Parking Brake Cables-IRS and M2300MR brakes

[sohcrates]

When I ordered my kit, I did not order rear brakes from FFR, and instead got the 2015 Mustang GT 13" Rear brakes from Mike Forte with my rear center section (M2300MR, FFR also sells these). I spent a couple of hours looking for my parking brake cables, and couldn't find them anywhere, and couldn't find them in my manifest either. So I emailed FFR and they told me that they only send them if you order rear brakes. That explained why I couldn't find them, so I then ordered some. I confirmed that the ends on the cables they sent would work with the brakes I have, and FFR told me that they would. They sent me the cables and this bracket. I can't figure out what its for at this point.

https://thefactoryfiveforum.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=163376&d=1646402529

Furthermore, I can't see how the cylindrical ends of the cable they sent will work with my brake calipers. Anyone have any revelation here on how this works?

https://thefactoryfiveforum.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=163378&d=1646402529

https://thefactoryfiveforum.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=158139&d=1638400201

[CraigS]

I think the black piece is to be welded to the frame somewhere near the rear of the trans tunnel to locate the front end of the park cable outer sheath. You need an adapter for the caliper end. I am pretty sure that FFR has them even though not listed in their parts section.

[sohcrates]

Thanks for responding. That's what I thought about the bracket, but my frame already has such a bracket at the back of the transmission tunnel. Not sure why they didn't mention the adapter when I specifically asked if the cable end would fit my brakes. I've emailed them and am waiting for a reply.

[Tooth]

I won't have my kit until July, but Mike advised I do the same thing with the rear brakes. I think I'm too anal to have different brakes in the front and back though. ;)

[Fixit]

I'm running the same setup (I think) on #9365. Here's a link to my thread, and how I tackled it. (https://thefactoryfiveforum.com/showthread.php?27544-40-Watt-Garage-6200-miles&p=335899&viewfull=1#post335899)

I'm thinking you need to get a set of the Mustang GT cables, and modify.

[BradCraig]

[QUOTE=sohcrates;485461]When I ordered my kit, I did not order rear brakes from FFR, and instead got the 2015 Mustang GT 13" Rear brakes from Mike Forte with my rear center section (M2300MR, FFR also sells these). I spent a couple of hours looking for my parking brake cables, and couldn't find them anywhere, and couldn't find them in my manifest either. So I emailed FFR and they told me that they only send them if you order rear brakes. That explained why I couldn't find them, so I then ordered some. I confirmed that the ends on the cables they sent would work with the brakes I have, and FFR told me that they would. They sent me the cables and this bracket. I can't figure out what its for at this point.



Is that bracket not already on your chassis?

[sohcrates]

BadCraig: Yes that bracket is already on my frame at the back of the transmission tunnel. That's why I am scratching my head about them selling me that and not the cable ends I appear to need. Even if I didn't have that bracket on my frame, I would have thought FFR might have mentioned that I would need to weld one on?

Tooth: What plans do you have for the front brakes? I spent a good month agonizing over what direction to go and reading and talking to people about it. There is no question that these rear brakes represent a great value as compared to the very pricey rear wilwoods. If I had known what I do now when I ordered my kit more than a year ago, I might have optioned the wilwoods all around, but I'm not sure. They are very expensive and I might have still ended up where I am now.

Fixit: I looked at your solution. Wow. Great writeup on your build, and awesome step by step pics and instructions. I am going to play with the cables a little bit with the wrong ends on them and see if I'm happy with the routing and check the length.

A few months back, I feel like someone told me I would need different ends, and that's why I asked FFR about it when I ordered the cables. I'm a little frustrated to have done the research and asked the right questions and to still be where I am. I am hoping that they indeed have an adapter that will make this simple. If not, I'll have to look into a solution like yours, now that I have already purchased the wrong cables and a bracket I don't need. Not all of the pictures in your post are coming through for me. Do you have one that shows what the cable end looks like on the caliper end of the cable? Now that you cut off the handle side swedged end, how did you attach the cable to the handle?

[Fixit]

163455

Now that you cut off the handle side swedged end, how did you attach the cable to the handle?

Yeah... some of the "links" are broken. The pic attached is the Ford cable that came with my "complete" rear axle.
I swedged on new cable ends. Lokar makes a clamp-device to do this, or I've seen a cable "end-stop" (steel sleeve with an Allen-screw lockdown gizmo) at hardware stores.)

