Removing E-brake cable clip stuggles

[paulreverex]

Hello all,

I am struggling to remove the clips that hold the E-Brake cable, mostly because the rear diff is in the way. The clip itself appears to be original and thus significantly stuck. I am curious if you had any success removing the clip and if so, did you need to remove the rear diff to do so? Im having a hard time getting a lot of leverage under the clip, car is only on stands.

Thank you for your time.

[CanTechZ]

I was able to get those clips out, with the diff in (drive shaft was out) on my 1970 using vise grips and a pry bar, with the car on jack stands. The pry bar was actually an old heavy flat bladed screw driver. Like yours they had never been out and were very difficult to remove. Here is a picture marked up showing what I did. I held the edges of the clips (marked red) with vise grips and used the pry bar under the clip flange (where the blue arrow is) and applied force against the top of the mounting bracket. While applying force with the pry bar I was attempting to rock the clip back and forth in the direction of the arrow and eventually I was able to get it to move and pull out. The rust on the surfaces causes a lot of resistance but if you can break past that and the clip starts to move it will come out. Good luck

[One Way]

I am having the same exact issue on my 78 280z.  The new cable is on the way and worked on the hand brake assembly a bit today.  Sprayed everything with Blaster.  Removed the 4 bolts holding the plate to the tunnel and ended up cutting the old cable to remove the equalizer shoe and components.  Those are going to be cleaned, blasted, primed and painted with all new hardware and waterproof grease.  My driveshaft is already out and repaired with new u joints.  I tried the pry bar routine but only got the clips to angle off and they did not want to angle back to a straight up position.  Thanks for the great picture.  I originally thought the clips should be facing out in the other direction but I guess that is the way it was assembled at the factory.  While on the brake cable topic all of the parts diagrams I am finding show 2 springs to hold the cables up to the frame but mine has 2 thick rubber hangers the cable slides through and the other end of the rubber hanger is bolted to the frame.  The rubber hangers are not in the best of shape and was thinking about using the rubber tail pipe hangers to secure the cable rather than some extension springs showing in the parts diagrams.  Any help will be appreciated.  The resurrection project continues to move forward but very slowly.  Extremely busy at work and very shorthanded with team members so progress has been limited due to lack of available time.  Thanks, John-Lugoff, SC.

[Yarb]

Grab a can of Kroil oil and smother them good for a day. Much better than PB blaster.

Edited October 22, 2021 by Yarb
Spelling

[CanTechZ]

10 hours ago, One Way said:

I am having the same exact issue on my 78 280z.  The new cable is on the way and worked on the hand brake assembly a bit today.  Sprayed everything with Blaster.  Removed the 4 bolts holding the plate to the tunnel and ended up cutting the old cable to remove the equalizer shoe and components.  Those are going to be cleaned, blasted, primed and painted with all new hardware and waterproof grease.  My driveshaft is already out and repaired with new u joints.  I tried the pry bar routine but only got the clips to angle off and they did not want to angle back to a straight up position.  Thanks for the great picture.  I originally thought the clips should be facing out in the other direction but I guess that is the way it was assembled at the factory.  While on the brake cable topic all of the parts diagrams I am finding show 2 springs to hold the cables up to the frame but mine has 2 thick rubber hangers the cable slides through and the other end of the rubber hanger is bolted to the frame.  The rubber hangers are not in the best of shape and was thinking about using the rubber tail pipe hangers to secure the cable rather than some extension springs showing in the parts diagrams.  Any help will be appreciated.  The resurrection project continues to move forward but very slowly.  Extremely busy at work and very shorthanded with team members so progress has been limited due to lack of available time.  Thanks, John-Lugoff, SC.

Hi John, FWIW here are a few pictures from my 240 showing the springs and how they attach. I'm not sure if the 280 was done the same. 

[zKars]

Nasty job, no fun at all. 

I can only add to the above excellent advice with a small warning. I have tended to clamp vise grips on the turned lip of those clamps then found that in some cases, depending on the angle of applied force or degree of rust degradation, that the lips tend to break off.  Then you’re in a real pickle.

