Topic: Re: 1981 emergency brake questions
in Forum: C3 Driveline Components

Please use Bairs. They are dedicated to our C3VR. Brian has bent over backwards to accommodate our venue. They KNOW Corvettes. Not just a catalog store. Get the good stuff and do it once. Once and done!
I also looked for and was unable to find Stainless Steel Brake on line. I'd like to use stainless parts also, I'm not going to use the cheapest parts I can find because I totally agree with you on the have to do it again. It sounds and looks like a fair price for a good part would be about 40 to 60 dollars for both sides. I think that Summit was also the place I seen some. Just going to shop around for best price and quality. I'm going to look into the other 2 places mentioned in the other post tomorrow.
Here's Zip's parts: https://www.zip-corvette.com/68-82-c3/brakes/corvette-park-brake-system/park-brake-packages.html
Here's the How To: http://www.corvettemagazine.com/tech-articles/1967-1982-corvette-parking-brake-rebuild/
There's lots of YouTube videos on it also.
BTW it's not an emergency brake cuz it will not stop a moving car very well. I tried it once just to see. 😉
1973 L-82 4 spd
I went to Bairs web site and was unable to get any hits on the parts I was looking for when I typed them in his parts locator bars at the top of page.
Here ya go: http://www.bairs.com/page71.asp
Then scroll down the page a bit.
|UPDATED|9/30/2019 9:10:37 PM (AZT)|/UPDATED|
Thanks for all the links you 2 guys posted both places are reasonably priced. I was just setting here after looking at both of the parts web sites and thinking to myself, you know when you start messing around with these old cars the next problem is just around the corner. : )
Once the rotor/brake drum is pulled, there is limited room between the EM brake shoes and the axle flange to get to the springs. That may be the reason he wanted to pull the axle out a bit.
And it is right that this is really a parking brake rather then an emergency brake. Mine holds better in reverse than forward, which isn't saying much.
Hi Bill, educate me on this Please, what does he mean by pulling the axle out a little ? I didn't ask him and now I know I should have. it looks to me as if that had to be done you could take the u joint closets to that wheel loose and that would give you the room you needed. The reason I ask is in my personal opinion the labor cost for him to do it was high. If it was going to be necessary to pull the axles out for a few more dollars replace all the axles u joints at that time also.
|UPDATED|10/1/2019 8:55:02 AM (AZT)|/UPDATED|
While I do most of the work on my '75, I do take it to my mechanic for some issues. At the time I did not know what it took to change the EM brake shoes, and since he had it in for something else, I had him do it. His helper had quite a time getting the shoes back on because of the tight space. He did not pull the axles but managed to get the hold-down springs in place anyway.
That is about all I know about the issue, but was glad after the fact that I had the mechanic do the job for me.