[CraigS]

When I did my IRS retrofit I had the cables that came w/ my salvage rear suspension and I had the cables from my previous solid axle. Under the car up at the handle end there is generally a length of bare cable maybe a foot long. I cut both cables so I had the ends I needed and then joined them w/ standard clamps. I was nervous they might slip so I used three clamps per cable.
https://www.mcmaster.com/1973N12/
They are readily available at L and HD and most hardware stores.

[sohcrates]

Thanks for all of that guys. I haven't put the handle together yet, but the cables do seem excessively long as well. I wonder if fixit's method of shortening the sheath will apply to the FFR cables. Maybe I'll try to shorten them and find some of those Ford ends. We'll see what FFR says. Hopefully they get back to me tomorrow.

[sohcrates]

This has turned into a ridiculous project. FFR is basically telling me so sorry better luck next time, fab something up yourself. Not very impressed. If they had just answered my questions the first time, I would have just bought the mustang cables. I may still try to return the FFR cables and the useless bracket they sent me that I already have welded to my frame and buy the mustang cables that have the correct ends on them. That will still need shortening like fixit did. But I don't have access to welding or hydraulic presses and am nervous about my ability to get a new end on a cable. Those clamps make me nervous too. Am I crazy?

I also thought that a clevis like the one on the handle end could probably easily and reliably grab the hook on that caliper. Perhaps I could just add a clevis to the caliper end and call it a day. I'll have to see what I can find and if it fits on the cailper hook. I might even be able to use the wilwood ebrake adapter that comes with the kit. I'll see what I can come up with but it seems like this particular task shouldn't be so difficult.

[Fixit]

Don't get frustrated... These kits aren't an IKEA piece you can put together with a #2 screwdriver. Sometimes they take a bit of "imagineering".

If you're lucky enough to have two things nearby, you can put this together pretty quickly and economically.
1 - A "You Pull It" salvage yard. You could probably get the e-brake cables for $20 (there should be no shortage of wrecked Mustangs...)
2 - An old-school hardware store that has everything but space. (One of those with a 60' aisle of the little bins of doodads). You're looking for something called a "cable end-stop", they cost a few bucks each. Here's a link for what to look for (https://www.ebay.com/itm/143416514758) as an example.

(Just thought of something else... a garage door outfit might be able to crimp ends on you cables once they're prepped and ready)

[CraigS]

You can make an adapter. Go to the hardware store and buy an angle bracket. Drill, file, slot like this.
163595
This is not to proper scale. The yellow slot needs to be wide enough to just fit the cable in. The green hole needs to be just large enough for the ball end to fit through. The blue slot needs to fit over the hook on the lever. Overall length needs to be as short as possible so you don't use up all the room from the lever to where the cable sheath fits. When you assemble it, it works like this.
163596

[sohcrates]

Thanks guys for all the help and support. I was getting a little frustrated and I was chasing my own tail over something minor. I understand that this entire building a car thing is going to require some custom solutions, and I have no problem with that in general. I have an engineering degree and mechanical background and love to tinker. I wasn't anticipating having to fabricate and engineer on this particular safety critical item, and had already spent research time and effort to avoid it. I sometimes get frustrated that you can't actually call Factory Five and talk to someone, and that customer support is not very good over email either. It seems like they aren't really listening to everything you say when you contact them. In this case they sold me a bunch of stuff that wasn't really ideal for me without taking any time to find out what I did need. They seem to rely heavily on this amazing forum to do a lot of their support for them. If their support was half as good as this forum is they would win awards. So thank you both for taking the time to make thoughtful suggestions and post pictures and links, and also for providing a reality check.

CraigS:

Thanks for those drawings. That's exactly what I was talking about using the wilwood e-brake adapters in the kit:

https://thefactoryfiveforum.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=163601&d=1646757716

Only problem is that I didn't get those in my kit either. So I could make some as you suggest. Not too difficult.

Fixit: great suggestions. Do you feel that the set screw type ball end is strong enough? I will certainly end up trying that if I need to. For now, since I already have FFR cables and will need to pay to ship them back to FFR to return them. I think I am going to try to work with them. The first thing I'm going to try is this: only $12 from advance auto parts. It looks to me like this will fit right over the hook I have on the caliper, especially with some creative bending of either the connector or the cailper hook.

https://thefactoryfiveforum.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=163600&d=1646757716

Then I will have to try to find something to act as a retaining clip to hold the cable sheath in the bracket on the caliper.

[rich grsc]

There isn't a need for a retaining clip on the outer cable at the caliper. Once both ends are in place it can't fall out

[sohcrates]

It was my intention not to put any clips in. Its a little hard to see how its all going to fit and how much tension is going to be on it before its all put together. some brake line clips ought to do if they're needed. The angle that the cable comes off the caliper makes it not want to sit in the bracket at all, but we'll see how it works when its all put together.

