i cannot seem to reconnect the emergency brake to my rear caliper. do i have to remove the caliper from the car (again) or does it need to be disconnected from the actual hand brake or is there something (as usual) i'm missing

You will need to remove the caliper again or loosen the adjuster to reattach. If you have the caliper venting clearance set, I would use the p-brake adjuster. If not I would remove the caliper, attach the p-brake, reattach the caliper, and go from there.

Jim

If you're talking about reconnecting the e-brake cable, I didn't have to remove the calipers to do that. There is an adjustment nut where the cables exit the firewall. You could turn them all the way in to give you the most slack in the cable and then re-adjust them once the cables are connected.

thanks that sounds easy enough
rich