To E-brake, Or Not To E-brake.............that Is The Question.

CarMichael Angelo

my rearend will smell so minty fresh,
15 Year Member
Nov 29, 1999
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Birmingham, al
It's been a stalling point for me.

Originally, the plan was to convert the interior over to 87+ Mustang, and use a tunnel mounted E-brake handle. So in keeping w/ that plan, I threw away the foot actuated e-brake mechanism that came stock on the G Monster.
Now that plan has changed.

I'm starting on the interior endo-skeleton that will be made up of 1.250 thin wall D.O.M. The dash, console(s) arm rests, door pulls will all be one continous bar that completely surrounds the driver, and passenger. The lower console will only have the ball for the shifter sticking through a small slot.

Now the reason for qualifying all of that junk is, that shifter handle, and the center arm rest are all I want visible running down the middle between the two seats. That leaves me w/ two options:

#1. I restore the foot actuated e-brake. That in turn, means more fabrication as I cut the old cable pivot, and anchor points away when I installed my Matrix extreme wanna-be SF connectors.
#2. I do without.
If this was a manual trans car I'd be more motivated to go w/ opt 1, as the instances where the ability to hold the car w/ your hand, while your two feet are working a throttle, and a clutch are warranted.
But it snot.
If it's more a matter of holding the car when parking on a hill to keep it off the park pawl, then there are hydraulic "hill holders" I can more easily adapt for that purpose.
I just have never had an instance where the brakes failed where I actually needed an "emergency brake".

What are the thoughts?
 
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That's a tough one. Hmmm....I'venever heard of the hydraulic units you mentioned, how hard would it be to replace the hardware for the foot brake?
 
No ebrake gets my vote. As you said in so many words, if it was a stick car then no brainer...

You don't live on a mountain! I guess...
I've also never had the dire need for an ebrake. Granted I don't have the "experience" that you do
 
I say that for the rare occasion that you 'might' need and e-brake; make yourself a nice set of wheel chocks that are connected together. You can even mount them in the trunk area so that they're always there if required.
 
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Meh... A little more welding and it'll be fine.


car-falls-off-cliff-o.gif
 
I vote e-brake. I have gotten into such the habit of setting mine every time I get out of the car because all I have ever owned were manual cars. I do drive an auto at work, and I set the brakes on those too, just out no habit and shear paranoia.

Joe
 
An ebrake is not for parking, it's an "emergency" brake. If you have ever had the brakes go out on your car, you will never regret properly maintaining your ebrake.

Kurt
 
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I haven't had an E-brake on my past two stangs... wish I did. I've had my brakes go out twice on my last 85, luckily it was a manual. Somehow survival mode kicked in and learned how to slow down with the trans. Definitely frightening when they go out, especially with loved ones in the car. E-brake for sure :nice:
 
I have never used an "e-brake", I like to call it a park brake. On the Mustangs that I own, (3 of them) I have never used the park brake. Just stick it in gear and call it good. On my truck I will use the park brake when hooking and un-hooking the trailer, but otherwise it is never used.
 
An ebrake is not for parking, it's an "emergency" brake. If you have ever had the brakes go out on your car, you will never regret properly maintaining your ebrake.

Kurt


I think the purpose of it can be argued both ways, not that I intend to sit here and get in an argument about it. But, I think most of us 5 speed owners can attest that a 5 speed cannot be parked on a hill in the same manner as an auto car without the assistance of the parking/emergency brake. My old house had a pretty steep driveway. My Mustang and my Ranger, both 5 speeds, would start to roll the second I took my foot off the brake. Without the parking/emergency brake, I could have never parked in my driveway. My wife, on the other hand, would routinely park her Edge without the parking/emergency brake without issue, even though I kept on her to use it. Either way, I still vote for it.

Joe
 
I have never used an "e-brake", I like to call it a park brake. On the Mustangs that I own, (3 of them) I have never used the park brake. Just stick it in gear and call it good. On my truck I will use the park brake when hooking and un-hooking the trailer, but otherwise it is never used.
Same for me. With the exception of my incident where I backed the last car out of the garage w/o the hydraulic brakes hooked up, and almost ran the car into the wifes' mobile home above ground pool trying to get it stopped.
http://www.stangnet.com/mustang-forums/threads/disaster-well-almost.832157/

Other than that, I've never needed an "emergency brake".

Besides,...if the main hydraulic system wasn't hooked up, the damn back up sure as hell wouldn't have been either.
 
For liability reasons, no manufacturer is going to label it an E-brake. It's a parking brake according to their terminology and usually designed only with parking in mind. The design of the hydraulic brake system usually acts as an emergency system in itself, and if you find yourself relying on mechanical activation of the rear brakes in a fully loaded vehicle at highway speeds, you really are down to your last option before pulling a fred flintstone.

Now, it could be used, sometimes with success, in an emergency. Not gonna argue that, but I could also use a baseball bat to beat someone up pretty effectively, even if that wasn't it's original intention.
 
I've always referred to an as an ebrake. whatever you call it, it sure is useful to have it if you lose your hydraulics. It's also nice to have if your car can't stay on a hill in gear very well because the ring gap has gotten as wide as my ex's vagina.

Kurt
 
To me, this is a parking brake:
$(KGrHqYOKpME3tfpzupFBN8MpCYG+Q~~_12.JPG

Rear brake line goes in, and out to rear brakes. You step on the brake, push the button, and a angled one way valve holds that line pressure on the rear brakes until you step on the pedal again. I used to use one of these back in the 90's on the front brakes as a poor mans' line lock. (cost about 20 bucks back then, now it's double that)
 
I use it in all my cars auto or not. Rather be safe than sorry. All the new cars with automatic parking brake it clearly says PARKING or the (P) symbel:shrug:
 
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To me, this is a parking brake:
$(KGrHqYOKpME3tfpzupFBN8MpCYG+Q~~_12.JPG

Rear brake line goes in, and out to rear brakes. You step on the brake, push the button, and a angled one way valve holds that line pressure on the rear brakes until you step on the pedal again. I used to use one of these back in the 90's on the front brakes as a poor mans' line lock. (cost about 20 bucks back then, now it's double that)
This gets my vote! Thread closed....