, and paint everythng if I have to and coat everything in there with
1/2" of alignment wax when I put this back together. I would rather have to
remove 1/2" of parafin than have to cut and grind. 
 
I really like the idea of cutting the exhaust near or infront of the
crossbar and putting clamps on. When my center muffler fragged I had it cut
out and a new piece of stainless put in both pipes. So it is one big piece
that can't be removed without taking the crossbar out. And two of those nuts
are in tough shape as well. I can get those clamps in a bunch of places
around here. 
 
I know the proportioning valve (with the lever) is for load variability but
this car has ABS and the circuit is teed so it only pulses both at once so I
just don't think the bias which gives the brake hydraulic pressure back
between pulses matters much. It is way more important to know you are
getting reliable braking in the back and there is another bias valve in the
rear brake circuit for front rear stock bias.
 
Every car I have increased rear bias on I have liked better than before I
de-lawyered it. 
 

jfk




 

  _____  

From: Tony Hoffman [mailto:auditony at gmail.com] 
Sent: Monday, October 24, 2011 4:25 PM
To: jkempf at madriver.com
Cc: SAJanesick - Bellsouth; 200q20v at audifans.com
Subject: Re: Emergency brake cables.


You can't remove it through the console, it has to be reached from under the
car. You will have to drop the exhaust. You can cut a section out, then use
the factory style Audi clamps if it's close to 2 1/8" I use them for my 2
1/4 as well. The proportioning valve is for different loads, meaning if you
load the car down it gives a higher rear bias. 
 
I'd try spraying the adjsuter with PB blaster first, and see if it will free
up that way. Let it soak for a while, as in spray it every couple of hours
and sit for maybe a day or two.
 
HTH,
Tony


On Fri, Oct 21, 2011 at 2:44 PM, Jay Kempf <jkempf at madriver.com> wrote:


OK, I am under the car looking at the emergency brake at the front end. Talk
about an inconvenient place to do anything. My middle muffler was cut out
and replaced with stainless pipe so the exhaust is one piece front to back,
no easy way to take it apart and I would have to remove a cross member.

The balance belcrank that holds the two front ends of the cables, the bolt,
and the nut are all really rusty but the mechanism still moves.

Anyone BTDT? I can only sort of reach things in there. If I have to adjust
that thing it is going to have to come out and get cleaned and prepped
meaning that I probably have to do it through the center console to get the
rod out. If I did that I guess I could just get the parts out on the bench
and either clean and restore or get new.

Things at the back are pretty rusty. Would love to have the time, money,
energy to take everything apart and completely restore it but that isn't in
the cards right now.

Need to find someone parting out a calif car so I can get some clean parts I
guess. Looks like the rear height proportioning valve is frozen and some of
the lines back there I wouldn't want to disturb. One way to fix is to just
get a couple lines and a female/female adapter and bypass all that stuff.
Car has ABS so I can't imagine what good that stuff does if you know how to
drive. I have higher rear bias in all my other cars and I like them better
that way.