The true key to removal is to get them to rotate first to break the rust bond, THEN they will slip off more easily. You can use a chisel, screw driver etc to drive the clip to rotate it, just a bit, back and forth until that becomes easier, THEN work on applying force to pull them free. 

 

Edited October 22, 2021 by zKars

[One Way]

Thanks for the helpful tips.  Hopefully I can get back at the project next week on my day off from work.  All of the pictures and diagrams I have seen show those two extension springs holding up the cables.  Mine has two rubber straps.  The cable runs through a larger hole in the strap and the top end has a small hole for a bolt and washer mount.  The new cable came in yesterday.  Cable looks correct and it came with just 1 odd shaped hook all in a sealed bag.  There was one hair pln clip floating around in the box the sealed bag was in.   Not sure what those are for or if I was supposed to get 2 odd shaped hooks to replace those extension springs or in my situation the 2 rubber straps.  The picture and detailed description of the ordered cable does not show or mention any clips, hangers, etc.  I will have to figure out what my best options are when I get back under the car.  I am leaning toward the rubber straps.  They survived 40 plus years but their age is definitely showing.  Thanks again, John-Lugoff, SC.

[One Way]

Success with the clip removal.  Twisting and prying just was not working  except for bending up the clip flange , so I heated up the clips with the torch and pulled them right out with very little effort.  Obviously can not do that if you are planning on reusing your cable-the rubber sheathing melted off real quickly.  I will be needing new clips to go along with the new cable.  I will do some research and see if we can come up with a good part number.  I have the Raybestos cable which appears to be of good quality and crimps similar to the original cable.  I will try to keep you updated. All the other handbrake parts are either in the EVAP-O-RUST jug, or have been cleaned , primed, and painted with new cotter pins and flange bolts already in my parts bag with the new cable.  Someday I will actually start putting all the new or refurbished parts back on to the resurrection project.  Thanks, John-Lugoff, SC.

[Patcon]

1 hour ago, One Way said:

Success with the clip removal.  Twisting and prying just was not working  except for bending up the clip flange , so I heated up the clips with the torch and pulled them right out with very little effort.  Obviously can not do that if you are planning on reusing your cable-the rubber sheathing melted off real quickly.  I will be needing new clips to go along with the new cable.  I will do some research and see if we can come up with a good part number.  I have the Raybestos cable which appears to be of good quality and crimps similar to the original cable.  I will try to keep you updated. All the other handbrake parts are either in the EVAP-O-RUST jug, or have been cleaned , primed, and painted with new cotter pins and flange bolts already in my parts bag with the new cable.  Someday I will actually start putting all the new or refurbished parts back on to the resurrection project.  Thanks, John-Lugoff, SC.

John,

I may have clips. Do you have any pictures of what you have?

C

[One Way]

Thanks for the possible offer. My wife got the picture loaded for me.  It gets frustrating with parts not having any dimensions or specs in so many of the descriptions.  I send a few comments to O'Reilly corporate every week for adding pertinent info on their parts description page.  Last week was a classic with a power steering pump pulley on a Cadillac that used 2 different sized shafts from OEM.  The only info under description heading was "BLACK"-no dimensions whatsoever.  Their e-mail response was that info will be added into their next update.  Dealing with this every day at work makes you wonder who is actually creating these computer catalogs.  I was hoping to find a generic part number for these clips but am not coming up with any dimension info.  ZCARDEPOT does show these clips but again no dimensions shown.  Thanks for listening, John, Lugoff, SC.

[Patcon]

@One Way

Freshly plated 🙂

[One Way]

Thanks for the response.  I will be needing 4 of the clips.  Do you do your own plating at home or is it done through your workplace?  We can make arrangements for payment and shipping.  Would $25 be adequate?  That is about what it  would cost if I ordered them from ZCAR.  Thanks again, John-Lugoff, SC.  Not sure how to securely share our addresses with each other so I can get a check in the mail and you can put the clips in an envelope.