Fly-off handbrake...

[Randy Forbes]

<span style="font-weight: bold">A modification I had done on this car twenty-five years ago needed redoing, so with a freshly rechromed handbrake lever, I set about to make a new pawl.</span>

<span style="font-weight: bold">Back in the eighties, working with a hacksaw and a file, I made a pawl from 1/4" thick aluminum. Now I knew it wasn't going to last, but twenty-five years isn't bad for a prototype!</span>

<span style="font-weight: bold">The fly-off pawl for the 21st Century is made from 1/4" steel.</span>

<span style="font-weight: bold">A hacksaw still proves itself indespensable</span>

<span style="font-weight: bold">Quick test to verify hole lineup</span>

<span style="font-weight: bold">An endmill makes short work of shaping the pawl</span>

<span style="font-weight: bold">A few minutes with a bench grinder (stone + Scotchbrite wheel)</span>

<span style="font-weight: bold">Voila!</span>

<span style="font-weight: bold">At rest, with button released</span>

<span style="font-weight: bold">Raised, button pressed, brake shoe tension holding pawl in rack</span>

<span style="font-weight: bold">Lifting lever automatically releases pawl without touching button</span>

 

[andrea]

Randy
a skillful job - a very good and easy mod-
Tanks -I will repeat it on mine
Andrea

 

[Randy Forbes]

Randy
a skillful job - a very good and easy mod-
Tanks -I will repeat it on mine
Andrea

Be my guest, but you know what it's there for...

Handbrake turns!

 

[GregW]

Be my guest, but you know what it's there for...

Handbrake turns!

Guess you were never a bootlegger. Then you'd have a separate brake handle for each rear wheel. Now yer' makin turns. :wink:

 

[BUNDYRUM]

Hello Randy Forbes,

Nice to see someone else doing this.

The 1st one I made was on my BN1 back in about 1974. I used a piece of 1/8" thick steel for the pawl and case hardened it myself.

The 2nd one was on my BN7 in about 1989 and also used 1/8" thick steel only this time I had the pawl hard faced by the weldor at work.

I first saw the idea in the Peter Browning book Healeys and Austin-Healeys that came out in about 1972 I think (not that it matters here). It is in the "tuning the Sprite" section.

I copied the picture and then refined it my way to remove all the sharp corners and give them a large radius in their place.

I would like to do the same to my Acura but there are other more important things to do with my time unfortunately.

Once you have used it you won't be able to understand why handbrake levers were never like that to begin with. Actually many years ago fly-off handbrakes were common.

Best regards,

bundyrum.

 

[Randy Forbes]

Hello Randy Forbes,

Nice to see someone else doing this.

The 1st one I made was on my BN1 back in about 1974. I used a piece of 1/8" thick steel for the pawl and case hardened it myself.

The 2nd one was on my BN7 in about 1989 and also used 1/8" thick steel only this time I had the pawl hard faced by the weldor at work.

I first saw the idea in the Peter Browning book Healeys and Austin-Healeys that came out in about 1972 I think (not that it matters here). It is in the "tuning the Sprite" section.

I copied the picture and then refined it my way to remove all the sharp corners and give them a large radius in their place.

I would like to do the same to my Acura but there are other more important things to do with my time unfortunately.

Once you have used it you won't be able to understand why handbrake levers were never like that to begin with. Actually many years ago fly-off handbrakes were common.

Best regards,

bundyrum.

I was first made aware of fly-off handbrakes after buying my first MGB (08/73). I almost immediately bought the <span style="font-style: italic">Competition Preparation Handbook</span>, and one of the listed parts was the fly-off pawl and actuationg rod.

It was years later, when working at Austin-Healey West (San Francisco, circa 1978) that I encountered my first car fitted with a fly-off handbrake; I had to move an XK140DHC out of a bay, and I couldn't release the handbrake, until one of the guys said "don't touch the button (just pull on the lever)."

Seems that I remember aftermarket kits being available for most popular sportscars through places like MG Mitten and Vilem B. Haan (sp?) too. I'd love to browse through one of their catalogs today, if anyone has a copy... :wink:

 

[Cottontop]

Randy,

As an alternative to handbrake turns, there are always HORSEPOWER turns.

 

[Randy Forbes]

I can do that in my ///M Rdstrs, but it's been a looong time since I tried it in the Healey.

