Alright so I failed state inspection because of my parking brake cable - I know most people don't have problems with it but my bird is at 170k miles and was not treated the best prior to me getting it. The vin pops up that it is a 96, and when I bought a parking brake cable for it the attachment point for the rear two cables was different but I didn't think much of it. After install the cable seems to be too long. I looked at the 95 version for the cable and that seems to be the one that was in the car... is there anyway I can make this one work? I have the two rears as the 96 versions and it was working with the old cable and now won't. I would rather just see about getting this one to fit but have started realizing gm didn't like keeping things the same year to year.
BlueJy
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Alright so I failed state inspection because of my parking brake cable - I know most people don't have problems with it but my bird is at 170k miles and was not treated the best prior to me getting it. The vin pops up that it is a 96, and when I bought a parking brake cable for it the attachment point for the rear two cables was different but I didn't think much of it. After install the cable seems to be too long. I looked at the 95 version for the cable and that seems to be the one that was in the car... is there anyway I can make this one work? I have the two rears as the 96 versions and it was working with the old cable and now won't. I would rather just see about getting this one to fit but have started realizing gm didn't like keeping things the same year to year.
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Been helping people with 4th Gens for 25+ years on sites like this, and first time I've seen this problem. Without looking at the factory service manual is it possible there are different cables for rear disc brake and rear drum brake models?
Free download of 1996 factory service manual, courtesy of member GaryDoug:
www.mediafire.com
There's also a GM Parts Manual there - Firebird 1993-2000
Your understanding it is a 1996 model is consistent with the info shown here?
Free download of 1996 factory service manual, courtesy of member GaryDoug:
MediaFire
MediaFire is a simple to use free service that lets you put all your photos, documents, music, and video in a single place so you can access them anywhere and share them everywhere.
There's also a GM Parts Manual there - Firebird 1993-2000
Your understanding it is a 1996 model is consistent with the info shown here?
Sorry for late reply been a bit hectic as I’ve been trying to get my car to pass inspection. The parking brake is actually the last thing as it needs to hold with slight gas pressed. I don’t think the front cables are different? Anytime I searched for 96-97 front parking brake cables thats what I would get, but if I searched up 95 I got the proper one for my car. Something odd I hadn’t heard about. While on the topic of parking brake I’ve replaced all the cables and the thing still doesn’t catch enough to stop while hitting the gas, is this something where I gotta just keep pulling it to get it to auto adjust (I’ve used it maybe 5 times since install) or is there something else I could be missing like having to replace the spring? I know most people say they haven’t had problems but my bird is high mileage so wear and tear is a common issue. Calipers have been replaced so at this point I’m at a loss for what’s the issue
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Not aware of any “auto adjust”. Might want to check the 1996 factory service manual.
Manual adjustment procedure:
Manual adjustment procedure:
Oh - every time I searched up how to tighten the equalizer and stuff I was told it was auto adjusted and you just pull up on the lever a little bit and then you are good. I tried the procedure you linked but couldn’t figure out the bolt (#11), I could see the hole it was talking about but not the bolt. Is there anywhere with a picture to better show the bolt to make sure I’m looking in the right spot? Thank you so much for all this help, this is my first car so been a doozie sorting it out
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Try the factory service manual. That's where the Shoebox site gets most of the diagrams I link.
See if there is any more detail in this thread from another site. The 1993-97 section is below the 1998-2002 section. A couple photos.
There is also a link to an adjustment thread at the bottom of the post.
See if there is any more detail in this thread from another site. The 1993-97 section is below the 1998-2002 section. A couple photos.
Camaro and Firebird 1990 to 2002 How to Repair and Replace Parking Brake
The parking brake will typically last for years without any special maintenance; however, operator error can significantly shorten its se...
ls1tech.com
There is also a link to an adjustment thread at the bottom of the post.
Just posting an update at the end of this thread for anyone going through. I found on several different other forums, etc. that the screw is a 3 millimeter Allen. It was great to find that out until it didn't even work for me. I really don't know what's wrong as I have now replaced the front cable, the two rear cables and actually replaced my old calipers with calipers off of a Camaro with 60k miles with absolute zero success as well as not being able to use the techniques found anywhere online. There is a great post I found on LS1tech which I will try to link below for anyone else - might work for you better than mine worked. Just accepting my cars parking brake is screwed :/.
LS1tech "LT1 Parking Brake Adjustment"
LS1tech "LT1 Parking Brake Adjustment"
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Something wrong….. link takes us to the results of a search for “officer candidate school” info.
The 98-02 parking brake adjustment may be significantly different. The 93-97 parking brake uses a lever that squeezes the caliper/disc brake pads against the disc rotor. 98-02 has a brake drum inside the hat of the disc brake rotor, and two brake shoes that work like, and adjust like using a “spoon” on an adjuster wheel on old-time drum brakes.
