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I recently saw an ad for a "correct" emergency brake cable for a C2 (I think it was in the "Driveline"). Does anyone remember who is selling these or if they are an exact reproduction of the original cable? I've heard a lot of different things about all of the variations out there on the market and wanted to know if there really is a good one out there to be found.
Thanks!
Mark
Mark Pugmire
54 Pennant Blue
56 Cascade Green Dual Quad
56 Arctic Blue Dual Quad
66 Nassau Blue 427 L36 Convertible
67 Marlboro Maroon L79 Coupe
There is a restorer article on the subject not too far back...can't remember the issue. But, you need to make sure the cable has the correct rubber boots on the end, make sure it has the right size springs on the end and they must have the proper rotation to be original. The cable housing is spiral steel clad. I find nice originals and rebuild them. From time to time they show up on ebay. Just clean them, grease them and carefully replace the rubber boots and wa-la! Terry
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I wrote the article that was in the Restorer a year ago or so. I'm curious to know how you rebuild used cables? I assume you don't replace the small, inboard boot, since I know of no supplier for those boots.
There is a limit as to what you can do to them. But, as you showed in your article if you have to you can cut the ball off the end of the cable and drill it out and resmash it on.
Here recently I found a good used cable that was original but the large boots were bad. I carefully cleaned the cable and housing then lubed it with silicone grease. Then I camped the the ends of the cable one at a time in the vise, silicone greased the large rubber boots and forced them over the steel beads, then I forced them over the springs. No need to take anything apart.
But, if you what to mix and match cable housings or cables, you can cut the cables right next to the bead, drill the bead out and resmash it on the end.
Not a very extensive rebuild but it is better then throwing away a perfectly good cable. In the begining, I was worried about getting the boot on without destroying it. I thought for sure I would have to cut the bead off. But, I worked fast and all was well even after sliding it over the spring.
Thanks for the clarification. I've never tried to grease the large boot and pull it over the ball and spring, but others as well have said it can be done. Not so with the small boot. It's too stiff. Since Inline Tube makes the repro cables with the correct small boot, I would think they might be willing to sell just the small boots, but then it will require cutting off the ball and re-swaging it to make the cable functional again. I'm not sure it's worth the effort since a new repro cable is not all that expensive.
I see a repro on ebay all the time that advertises that it is identical to original. I have not looked at them closely. I always seem to find something even when people say it is exactly like original. The one I recently worked on looks like it is new. Still has the little paint markings on it also. I found that the ebrake works good when everything is lubed up good. I use silicone grease because it won't degrade the rubber like grease will. Something that also helps is to put grease in that little bracket that attaches to the center of the cable. Seems to help center it and makes the ebrake feel more secure or as though it sets the brakes harder. All for now, Terry
I'm pretty sure that the cable I saw advertised recently was a 100% correct reproduction. As far as I've heard, it's the only one that claims to be absolutely correct. I looked at the website listed above, but am not sure if this is the one I saw. Thanks, but I'm still looking...
Mark Pugmire
54 Pennant Blue
56 Cascade Green Dual Quad
56 Arctic Blue Dual Quad
66 Nassau Blue 427 L36 Convertible
67 Marlboro Maroon L79 Coupe
To me it looks like the Inline Tube cable is cosmetically correct. When I was working on the article for the Restorer I contacted the owner of Inline Tube and asked if he could sample me one of their cables. He said no. And I wasn't about to invest more money in that project after having bought 3 or 4 cables for my research. So, we won't know if their cable is 100% correct until someone buys one and compares it to an original, but in the photo is looks good.
Regarding Mike's note about Paragon selling repro boots, they do have the large, outboard boot, which is the one that is most often cracked from dry rot, but no one sells the smaller, more rigid inboard boot.
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