 

[BUNDYRUM]

Hello Cottontop,

The main problem with horsepower turns is you knock over more cones. The idea is to go around them not over the top.

Best regards,

bundyrum.

 

[Cottontop]

Hi Peter,

I have learned the hard way that the key to success when having large amounts of horsepower is to apply it with a great deal of finesse.

Me... I easily get lost in the sea of orange cones. That picture of me smokin' things up was taken a few years ago on my second attempt at Auto-Xing. I got lost after the second gate and just went to the center of the course and cut a couple of NASCAR-type donuts before retiring to the pits. I didn't win anything but a DNF, but to this day... EVERYBODY remembers my run.

Here is my daughter on her first ever Auto-X run. She has obviously adopted the "Over-the-Top" or "cone slide" style that you suggest. That's my girl ! ! !

We have a NTAHC competitor who has made the fastest run of the meet in a V8 Healey while pulling a 2 wheel trailer with a nearly full beer keg on board.

Through the years, I have found that while the popular saying, "Winning isn't everything, it's the ONLY thing", may be true, Losing can be a heck of a LOT MORE fun.

Tim

 

[GregW]

We have a NTAHC competitor who has made the fastest run of the meet in a V8 Healey while pulling a 2 wheel trailer with a nearly full beer keg on board.

Was the beer drinkable after the run? If not, he should be banned for life from the competition. He can still show up with the keg though.

 

[Cottontop]

Greg,

As I remember, that was the second keg.

By then, ANYTHING was drinkable !

Tim

 

[Cottontop]

On the other end of that sliding (pun intended) scale of "Finesse" is the Brute Force application of horseypower.

HERE is a pic that illustrates the brute force approach.

This peg-leg stripe is due to my stock Healey open rear end and is on the lighter side of the car, but if you look closely, about 10' out, you can see the automatic transmission shift point from 1 to 2 and about halfway out, the shift from 2 to 3.

I got out of it before it ever really hooked up as I was moving at a pretty good clip by then and there was traffic coming up.

I like finesse as much as the next guy and have nothing but respect for stock Healeys and their owners, but if you've never been in a V8 Healey, you don't know what you're missing....

Tim

 

[Jerry]

At the Autocross in San Diego I used the horsepower turns method to get my fastest time. That was a lot of fun and I would love to do that course at the stadium again. The Triumph group in San Francisco is having an Autocross at the Great America parking lot in a month or so. I think it is $35 to run.
I have noticed that my BN4 is much faster than my BJ8. I keep hoping that the BJ8 is not broken in yet.
We enter a car in the Lemons race (24hoursoflemons.com), and I have to admit that the autocross is more fun. You don't have to worry about crazy drivers hitting you.

Jerry
BN4
BJ8

 

[Randy Forbes]

Healeys are a lot of work to muscle around an autocross course, compared to these

While the BMWs sound very good with the right exhaust (inline 6-cyl) I never heard a__correctly tuned__Healey that didn't sound awesome!

 

[Legal Bill]

Hey randy, I think that big washer underneath your seatbelt eye bolt is supposed to go on the other side of the floor board. Maybe you have one on both sides???

 

[Legal Bill]

On the other end of that sliding (pun intended) scale of "Finesse" is the Brute Force application of horseypower.

HERE is a pic that illustrates the brute force approach.

This peg-leg stripe is due to my stock Healey open rear end and is on the lighter side of the car, but if you look closely, about 10' out, you can see the automatic transmission shift point from 1 to 2 and about halfway out, the shift from 2 to 3.

I got out of it before it ever really hooked up as I was moving at a pretty good clip by then and there was traffic coming up.

I like finesse as much as the next guy and have nothing but respect for stock Healeys and their owners, but if you've never been in a V8 Healey, you don't know what you're missing....

Tim

Many years ago, my brother regularly drag raced a BJ-8 at an 1/8 mile strip. He tells me that he was able to "fool" the open differential by lowering the air pressure in the left rear tire to about 18 psi and raising it on the right side to something like 40-45 psi. The car would hook up both sides and leave a skinny black strip on one side, and fatter one on the other.

 

[Randy Forbes]

Hey randy, I think that big washer underneath your seatbelt eye bolt is supposed to go on the other side of the floor board. Maybe you have one on both sides???

Yes, both sides :wink:

(sorry about the flash refelection off the washer...)

 

[Legal Bill]

Very interesting differential brace, randy.