[sohcrates]

Though its not the prettiest, I'm pretty sure this idea will work, although the bracket is just about 1/8" longer than I would like. I won't be able to tell until I put it all together, but hopefully there is enough room for the cable to pull on the hook enough to fully engage the brake. Just pushing on the hook as hard as I can its OK, but I feel like I'll be able to pull it a little further with the handle from the cockpit.

https://thefactoryfiveforum.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=163609&d=1646772856

[Railroad]

Lowes Hrdwe sells a swagging tool, less than $30. They also sell lugs to be crimped, double and single strand holes.
I cut the lugs off my cables, removed the plastic sheathing, put some Loctite bushing and sleeve retainer on the cable and crimped the lugs on. It has been holding up, without issues.
Hope this gives you some options.

[sohcrates]

It does railroad. I think that would be cleaner for sure. The trick is finding the right cable end to hook onto the caliper. I'll see what they have.

[CraigS]

Your picture, and concern about having enough movement, is why I said make overall length as short as possible. Another thought would be if you found a clevis that could work. I didn't go to enough detail here but these guys have a LOT of cable actuator hardware. This link goes right to clevis but they have many other parts.
https://midwestcontrol.com/shop/products/clevis-and-yoke-ends

[sohcrates]

Looking around, I am having trouble finding the right end fitting to swage on. If only Ford would make it easy to get the one they use.... By the time I buy the correct end and a swaging tool, I am better off buying Ford cables and going with Fixit's method of shortening the handle end. And then there's the question of whether a hand swaged end will come off after repeated use. I am starting to think that CraigS idea is the way to go. The brackets I found are a little too long, I think, so I'll go find some angle brackets to work on.

[sohcrates]

OK, I think I have this little problem resolved. I went with CraigS suggestion and made myself some brackets. I started with a couple of angle brackets:

https://thefactoryfiveforum.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=163735&d=1646952104

I used the existing holes in the brackets and enlarged them for the caliper hooks, then drilled holes to get the cable ends through and slots for the cable. I smoothed everything out as best as I could to avoid chafing the cable jacket. Not the prettiest, but definitely happy with how they turned out functionally.

https://thefactoryfiveforum.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=163736&d=1646952104

https://thefactoryfiveforum.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=163737&d=1646952104

Having this all put together, I assembled the handle and ran the cables. Now I see why some people change the cable routing and add pulleys.

Other than that, the only concern I had was that the passenger side pulls the hook on the caliper a little bit further than the driver's side. Should I be worried?

passenger side:

https://thefactoryfiveforum.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=163747&d=1646952132

driver's side:

https://thefactoryfiveforum.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=163748&d=1646952132

[Fixit]

A properly swaged end is as strong as the parent material, so it shouldn't come off under repeated use. The sleeve material "melds" into the weave/spiral of the cable, practically becoming one.
I wouldn't worry about not having the same throw from side to side at this stage of the game. It doesn't take much more than a few clicks on the handle to get the e-brakes to lock up tight. You've got new parts that haven't "bedded in" or gotten to know each other yet. After a few hundred road miles things will equalize, and you'll probably have to adjust some slack out of the cables at the handle clevis.

[rich grsc]

A properly swaged end is as strong as the parent material, so it shouldn't come off under repeated use. The sleeve material "melds" into the weave/spiral of the cable, practically becoming one.
I wouldn't worry about not having the same throw from side to side at this stage of the game. It doesn't take much more than a few clicks on the handle to get the e-brakes to lock up tight. You've got new parts that haven't "bedded in" or gotten to know each other yet. After a few hundred road miles things will equalize, and you'll probably have to adjust some slack out of the cables at the handle clevis.
That is the issue I've seen with these 'do it yourself' swaging tools. they just don't have enough power to properly 'squish' the sleeve on the cable. I used one from Lowe's and the second or third time I used it, it pulled right off. It really should be done with a hydraulic swagger.

[sohcrates]

Thanks fixit. You're up might early..., or really late. The trick is in the proper swaging. I didn't have confidence that I would be able to accomplish that with a $30 swaging tool from lowe's, and was hoping to avoid having to take the whole thing to a professional. Thanks for the tip on the uneven brake actuation. I sort of figured that, but everything is uncharted terrirory for me at this point, and it makes me feel better for someone who's been there to vocalize it.