There was some sort of a “recall” on the disc brake cockpit lever assembly, at least early in 1994 model year. The invoice for my purchased new 1994 Formula indicated the recall had been done. But I still had a problem with the cockpit lever collapsing on its own. Maybe there is some sort of ”self adjustment“ built into that end of the system, rather than back at the rear axle.
Did you look at the factory service manual to see if there was an adjustment, other than that little screw?
The 98-02 parking brake adjustment may be significantly different. The 93-97 parking brake uses a lever that squeezes the caliper/disc brake pads against the disc rotor. 98-02 has a brake drum inside the hat of the disc brake rotor, and two brake shoes that work like, and adjust like using a “spoon” on an adjuster wheel on old-time drum brakes.
There was some sort of a “recall” on the disc brake cockpit lever assembly, at least early in 1994 model year. The invoice for my purchased new 1994 Formula indicated the recall had been done. But I still had a problem with the cockpit lever collapsing on its own. Maybe there is some sort of ”self adjustment“ built into that end of the system, rather than back at the rear axle.
Did you look at the factory service manual to see if there was an adjustment, other than that little screw?
I'm gonna be completely honest I have no idea how that link managed like that I apologize, it should be fixed now - the guy there actually describes everything in pretty good depth.
I do have the 93-97 parking brake setup just feel lost like I wasn't doing something right. I have a neighbor who has been working on cars much longer than me (off topic but his foxbody is beautiful and has a 90m turbo in it) so I'm gonna go tomorrow to him to see if I missed something. Through my research I found out there is a self adjusting mechanism at the lever but that's even more rare to fail, and it seems to me only one side of my parking brake is failing (I can toss a pry bar and turn the passenger wheel but not the drivers and the groan when it fails comes from the passenger compartment). I haven't been able to find on anything even the service manual any other adjustment besides the screw. The guy on the forum said something else might've failed but odd it happened on two different calipers and stuff. Took me a little cause I got a little heated after that failure, and it destroying my ankle which I just had surgery on but hoping tomorrow I get her up and running and can pass inspection (after a potential year of driving without one). I'm pretty sure I am all up to date with recalls as alldata says that it doesn't have an open recall. I'll update this thread when I hopefully (crossing my fingers) figure it out tomorrow -honestly just assuming user error but taking it out on gm engineers changing things.
I do have the 93-97 parking brake setup just feel lost like I wasn't doing something right. I have a neighbor who has been working on cars much longer than me (off topic but his foxbody is beautiful and has a 90m turbo in it) so I'm gonna go tomorrow to him to see if I missed something. Through my research I found out there is a self adjusting mechanism at the lever but that's even more rare to fail, and it seems to me only one side of my parking brake is failing (I can toss a pry bar and turn the passenger wheel but not the drivers and the groan when it fails comes from the passenger compartment). I haven't been able to find on anything even the service manual any other adjustment besides the screw. The guy on the forum said something else might've failed but odd it happened on two different calipers and stuff. Took me a little cause I got a little heated after that failure, and it destroying my ankle which I just had surgery on but hoping tomorrow I get her up and running and can pass inspection (after a potential year of driving without one). I'm pretty sure I am all up to date with recalls as alldata says that it doesn't have an open recall. I'll update this thread when I hopefully (crossing my fingers) figure it out tomorrow -honestly just assuming user error but taking it out on gm engineers changing things.
Well I took it to the neighbor and took an extra caliper I had apart to try and understand the way the brakes work (which both of us now do even though my neighbor would like to have some words with the engineers). Thank you so much for your help as both him and I talked it out and learnt what you gave me was correct and does work - I just don't have the ability yet to do those things.
I have a little wrap up message as I did manage to pass state inspection after over a year of trying. I would say to not get frustrated as I "learnt" that you can manage to get things working better than you think but I'll be realistic and say when you get frustrated just give yourself some more time and talk it out with someone. The adjuster screw is there (mine was for some reason like painted over so looked like a circle for a little) and will come loose. The problem is trying to get it loose. If you are like me and have a little tiny Allen wrench that seems to not be helping toss a box end wrench on it to give yourself more power similar to a pipe on a wrench for a breaker bar (note: do not do this to your only Allen wrench, there's always a chance it breaks) and turn, the adhesive that they have on there will take a little bit more force than you think to turn, and you have to really pay attention as the Allen wrench may seem to just be bending.
I have a little wrap up message as I did manage to pass state inspection after over a year of trying. I would say to not get frustrated as I "learnt" that you can manage to get things working better than you think but I'll be realistic and say when you get frustrated just give yourself some more time and talk it out with someone. The adjuster screw is there (mine was for some reason like painted over so looked like a circle for a little) and will come loose. The problem is trying to get it loose. If you are like me and have a little tiny Allen wrench that seems to not be helping toss a box end wrench on it to give yourself more power similar to a pipe on a wrench for a breaker bar (note: do not do this to your only Allen wrench, there's always a chance it breaks) and turn, the adhesive that they have on there will take a little bit more force than you think to turn, and you have to really pay attention as the Allen wrench may seem to just be bending.
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