Hot Rods Anyone installed an E brake they salvaged from a yard in their hot rod

Anyone have luck going to the local wrecking yard and removing the E-brake handle and assembly and using it in your hot rod, street rod or gasser? What vehicle did you pull it from?

Or does everyone just go buy a new kit from Speedway, JEGS etc?

 

C3 Corvette
Homemade cover.


https://www.google.com/search?q=72+...VRY6wKHU3LBXwQ_AUoAnoECAwQAg&biw=1280&bih=752

 

I used a e-brake from a Pinto in my old Model A pickup, but that was 40 years ago when they were common. HRP

 

Have you ever considered the irony of taking emergency parts form a vehicle totaled in an automobile accident? They didn't do the last owner any good evidently.

 

Well, yeah. But what you for some reason keep calling an "emergency brake" is in reality a parking brake. Not really meant to handle emergencies.

 

In the 70"s the Vega was a simple pull up lever.You might find one on Ebay yet.

 

I'll give HRP a "like" for the Pinto unit. I had a Pinto E-brake unit on a shelf for years thinking it was well suited for use in a hot rod but never installed it in anything. Compact, simple, pushbutton release at the end of the handle, seemed a good fit for a hot rod. I'm not sure what happened to it but I haven't seen it in a while.

Lynn

 

A Monza has the same pull up handle like the Vega; which looks lot like the Pinto unit pictured. I saved a Monza/Vega parking brake unit to use someday......

 

Used a GM foot pedal one in the bus

 

Thanks, there really isn't that much difference in the 200 dollar chrome aftermarket handle and the lowly Pinto, they basically work the same.

Back when I used the Pinto E-brake all my parts came from the Junk yard, there were very few aftermarket parts when I built my first hot rod. Ironically all the prices went up when they started calling them Salvage Yards. HRP

 

Au contraire monome, In any road vehicles, the parking brake, also called hand brake, emergency brake, or e-brake, is used to keep the vehicle stationary and in many cases also perform an emergency stop.

In the United States and around the world there are different phrases & combinations of words that mean the same thing, I had a VW that I experienced a sudden catastrophic brake failure when the pedal went to the floor as I was approaching a busy rush hour intersection, I instinctively reach down and grabbed the brake handle with my finger on the button to keep it from locking and avoided what could have been harmful to myself on oncoming traffic, if that's not a EMERGENCY BRAKE I don't know what to call it. HRP

 

Early wv bug.

 

This is listed in Mac's catalog. HRP

1955-1957 Ford Thunderbird Emergency Brake Release Handle, Chrome

 

Handbrakes (as we call them here) from newer cars found in breakers yards are less “universal” than they used to be and we don’t have old cars in breakers anymore. A friend makes these below and I’m using one in my Modified with cables from a Ford Fiesta.




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How much and how does it mount or do you have a link for him?

 

No "FLINTO" in my local yard.

 

https://www.triggerhandbrakes.com/Handbrakes.html


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Yes I used a 72 Vega very simple and came with a plastic cover. As had been said though getting hard to find but a stroll through a junk yard just look for a floor mounted unit.

Pat

 

I've used a Pinto & a Vega hand brake in my last 2 cars. Each was $10-15. Got them from junk yards that let you pick it yourself. Not to many of those now in the Louisville area.

 

The one I used in my T came out of a Geo Metro. It's a floor mount unit, and the mounting holes are vertically offset to compensate for uneven floor surfaces, but it worked out quite nicely in my floor. Make sure you get the adjuster assembly with it.

Roger

 

Mustang II 74-78 was good. I took a few out of old beater Chevette's I had. they were really low and small.

 

Trailer hanbrake of ebay $28


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Had the Between the seats hand brake on my T bucket that I think came out of the same Mustang I snagged the shifter out of. It worked pretty good once I got the cables and adjustment figured out. If you use one make sure and get the adjuster parts as suggested earlier.

I've got the foot park/emergency brake out of some GM donor car in my 48 I think it is 72 Pontiac but it could be any of about 30 cars scrapped out in that time frame. It is mounted rather high on the kick panel but works good. Figuring out how to mount the release handle was the hard part of the install if memory serves right.

 

I got most of mine from swap meets, not sure what the one is from that I put in the '28 but it works great. I just had to make a bracket and cables. Also If you want a cheap one look for ones from a Taylor Dunn cart.

Dorman 924-5617 about $28

 

I've been using '35-'36 handles on a Model A mount. If you have bucket seats and want one that lays flat between them, Pinto, Mustang II, and similar ones work just as well as the fancy chrome aftermarket handles, just a little harder to find now-a-days. '40 Ford style work good for inside cowl mount handles (we even used one on a '54 Chev when we swapped in a bent 8 and lost the stock pull out mechanism).

As for only being parking brakes; you can never tell what may happen, new F-250, couple thousand miles, clevis pin fell out of the brake pedal; did one of my drivers say "woe is me" and crash, nope, he stepped down on the "emergency" brake pedal and stopped the truck.

 

I will also vote for the Mustang II e-brake assembly. It is relatively small, folds almost to the floor and is easy to fasten on the floor. The only problem might be finding one !


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Jeep Cherokee......1984 thru 2000......should be fairly easy to find

 

'87-'93 Mustang. Compact and easy to mount/install. Pushbutton release at the end of handle and it's dirt cheap and plentiful in the U-Pull it yards. I grabbed a shifter boot from the same car and made it work as a cover for all the mechanism ugliness. Mounted it in my roadster and it works great!

 

Good thread