I think I will be tackling your pulley mod rerouting the cable over the frame tube next. I liked your solution. The lokar bracket also looks good, but seems hard to get these days. Did you ever do anything about a skid plate under the handle bracket? I already don't like the way the clevis rubs under the bracket, and it looks like moving the cables over the top of the frame is going to make the angle worse, causing worse rubbing.

Thanks as always for the help and support!

[Lidodrip]

I would recommend going to a local sailmaker or yacht rigger for professional swaging. They do it all the time.

[sohcrates]

I posted all of this on my build thread, but thought I would also wrap things up on this thread in case anyone with this setup is ever looking at this.

I am picking up where I left off after hitting a wall with the parking brake and studying the solutions from some others, noteably John and Chris, who posted above. I came up with a stainless pulley from Amazon, and decided to fabricate a bracket from 3/16" steel to offset the pulley towards the center of the car, where the now rerouted parking brake cables come forward.

https://thefactoryfiveforum.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=175009&d=1668694041

I bolted the pulley to the bracket and the bracket to the frame. It's a nice wide pulley that accomodates both cables fine.

https://thefactoryfiveforum.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=175010&d=1668694063

It succeeded in gertting the cables over and away from the big frame tube. The cable run isn't quite straight, given the placement of the cables and the handle, but it seems to work. I also sourced the lokar cable block from summit and a clevis rod end from McMaster.

https://thefactoryfiveforum.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=175014&d=1668694063

I cut the ends off the cable with this. Worked pretty well.

https://thefactoryfiveforum.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=175012&d=1668694063

I was having a really hard time pulling on the cables to get enough tension into them. I ended up pushing the spring lever on the caliper itself to set the brake and then I secured it that way with zipties. I then tightened down the set screws on the cable block and cut the zipties. This seemed to preload the cable enough to put tension in it. The problem I am having is at the handle. The carriage bolt on the back side of the handle bracket is catching on the cable linkage and getting stuck. I couldn't get the cable low enough with the pulley.

https://thefactoryfiveforum.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=175015&d=1668694189

After a whole day's effort to find all the hardware I needed and fabricate and paint that bracket, and get the cables tensioned, I was pretty frustrated, so I had to walk away for a while.

I think I am going to try to move the back of the handle bracket under the frame, which will both lower the linkage and turn the carriage bolt over, so maybe it won't catch on the linkage anymore. I see Chris has his carriage bolt with the head down and a similar linkage, and this seems to work for him. Fingers crossed. Like Chris, I also see the need to put a cushion clamp in to locate the cable better near the rear suspension. My mustang brakes have a completely different orientation of the parking brake though, so it'll be in a different place. Pictures to follow once that's all set.

[sohcrates]

I guess I just needed a break...

I took the handle out and turned over the rear carriage bolt. I know it's not supposed to go this way, but it fit in the round hole well enough and tightened down fine. While I had it apart, I adjusted the position of the entire bracket, and it all looks good. The handle has plenty of clearance from the trans tunnel and the cable linkage slides over the rounded head of the carriage bolt just fine. The cables route through the pulley, and don't touch the frame.

https://thefactoryfiveforum.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=175038&d=1668724775

https://thefactoryfiveforum.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=175040&d=1668724775

https://thefactoryfiveforum.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=175041&d=1668724788

This time I used clamps to close the parking brake calipers.

https://thefactoryfiveforum.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=175036&d=1668724775

With them closed like this, I could set the tension in the Lokar cable block with the handle in a mid position. Releasing the clamps, the cable tension is enough to have the cables stay in the pulley, and after about 5 clicks, the brake is fully set. I then trimmed the ends of the cable and left some room for future adjustment. Mission finally accomplished. I just have to put a couple of cushion clamps on the cables near the rear suspension.

https://thefactoryfiveforum.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=175042&d=1668724788

[Railroad]

Great work. I used some similar solutions, including flipping the carriage head bolt.
Have you considered putting a 1/4" spacer between your self made pulley bracket and the frame.
It may be a juggling act to clear both the bolt and the 4" frame tube.
Longer bolts will be the only change and it looks like your cable and linkage will clear everything.
With the brake cables tight, they may clear, as is. The pics make it look like they will drag.
Again, nice work. Mine do drag some.

[sohcrates]

Thanks Railroad,

I did consider that. In the end, I decided that it would move the cables closer to the top of the 4" frame tube, and I wasn't sure it would drastically improve the clearance at the linkage. I think it's working OK. The cables move fine and aren't dragging. The linkage does rub on that carriage bolt, but its not bad. I'm going to give it some time marinating in my head and if it worries me down the road I will try exactly that.