W11X Hand / Emergency / Parking Brake Lever

[PeterPortugal]

Hi All,

Does anybody know how the brake lever by the propshaft centre bearing is removed. It is the part which the rear end of the central brake cable is attached to. In a cabrio it is located within a tunnel so I can't see much and I cannot get it off. I just want to clean it up and have it replated. I have removed the wing nut and bolt so it is all floppy but the ball which the bolt passes through seems to be attached to the frame floor.

See the picture attached.

Regards

Peter

[wwheeler]

From recollection, one side is a hook and the other is a slide. So it "floats" and is not fastened to anything. The hook side of the bracket fits in a nook in the tunnel and pivots there. On the other side of the tunnel is a horizontal bracket that is welded to the tunnel. The lever slides front to back on the horizontal bracket and thus actuates the emergency brake. The lever is held in by the hook and the tension from the spring. Once the spring is released and the attachments are off the lever, it should just come out.

Having that covered with the reinforcing plate is a pain. 

[wwheeler]

How about some pics? I found a few that should help.

[PeterPortugal]

Life is so much easier with friends like you Wallace. On reflection I can actually see the hook in the parts manual pictureand it kind of makes sense then.

It took me 30 secs to remove it after reading your message.

On a slightly different subject....underbody colour. Now I know your 280SE is a dark green like the colour on the underbody so I am assuming that is something you did during restoration. Mine is a white car painted black. Inside the transmission tunnel it has that beige coloured "knobbly" sealant. However after cleaning off the stiffener plate fitted under the transmission and also the inside of the driveshaft tunnel they are a similar green to yours. The stiffener plate is also stamped with the body number which is cool.

[wwheeler]

No fun doing any of this if you can't share with your friends!

The colors of the primer and undercoat may be slightly different from the factory. And I did admittedly spray more body color on the floor pans than what the factory had. It is hard to stop!!!!!

Anyway, the way I see the underbody on my car is like this: 1) car dipped in a grey/green satin primer. So everything on the car during dipping is this. 2) Then they applied seam sealer by brush to certain areas 3) Beige colored undercoat sprayed to certain areas. None in the trans tunnel and none above the rear axle area. 4) Body spray was applied in the front and rear wheel wells and some along the sides. That is the overspray.

I am not saying mine 100% factory correct, but is good enough for me. I did very little preparation on my underbody as it was mostly intact. So the areas of undercoat applied from the factory, are pretty accurate.     

[PeterPortugal]

Wallace,

Thanks for sharing your thoughts on the underbody finish. Mine seems to be done exactly as you describe. When I get round to restoring this area properly I will start with your thoughts as the work instructions.

The piece I removed is a little different to the one on your coupe (it's more curved), probably due to the tunnel arrangement of the cabrio. I was thinking that if it was broken or damaged you would have very little chance of finding a replacement. Fortunately apart from being caked in dirt and grease it was in very good condition.

Thanks again for your helpful advice.

Regards

Peter

[wwheeler]

The cabs have more reinforcement underneath and so many pieces may be different. One other trick I used underneath was to spray a satin clear coat on top of everything. Makes cleaning a breeze. PPG makes a pre-flattened clear used for the new dull finish AMG cars and such. It is a really nice finish and easier to use than mixing in your own flattener which is trouble prone. 

[PeterPortugal]

Wallace,

Here is my part cleaned up and you can see it's curved. Maybe it shouldn't be...I will re-assemble it when I have fully cleaned out the tunnel of the years of accummulated grime.

The question I have relates back to your comment about "hyrdrogen embrittlement" or something similar, in relation to electroplating spring washers. Should I remove that thin metal spring component at the guide end before plating?

Regards

Peter

[wwheeler]

Pretty sure mine was not bent.

Good question about the spring. Hydrogen embrittlement is a real issue but sort of depends on how the spring is being used. I would not zinc plate split lockwashers or compression or tension springs unless you post treat them. Those typically are under big loads. It is the heavy loading that creates enough stress and exposes the weakening from embrittlement. I have seen this many times with split lock washers that I plated. I don’t do that anymore and just use new ones.

I don’t think this spring has a heavy load. In fact, the only thing it does is to keep the lever sliding in the slot from rattling. So I think it is Ok and I did plate mine earlier with no ill effects.

[PeterPortugal]

Hi Wallace,

I thought the bend might be Cabrio specific but a few judicious hits with a heavy hammer to straighten it seemed to improve the fit - it penetrates more securely into the guide now. How do components like that end up that way??

Now, the next question regards that pesky spring. Did you fit the lever with the spring in the guide or riding over the top of it?

Thanks as always for your rapid and sagely advice.

Peter

[wwheeler]

 I had to crawl underneath and take a look as I could not remember. On mine, the spring is inside the guide channel and is facing downward. Maybe that is not correct, but works just fine. That channel is quite a bit wider than the lever forks and the spring.

[PeterPortugal]

Thanks Wallace.

I would say looking at the parts diagram the spring should be on the upper side. On your car that is a relatively easy swap if you choose to do it but if everything works well why bother. On mine it would be a nightmare. It is dealing with the spring which is the issue. It is within the tunnel and was extremely challenging to remove with the car just on axle stands. Refitting it might be worse.

Still it will be an improvement in the end. The whole area was filthy like the car had been driven through a ploughed field (maybe it had !), the cotter pin was missing in the pin which fixes the handbrake cable to that central lever. Also the pin was not fitted through the spring, the cable is all twisted like a pigs tail. As we all probably know dealing with this sort of thing is what makes it rewarding !

Peter