Fly Off Handbrake

[birdie205 0]

On my old avenger rally car it was possible to reverse the handbrake mechanism , to allow the button to be pressed in to park the car i.e. locked and become a fly off handbrake if you did not use the button, does anyone know if this setup is possible with the 205 handbrake and if so has anyone got details of how to do this ?

 

cheers

 

jon

[welshpug 1,655]

it certainly is possible but I can;t remember how its done, its just a simple mod to the ratchet mechanism IIRC.

[cybernck 402 1 Cars]

The alternative way would be to press the button and drill through the handle and button using a small drill bit.

 

That way you could insert a nail or a pin in, to keep the button pressed and remove it when you want it back to normal.

 

P.S. You should really leave the (rally) car in first gear or reverse when parking, as hot rear brakes will let go when they cool down.

[Tom Fenton 1,540]

I did this mod to one of my Minis years ago, it works a treat, to lock handbrake you pull the lever up and press the button to dog in the ratchet pawl. To release the handbrake you pull the lever up briefly then drop it. The rest of the time its a flyoff. I cannot think off the top of my head how the 205 lever works, I am sure with a bit of ingenuity it would be simple to sort. On the Mini it was a case of removing the lug, welding it to the other side of the pivot, moving the spring.

 

Nik, ref your rear brakes cooling, only the case on rear discs as the disc cools and shrinks away from the pads. Drums grip tighter as the drum cools and grips the shoes.

[cybernck 402 1 Cars]

That's correct. I presumed his car had discs in the back. Still, it's a sensible thing to do anyway.

[Turbo7379 3]

Been a while since I did it but I think you take out the pawl in the lever, turn it round & refit. It was fairly simple to do so you should be able to work out.

[Baz 421]

The hard bit is removing the pawl.

[kenp 3]

Topical thread as I've just been thinking about doing this to my Rallye recently - the Escort was simple to do IIRC but it seems that the 205 levers are more of a pain (from Googling) - I'll get hold of a second hand one and have a look at some point.

[harryskid 193]

Mines been done like that but i never bother with the pin, just don't touch the button unless parking !

[Baz 421]

The hard bit is removing the pawl.

 

Apologies i'll re-phrase that, it's not the pawl itself, it's the hardened pin that holds it in, it's extremely tough!