Flickering handbrake light

[HPsauce]

Originally Posted by HPsauce

As for the broken switch I'm going to try and undo the screw and fish it out through the gap beside the handbrake handle, it looks just about plausible

But it isn't.

There's a tiny self-tapping cross-head screw that is directly under the handbrake handle. It will be a swine to get out even with the trim all removed.

I did manage to extract the "plunger" part of the switch though, this had jammed in the highest position so was stopping the handbrake handle going all the way down.

As for the wood-effect trim, trying to fix it using the pinch bolt as intended just resulted in the little bracket breaking off. I guess that's why the duct tape was there to provide some sort of padding and/or flexibility.
So, I'll revert to the double-sided adhesive tape/pads as recommended above.
I think I've finally given up and will live without a handbrake warning light...........

[David's8]

Sorry it hasnt been fully successful. You have now forced me to do soemthing about my handbrake trim. It was detached from the C-shape plastic clip and so didnt move with the lever as intended. I prized the C clip out of the hole where it had been jammed using, surprise surprise, duct tape. I am now confused as to whether there should be another component which is gripped/squeezed by the pinch bolt (which i presume, is the small machine screw/bolt) immediately below the aperture into which the C-clip fits.

It would appear to me that the you could manufacture a fitting which was glued to the trim and through which the machine screw/bolt could pass?

My trim is Vavona by the way. Is your handbrake trim complete with C-clip attached?

[HPsauce]

Yes, my spare is Vavona and complete, but does have a thin crack across the top lacquer above the c-clip, generally not visible TBH.
I'll bring it along to the June meet if I remember. It's part number 4D0 864 375 F.

I'm a bit mystified how the trim movement is supposed to work, It clearly is supposed to lift up at the back (due to the curved slot) when the handbrake is off, to align with the fixed trim. But the way it's pulled forward to do that seems woefully inadequate.

I'm going to have a closer look at it sometime, with my thinking cap on.

[David's8]

Thats good of you HP. Beer tokens will be ready. In the meantime, I will try and see if there is a better way of making this detail work. ( as you seem to be doing)

[HPsauce]

It's very odd. There needs to be a few degrees of rotation, which can only be accommodated as designed by flexing the neck joining the c-clip to the main trim.
That's what broke on mine earlier today - but it will be fixed back with superglue (already done) and araldite (extra reinforcement to come). The duct tape presumably gives just enough "wiggle room" even though it's a pretty tight fit in the slot.

The thin neck can only really be there to flex, otherwise there would be a sturdier connection. But the material is really too brittle.
And the c-clip is way bigger than the bolt it goes over (but a lot smaller than the slot) so there's a lot of slack in there - no wonder it doesn't work well.

Another way of doing it would be to have some washers on the bolt, but that would need a wider slot which it clearly isn't designed for.
Alternatively some sort of rubber block that the clip connects to and goes over the bolt. But the clip has no edges to hold this and the bolt is too high up to allow one anyway.

When I've finished aralditing mine together I'm going to reinstate the layer of duct tape, but also add additional material (rubber pads or extra duct tape) on both inner faces of the c-clip so that it's only just big enough to fit over the bolt. Currently it's over 10mm wide and the bolt is only about 3mm dia. The bolt I'll leave fairly slack.

[David's8]

Originally Posted by HPsauce

Alternatively some sort of rubber block that the clip connects to and goes over the bolt. But the clip has no edges to hold this and the bolt is too high up to allow one anyway.

.

That solution was the one i had in mind. I thought that, perhap, something like that had been there but had dropped out.

[HPsauce]

In the end I just reinforced the neck a bit with araldite and padded out the "jaws" of the c-clip internally with araldite and duct tape so there's less slack but some "give".
I left the bolt fairly slack so the trim can be pushed in and lifted out with minimal force, but is tight enough to not come loose. Seems to work OK.

David, I've stored the Vavona trim in a padded bag behind the boot panel above my battery; remind me it's there if I forget it when I get to Tyndrum.

PS As for the warning light I'm thinking about fitting a microswitch as part of the pad that the handbrake rests on when released, immediately behind the leather handle grip.
It ought to be fairly easy once I've worked out the geometry.

[David's8]

I have re-built the support for the C-clip with a piece of plastic (from a toothbrush! - Dezzy would be proud of me) and Araldite. Going to see this afternoon how much movement there is before doing what you have done with the "jaws".

If this is succesful I may not need the trim as the small scratches also polished out using your technique.

[David's8]

Well, not very successful The clip broke off at the Araldited join. I will try and roughen the surface and glue again.

[HPsauce]

I rejoined my broken one (now on the car) with superglue first, but it was intact so the faces matched. Left it a fair while to be sure it was cured.

Then I added epoxy resin in stages to thicken the pillar quite a bit. It was a thicker quick-setting make, not actually araldite, so didn't "run" or require any taping. Cured it quickly in a gas oven on the lowest setting, bottom shelf.

My Vavona spare will stay in the car; unlike some people here I'm not obsessed with weight-saving.