Handbrake not strong enough! (MOT fail, 1 and 2 in thread!)

[papercutout]

Hmmmm, pretty good going after the car sitting for, allegedly, 6 years! (last taxed in 2002!).

I bought the car 3 and a half months ago, VERY rotten. But it\'s a TII \'vert and it was pretty cheap (£500), so I bit the bullet, took on an un-needed project and had the car on my driveway, with a promise to the parents to have it done in \'about 3 weeks\'.

Today it had it\'s first MOT, just a few months late!


In that time we have:

Stripped her out
Done all the structural welding
Got (or bypassed) each electrical item that wasn\'t working
Ripped the hood open, so it leaks badly (this was an accident!)
Given it a basic service!


Mot was booked for yesterday, unfortunately the alternator belt snapped on the way - no MOT for me!
Since I couldn\'t get the car home, and because they\'re the 1 local garage I trust, I let them keep the car and fix the belt today.
So 1 new belt, 1 MOT, 1 hours labour and I have a failure on my hands!


Luckily we must have been pretty good, and I\'m lucky the failures were:
Exhaust blowing in the middle
Handbrake not strong enough


I can (barely) weld, so I\'ll remove the exhaust this weekend and try to sort that, I\'ve got plenty of scrap metal lying around and even some tubing (about 5 meters!) so should be OK.


But the handbrake is what gets me. Does it use the rear disc pads, or are there pads inside the rear disc body, and it acts like a drum brake? Haynes manual doesn\'t mention it, but sometimes they lie!

I\'ve got new rear pads, I\'ll just replace them, ease the handbrake off a bit and burn them in?

Thanks!

[TiddlesRX7]

Yeah sounds like a good place to start. You can also adjust the handbrake at the leave too to give you the required amount of lift on it. There is a screw beside the leaver under the gator/cover. Oh and it operates using the normal pads. The rear callipers are known for sticking too o freeing them off would be a good idea whilst you have the system in bits.

[grinder]

ah yes - i think mine has failed every time on the hand brake

some simple steps

1 - jack car up
2 - remove wheels
3 - look at the top of the caliper and you can see the hand brake stuff
4 - get someone to move the hand brake and you will see how it works
5 - get some WD40 on there
6 - work away with "something" just to move it back and forth
7 - this should at least get it moving somewhat ( free it up )
8 - stick the hand brake on and try and spin the disc - what happens - if you can still move it - then onto step 9
9 - remove the hand brake plastics
10 - get a socket ( 8-10mm not sure )
11 - put 1/4 on the nut thing that sticks out
12 - try the hand brake
13 - repeat 11 and 12 until it locks up tight

i had a car fail on me - and even with the hand brake on - i could spin the wheel ... which isnt good !!

i think if you look at some of my prev posts - there is some info on the handbrake ( look around may/june 2009 time when my cab passed its mot )

Stu

[grinder]

to save you looking .. http://www.mazdarotaryclub.com/forums/showthread.php?t=57908

[m1tch]

Or install line lock and lock the fronts and say thats your handbrake whilst doing a burnout infront of the garage :rollin

[papercutout]

Thanks for all the tips guys! It works a TEENSY bit better now, but she still failed quite thoroughly

Fortunately I still have till next Monday (again!) :p The drivers side calliper movey arm was seized, so I was dismantling that and WD40\'ing freeing it up this morning. I tried, right? Lol


I need:
1x new handbrake cable(s)
2x rear callipers.


Where do I source the cables - Mazda?

[Prof]

Are the rear calipers beyond salvage ?
 
You can get rebuild kits for the rear\'s and fronts from Big Red - they aren\'t too expensive £20 ish for a set to do both rears.  Job takes no more than a couple of hours - assuming you get the calipers off without having to damage them.
 
As for cables - Mazda should be able to get them - but it may be a wait.
 
Can you not pull up the slack on the adjusters on the calipers and the handbrake ?

[grinder]

i reckon you will beable to get all the slack out on the actual handbrake - it took me about 6-7 full turns to get it working properly

[papercutout]

Grinder - I wound the adjuster to FULL, and put 2 washers underneath - the answer is no!

Prof, with a rebuild they\'ll probably be fine, yeah! Didn\'t know anyone did rebuild kits! Big Red being a company, or a member on here?


Imagine where the handbrake cable goes into the little holder thing that it pulls back to pull the handbrake on, with the handbrake on, adjusted as tight as it\'ll go, the drivers side is still loose in that. Hence thinking it\'s mega stretched.

[TiddlesRX7]

Here you go. I got this kit for the rears. Its a good kit. Shame I foooked up installing it!

http://www.biggred.co.uk/mazdashop.html

[Prof]

Here you go. I got this kit for the rears. Its a good kit. Shame I foooked up installing it!
 
http://www.biggred.co.uk/mazdashop.html

 
That\'s the one - this is the kit I used.

[Brett]

The FC rear calliper, a design masterpiece! :Giggle
if you have the time I recommend double checking the fronts too, it\'s not uncommon to have just 1 piston working per side of the calliper if they have been idle for some time. They will still be good enough for an MOT pass, but not upto full Rx7 spec :Giggle

[grinder]

crickey - out of interest - how did you manage to get a washer underneath at the hand brake - i was struggling for any room - with the seats in the way and the actual hand brake etc..

you can adjust it at the actual caliper end aswell

out of interest - how much movement is there on the caliper - i managed to get mine from a few mm of movement to probably about 15mm ish

[Prof]

...you can adjust it at the actual caliper end aswell
 
out of interest - how much movement is there on the caliper - i managed to get mine from a few mm of movement to probably about 15mm ish

There is about 8mm of thread you could realisticly use on the caliper adjustment - that\'s each side - but obviously you need some of that to balance the sides too.  I found that the lock nut gets easily coroded onto the hollow adjusting bolt - so plenty of plus gas or similar quality penetrant is needed to get it all moving freely.

[papercutout]

Grinder - I got the washers and cut a chunk out so they\'d \'slot\' under. Wound the adjuster loose and, erm, slotted them under! Then tightened back up.

I\'ve ordered a rear rebuild kit, I hope it arrives in time, I need to do them at the weekend!

How can you adjust it at the caliper end? I looked but couldn\'t work it out, despite taking most of the mechanism off the side. Any pics anyone?

I\'ll do it after the MOT Brett


Thanks guys!