1st off you want to make sure the car is secure and have the front wheels chocked to avoid the car rolling.... this is important as you will be working under the car!!!
Start off by removing the handbrake surround inside the car, easy enough job, take out the rear ashtray, undo the allen screw and remove the ashtray surround. then just undo all the bolts/screws holding on the handbrake surround. Its different to each console so you will have to work out where all the screws are.
Once you have done that, release the handbrake and unscrew the long nut behand the 2 cables behind the handbrake lever to slacken the handbrake cables.
Once the cable is slack enough, you can pull the wire to the side and pop out the cable from the adjuster draw bar. From here, just push out the plastic grommet at the back and push the cable through.
Now you need to jack up the rear of the car and make it secure enough to work under it.... On the underside in the middle you will see where the cable entered the car, from here just unclip the old handbrake cable whereever its attached. Along the exhaust heatshield/petrol tank, there are plastic clips which pop open to release the cable.
Further down there are just metal hooks that the cables clip into.
The new cable to be fitted will have a rubber grommet around it about a 3rd from the brake end of the cable which slots into the larger of the metal hooks.
I fed in the new cable to the inside of the car and reconnected the new cable to the clips as i disconnected the old cable to avoid missing any... its not going to end well if the new cable is loose and flopping about under there.
Now its time to take off the wheel and remove the brake drum... a simple case of unscrewing the 2 wheel locating studs and gently prising off the drum.
Inside the drum, you will need to remove the brake shoes... To do this you will need to remove the return springs at the top and bottom... Not always the easiest task as they are stiff springs... a bit of muscle and a pair of long nose pliers did the job for me, just go careful as they can ping out or you can slip causing blood and all sorts of nasty things.
Once the springs are off, then you need to remove the shoes. To do this you need to push in and slide out the "U" shapped clips whilst holding the "pin" from behind the brakes backing plate. Slide out the pin and the shoes are free to come out.
As you remove the 1st shoe, make sure you get hold of the adjuster sitting between the 2 shoes at the top. this is free standing so will just fall out otherwise... dont want to break it.
The rear shoes have the other end of the handbrake cable attached to them so unclip the cable from them and pull away the brake shoe... Different shoes may have different clips or mounts for the handbrake cable so take note on how they attached to the cable.
How you remove the cable from the backing plate all depends on if you new handbrake cable has the handbrake return spring with it or not... If it does, then u can just rip it all out without worrying about it (obviously avoiding damage to the backing plate itself). A lot of the cables for the mk2 dont come with the return spring though so in this case you will want to clean up the clip within the drum and wiggle the cable to free it up from the backing plate... this can be a fun task as they can get pretty seized on and may need a little tap with a hammer. Using a small flat head screwdriver, carefully pop off the spring from the clip within the brake and turn the clip round until you find the join along the length of it. Gently open up the clip a little to allow the old cable to be pulled out.
Slide in the new cable, close up the clip around the metal neck of the cable, then pop the return spring back onto the clip.
From here, its just working in reverse to fit the brakes back together.. To allow the drum to fit back over the brake shoes, wind back the adjuster a little using the cogged wheel, and be careful not to damage the metal thing to stop the adjuster from winding back when being used (technical I know... maybe someone can better describe this if needed).
Once all reassembled, head back into the car to attach the other end of the cable to the handbrake lever.
To allow for the brakes to work propperly, you will need to pump at the brake pedal for a bit to allow the shoe adjusters to contract and release the shoes properly... Its always best to have a 2nd person for this stage... 1 person hitting the brake pedal while the other person is spinning the wheel and checking its stopped by the brakes and holding it secure like it should be.
Now to adjust the handbrake... Using the same nut used to slacken the cable, tighten it up... what your aiming for is it to be tight enough to allow for 5 clicks of the handbrake lever to fully secure the brakes, 1 or 2 less is fine, but any more clicks to secure fails the MOT iirc.
Once you have done this, put the handbrake surround back together, drop the car off its axel stands and jobs a good un.
Please note this is based on my own experiences of changing the cables and is not nescisarily the "correct" way to do it. Your car may be a little different. Hopefully Ive not missed out any steps to do it, but its just written off memory of doing it so I apologise if I have missed anything. If anyone else feels the need to add to the guide or give some more tips and hints, its all good... Just remember I wont be held responsible for anything you do wrong/badly etc... the guide is simply here to help... If you have any doubts about working on the cars brakes, you are best off having a profesional do the work or check it over to make sure its safe for you and others.
