Parking brake

Since the chassis now runs and is (illegally) drivable, I figured I should have some sort of parking brake other than a block of wood.

Factory Five puts the parking brake handle in the stock Cobra location, i.e. on the right side of the transmission tunnel. There are two important points to consider about that.

First, in a right-hand drive car, it would be next to the drivers left knee and easy to release. However, in the good ol' USA, we sit on the left side of the car to drive so it's difficult to release the brake.

Second, and most important, if the driver has gone through the exercise of buckling the safety harness it's impossible to reach the brake handle to release it without unbuckling.

In reading the forums at FFCARS.COM (previously known as ffcobra.com but the name was changed due to a lawsuit by Mr. Shelby) I found that a Fiero brake handle could be used and mounted to the left of the drivers seat.

What's special about the Fiero handle to make it so desirable? It allows the brake to be set and then the handle to be pushed back down to flat, thus allowing unfettered ingress and egress to the drivers seat. To release the brake, you just pull the handle back up, push the release button and push it back down again.

No climbing over a parking brake lever and potentially hurting oneself. That's a good thing.



Of course, it also presents some fabrication issues since the FFR brake cable locations can't be used.

I ended up running the cable out behind the drivers seat and making a couple of brackets. One to hold the cable from the handle to the tee, and another to mount the cables that go to the brake calipers. Nothing too hard to do but there's way too much cable under there for my tastes. Someday I'll figure out the proper lengths and find someone to cut and swedge the cables.

I also had to double-over the front cable and use a clamp to attach it to the stock Mustang tee.



Happily it all works well and holds the car securely. The last thing I need to do is put some sort of indicator light on the dash to let me know when the brake is set. In my other cars I can just look at the handle and tell, but not this one.