I got all my tape off the frame and my leaky break reservoir replaced so now I'm back to forward progress. ...Putting together the emergency brake lever. I thought this was a fun little sub assembly project.

I remember reading on the forum that the ratcheting teeth tend to wear down if used frequently. I decided to dig into that a bit. I measured the hardness of these two parts and analyzed the material. It's no surprise they wear out. The material is a low carbon steel and the hardness is 75 HRB, which is pretty soft. To remedy this, I had the parts carburized, which is a process that case hardens the parts by basically infusing carbon from the atmosphere into the heated steel. This brought the outer skin (approx .030") of the part up to 60 HRC, which is much harder. The hard outside surface will reduce wear greatly and the softer inside of the part will still allow it to flex slightly. I think it'll be the perfect solution for these pieces.


Here's the complete emergency brake assembly. I will tear this back apart to paint it.


Installed in the car. It's a tight fit, but it all went in. There is a little interference with the aluminum tranny tunnel panel. I may have to trim that slightly (see the black marker marks forward of the lever). Has anyone else ran into this?