Start off by removing the handbrake surround inside the car, easy enough job, take out the rear ashtray, undo the allen screw and remove the ashtray surround. then just undo all the bolts/screws holding on the handbrake surround. Its different to each console so you will have to work out where all the screws are.
Once you have done that, release the handbrake and unscrew the long nut behand the 2 cables behind the handbrake lever to slacken the handbrake cables.
Once the cable is slack enough, you can pull the wire to the side and pop out the cable from the adjuster draw bar. From here, just push out the plastic grommet at the back and push the cable through.
Now you need to jack up the rear of the car and make it secure enough to work under it.... On the underside in the middle you will see where the cable entered the car, from here just unclip the old handbrake cable whereever its attached. Along the exhaust heatshield/petrol tank, there are plastic clips which pop open to release the cable.
Further down there are just metal hooks that the cables clip into.
The new cable to be fitted will have a rubber grommet around it about a 3rd from the brake end of the cable which slots into the larger of the metal hooks.
I fed in the new cable to the inside of the car and reconnected the new cable to the clips as i disconnected the old cable to avoid missing any... its not going to end well if the new cable is loose and flopping about under there.
Now its time to take off the wheel and remove the brake drum... a simple case of unscrewing the 2 wheel locating studs and gently prising off the drum.
Inside the drum, you will need to remove the brake shoes... To do this you will need to remove the return springs at the top and bottom... Not always the easiest task as they are stiff springs... a bit of muscle and a pair of long nose pliers did the job for me, just go careful as they can ping out or you can slip causing blood and all sorts of nasty things.
Once the springs are off, then you need to remove the shoes. To do this you need to push in and slide out the "U" shapped clips whilst holding the "pin" from behind the brakes backing plate. Slide out the pin and the shoes are free to come out.
As you remove the 1st shoe, make sure you get hold of the adjuster sitting between the 2 shoes at the top. this is free standing so will just fall out otherwise... dont want to break it.
The rear shoes have the other end of the handbrake cable attached to them so unclip the cable from them and pull away the brake shoe... Different shoes may have different clips or mounts for the handbrake cable so take note on how they attached to the cable.
How you remove the cable from the backing plate all depends on if you new handbrake cable has the handbrake return spring with it or not... If it does, then u can just rip it all out without worrying about it (obviously avoiding damage to the backing plate itself). A lot of the cables for the mk2 dont come with the return spring though so in this case you will want to clean up the clip within the drum and wiggle the cable to free it up from the backing plate... this can be a fun task as they can get pretty seized on and may need a little tap with a hammer. Using a small flat head screwdriver, carefully pop off the spring from the clip within the brake and turn the clip round until you find the join along the length of it. Gently open up the clip a little to allow the old cable to be pulled out.
Slide in the new cable, close up the clip around the metal neck of the cable, then pop the return spring back onto the clip.
From here, its just working in reverse to fit the brakes back together.. To allow the drum to fit back over the brake shoes, wind back the adjuster a little using the cogged wheel, and be careful not to damage the metal thing to stop the adjuster from winding back when being used (technical I know... maybe someone can better describe this if needed).
Once all reassembled, head back into the car to attach the other end of the cable to the handbrake lever.
To allow for the brakes to work propperly, you will need to pump at the brake pedal for a bit to allow the shoe adjusters to contract and release the shoes properly... Its always best to have a 2nd person for this stage... 1 person hitting the brake pedal while the other person is spinning the wheel and checking its stopped by the brakes and holding it secure like it should be.
Now to adjust the handbrake... Using the same nut used to slacken the cable, tighten it up... what your aiming for is it to be tight enough to allow for 5 clicks of the handbrake lever to fully secure the brakes, 1 or 2 less is fine, but any more clicks to secure fails the MOT iirc.
Once you have done this, put the handbrake surround back together, drop the car off its axel stands and jobs a good un.
Please note this is based on my own experiences of changing the cables and is not nescisarily the "correct" way to do it. Your car may be a little different. Hopefully Ive not missed out any steps to do it, but its just written off memory of doing it so I apologise if I have missed anything. If anyone else feels the need to add to the guide or give some more tips and hints, its all good... Just remember I wont be held responsible for anything you do wrong/badly etc... the guide is simply here to help... If you have any doubts about working on the cars brakes, you are best off having a profesional do the work or check it over to make sure its safe for you and others.
