Honda Civic DIYs and Civic Tech ChatHonda Civic DIYs and Civic Tech Chat - for the true gearheads! Bring your wrench, it's time for some Honda Civic DIY projects! Questions about problems with your car do NOT go here.
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What time is it? It's DIY time! That's right kiddies, the DIY Whore is at it again! This time we learn how to take up the slack in the emergency brake. [IMG]i/expressions/laugh2.gif[/IMG]
Seriously though, that's what I felt like DIYing. I already did this DIY a while back, but at the time I didn't have a digital camera handy. Now I do, plus it's bean some time since the last time I did this, so I felt like checking up on things.
Tools:
- phillips head screwdriver
- small wrench
- jack
First push down on the shift knob collar. Your shift knob might look different. This happens to be the base model RSX shift knob.
Then unscrew the shift knob.
Then pry up the emergency brake cover. Use lots of force and pry straight up.
Turn it around and look for any missing clips. Sometimes they fall off when taking this piece off. Find them and put them back on that piece. Notice my blue sound deadening material. That's not stock.
Unscrew two little screws under the piece that we just took off.
Move the chairs forward and unscrew two other screws in back.
Now pop out the little plastic clips holding the front. Reach under them and play with them a little. You'll like it! Hehe, no. Actually, reach in back there and make the middle of it pop out.
That large piece is now ready to come off. Just pull it out at an angle to the front. Make sure to clear the e-brake handle. Then just pull it out towards the rear of the car.
Jack up one rear wheel and lower the emergency brake. Make sure the car is on level ground and in first or reverse, so that it does not start to roll. Put sand bags around the front tires as an extra safety precaution if you'de like (anything heavy will do). Then try spinning the wheel with your hand. Wee! Watch it go.
Now, if your wheel spun in the previous step it's time to take up the slack in the emergency brake cable. If you can not spin your wheel, then you might want to consider giving the emergency brake a little more slack. Just tighten it like a screw with a wrench. Tighten a little and test out if the wheel still spins freely. Do so until you're happy with the results. You don't have to do the other side because the two cables are on a sort of scale like attachment that distributes the force applied to the cables evenly. One sides adjustment will equal the others.
Now enjoy the better feel of the emergency brake. My stops on hills have improved. Not because I made the emergency brake sptronger or anything, but because I don't have to pull up on it as much as I used to. My hand sits lower when it is pulled up all the way, so I have better leverage.
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First time I did it I had 5k or something like that. Now I have 10k. There was some slack this time as well... [IMG]i/expressions/face-icon-small-smile.gif[/IMG]
Not to diss on your DIY as it's a good idea, but sometimes it's not the cable that's the problem.
If you wanna go at it, you basically take off the rear wheels, knock off the cover on the drum, and there's a little adjustment nut on the spring for the shoes. You move it in and out as to how close you want the shoes to the inside of the drum.
I'm not knocking this. It's a good idea, but also take a look at your shoes. Might not be a bad idea to do them both at the same time.
the way i did mine is i jacked up the rear of the car and took off the drum cover. then i looked for the little bolt thats on a screw-like-cylinder and spun the screw clock wise or counter clockwise (i forgot which way). this does the same thing to your e-brake without having to take off your center console.
After months of procrastinating I finally went out and did this last night, so easy and it's nice having an e-brake that doesn't end up in the back seat when you pull it up.
I will re-post all of my DIY's with updated pics soon. The shop probably adjusted them in the rear. You can do that too, but I haven't been able to locate the screw we supposedly turn to tighten things up.
