On my Lotus Europa, the handbrake as very marginal. We lotus owners just got used to leaving it in 1st when we parked or we would be surprised when we got back. On my 914-1.8 the hand brake lever support etc is hopeless. WHat is the feeling about not running a handbrake but leaving it in 1st when I park?

Not forever, just until I get the million other things sorted out and paid for. Then I can focus on putting the brake back in.

Thanks!

Try adjusting the cables on it? They should work fine. There is a white bushing that is on the lever that mounts onto the side wall of the car. Is that broken? You can also adjust the push button. I had mine shoot off one day. Was a pia to reassemble and get the locking mechanism to work right, but it's good now. See if the latch is catching right.

Why not just leave it in reverse (or 1st I guess) when you park and put the hand brake up? I leave it in gear whenever I park and it hasn't ever gone anywhere. I thought everyone always let manual cars in gear when parked?

It's more than a parking brake!! Also a emergency brake, you never know might need it. Try to find why it's not working.

cheers

No, it's more than an adjustment. The lever attach point has rusted through. In need of re-weld. I am thinking of leaving it alone and attacking it at a later date. Then just leaving in 1st when I park it. Lotus owners, especially Europas have always never used the e-brake as it has never been 100%.

Pictures to follow tomorrow.

i've always left my car in gear when i park (in addition to the hand brake), but when i drive friends cars and i park it (in gear) they get back in and stall...

Take the time and fix the brake.

Leaving a car in gear only works for marginal slopes. When I park in a lot I always try to get a spot that slopes toward the curb just in case: 1) the slope is enough to overcome the friction/compression of the engine; 2) the car should somehow pop out of gear and start rolling.

A guy at work had a real nice black Lotus Europa and one day it must have popped out of gear, started rolling in a big arc (front wheels were turned when parked) and whacked into another parked car. Not much damage but the guy was really bummed out.

When I bought my 71, the e-brake wasn't functional. After the owner drove it a bit and let me drive, he had to find a flat area to stop the car with engine running so I could drive. The e-brake was the first thing I fixed on my car.

Here in the great state, it won't pass inspection without a working emergency/parking brake. You might want to check on your state's laws.

Gee I hate to be negative but if the lever attach point is rusted through you probably have bigger problems than your parking brake. I'm envisioning longs worse than my original car. Bring on the pictures.

I could'nt have said it better!

The handbrake post is braised to the bump out support on the back side.
Assuming you post is still there but simply won't support the load
to hold the brake,
I would guess that it really isn't rusted through but that the braising
has come loose.
What happened to mine is that the braising came lose one side.
It was the side closer to the rear of the car.
This allowed the post to move around and bend each time the brake lever
was pulled which worked the metal of the support to the point of cracking
the support.
While it looked like it had rusted it in fact was not caused by rust damage at all.

I ended up drilling out the spot welds of the support, removing it
and re-welding the post support on the back side of the support.

Now that I know how its built,
If I had to do it again, I would not remove the support at all.
There are 9 to 10 spot welds that have to be drilled out and its kind
of a pain to get to them.

The support post has a very large flat round head on it on the back.
This is is what is braised to the support bracket.
I'd leave the support bracket in place and I'd simply drill a few holes in
the support (but not through the post head) the from the outside
which is easy and spot/tack weld from the front side.
It would be much easier and quicker to do it this way.

--- bill

Yupp, always ...