hydraulic handbrakes

[OLR]

How would I go about fitting one of these to my car and what parts do I need?

|Its gona be used for Autotests, grass rallies and some rallycross that my motor club run.

 

[Henry]

can't be all that difficult to fit one (might need different calipers?) but there's obv. going to be an amount of plumbing involved. they're not road legal BTW (if that's a consideration)

do Tweeks/etc have kits? or drums instead of discs?

 

[OLR]

Could be drums or discs? Dont know if Im going to change yet from my drums.

Why arnt they road legal?
Is there any way to Pass MOT with a hydraulic handbrake?

 

[Groovejunkie]

Are they not road legal... what issue would authorities have with them... ? That's a new one on me!

 

[iimushroomzii]

Im sure I watched a programme on telly were someone fitted a hyd handbrake to a car then just fitted just bodges some handbrake cables in place to make it look legal.

 

[Henry]

i guess a MoT tester would be able to confirm either way, but i thought parking brakes had to be mechanical (not that a mechanical failure is any less likely than a hydraulic one). the levers on hydraulic handbrakes don't usually have ratchets either

i think you can buy combi hydraulic/mechanical handbrakes

 

[Groovejunkie]

I'd always wanted one for a more reliable quick 180 when needed... lol!!

 

[OLR]

I'd always wanted one for a more reliable quick 180 when needed... lol!!

^^^ this is 100% what it’s good for

So does any one know what is needed or roughly how-to do it? I’m pretty mechanically minded so doing it isn’t a problem just the HOW?

 

[OLR]

i guess a MoT tester would be able to confirm either way, but i thought parking brakes had to be mechanical (not that a mechanical failure is any less likely than a hydraulic one). the levers on hydraulic handbrakes don't usually have ratchets either

i think you can buy combi hydraulic/mechanical handbrakes

Dont a few of the new Vaxhalls and Fords have auto handbrakes??
Wouldnt these be hydraulic?

 

[Henry]

have a look at Tweeks/etc and/or call some rally prep outfits. they're just a lever/box with a master cylinder which you somehow plumb into the calipers

 

[OLR]

I shal have a ring round thanks

 

[Tony Hunter]

As far as I am aware you have to leave the cable in as a back up,this has alway's been the case back to when I was Rallying,they say if it was just hydraulic the pressure could decrease overnight (example) and car would roll away.You will also find it useful to reverse the ratchet so that you have to push the button in to engage the h/b not to release it,that way you pull up and then let go without it staying on,this is legal btw.

 

[OLR]

You will also find it useful to reverse the ratchet so that you have to push the button in to engage the h/b not to release it,that way you pull up and then let go without it staying on,this is legal btw.

Now thats a good idea ^^^ how would I go about reverseing the ratchet?

 

[Pete@Auto-Nation]

You need to plumb it into the rear brake circuit. This is easy in a rally car as the rear circuit is seperate to the front and the pipes run through the cabin. On some road cars, and without checking I don't know about the clios, the circuits are split into 2, with 1 front and 1 rear brake on each. This obviously makes it trickier.

With regards to road legality etc, you must leave the cables in aswel. This is an MOT requirement as the parking brake must be a seperate system to the foot brake for emergencies, nothing to do with pressure going down as far as I know. Even auto handbrakes use a seperate system, usually not hydraulic.

Also, the handbrake must have a ratchet mechanism fitted to prevent it releasing.

Hope this helps.

Pete

 

[OLR]

Thanks for the info. I shal have to look into it further.

 

[Henry]

just wondering, but what are the drums like at locking the rears? could save money/hassle by just fitting a fly-off ratchet to the lever (Tony's suggesting you can do that by reversing the ratchet at the base of the lever - ?)

 

[iimushroomzii]

Drums are better than disks for handbrakes

 

[Henry]

i know )) - just wondering if they're particularly poor on the Clio, hence thinking about the hydraulic conversion

 

[Pete@Auto-Nation]

Hydraulic discs are better than cable drums for handbrakes! Go on, we know you want to..............................

 

[OLR]

Well im thinking of the change because on an auto test last Saturday, I really struggled to lock the back end up to 360 round the course.

The finish was a 360 and figure of 8 into the gate(shall post a picture)

Well the best time by 3 seconds was an st170 his hydraulic hand brake locked the band end up perfect and he glided round the last bit.

"Drums are better than disks for handbrakes " - I thought that 2, but didnt look like it 2 me saterday

 

[Pete@Auto-Nation]

Drums are only better when the 2 options are cable operated. If they are hydraulic, you are effectively doing what your foot brake does, but only on the rear.

 

[OLR]

2 Options are cable operated ?????

 

[iimushroomzii]

2 Options are cable operated ?????

What he means is,
If you have drums or disks as standard, which are cable operated, the better of the two would be drums, however, if you went for a hydraulic handbrake the best would be disks.

 

[mikekean]

drums are better cable or hydraulic, when fitting a hyrdo handbrake properly you are ment to remove the pressure reducing valve on the rear axle and fit it either before the hydro handbrake or fit an adjustable bias valve before it. otherwise the handbrake master cylinder pressure will just be reduced by the valve. making it pretty much useless.

 

[bradharding24]

All you do is use your existing hand brake and piggy back a cylinder behind it for the hydro brake. You run a bolt through the handbrake that shuts off the ratchet.

Then you activate the hydro brake when you need it, and at all other times the handbrake works as normal.

 

[OLR]

Thanks for all the info.

So should I keep the drums and make them hydro :S ?
Or get a hydro Disk set up?

I got 4 days off now so going to have a nice look at how it all works

 

[mikekean]

keep the drums they lock up better. althought you may want to invest in some new shoes by the sounds of it as it should lock up easy on the cable one anyway.

 

[OLR]

Had a little look see two day and it looks like the hand brake is one unit

Need to get 1 from the scrappy so I can break it apart see how it works
then see about the fly-off hand brake.