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You were on the team designing the Corvette's new disk brake system. You specifically were responsible for the parking brake.
The optimist in me wants to believe your intentions were good. That you did your very best. That you really tried to build a system that worked.
The realist in me, however, knows that it went something like this:
You sat at your computer-less drafting table, with your pencil in one hand, a ruler in the other, and a Machiavellian grin upon your face. Your pocket protector sparkled in the office lights. The smell of brylcream and barbasol wafted through the air. And the fires of hell gleamed in your eyes.
You knew that, because this was a Corvette, people would still be loving them 40, 50, 60 years later and beyond. You drew up a plan for the parking brake, ensuring that it would be nearly impossible to install, even during assembly. You cackled as you imagined a future of flying cars and robot maids, with husbands and wives zipping little Elroy to school via pneumatic tube, and lovers of corvettes cursing your unknown name as they suffered the inferno of hell that is installing parking brakes on any 65 - 82 Corvette.
The realist in me has this to say.
I hate you.
With every fibre of my being.
Signed,
David "Well, I got one side done" Christopher.
Last edited by davidchristopher; 07-25-2020 at 12:54 AM.
Sorry for your experience with the brake. If done right they work right. My mechanic friends son has small hands and got him to work on mine, works great. Regards, Mark
I'm not sure that 11 years after the first Corvette, the engineers had any idea that we would still be enjoying our cars in 2020. But the parking brake analysis is spot-on. I had to fix mine to work for the VA inspection, and it took many hours, and three tries (the SS shoes are hot garbage).
I have a second set of trailing arms - the arms themselves are garbage, but the spindles, brackets etc are still good. I'd love to figure out a design for the brake brackets to use one of those, but I think at this point casting iron is beyond my abilities.
While I share the OP's frustration with the parking brake design, I wouldn't be so quick to blame the engineers. Engineering is always a compromise. It's a compromise of budget, talent, available resources, and time. I doubt the parking brake was a priority and it's also doubtful the design would be allowed to impact the timeline or the budget is any negative way. Bottom line? The project managers and the bean counters are more likely to blame.
@DC3@Bikespace@Stev-o - yeah, I know. Planned obsolesce. I get it. Just frustrated. Sure looks purdy now that it's put together. As soon as I find that one retaining cap and spring that shot across the shop at Mach 3 when it popped off the pin, I'll start on the other side.
@KingRat hey man, are you a GM Engineer? Come 'ere a minute...
Don't even get me started on the "wire" distributor hold-down "clamps" that didn't work! Some accountant figures it would save 24 cents on every car, time 2 million cars etc.etc.
Don't even get me started on the "wire" distributor hold-down "clamps" that didn't work! Some accountant figures it would save 24 cents on every car, time 2 million cars etc.etc.
Those are known as "bean counters" and are the scourge of the world.
Ha ha. I love it. I often dream of meeting the design engineers on my projects. For the vette it is a guy with a skinny tie with a white shirt, probably chain smoking in a big room full of drafting boards. He will probably blame the production engineering department or the bean counter. My other dream is going to Coventry in the UK, finding the pub where the old time designers go, buying some crusty old engineer a pint and say "What the hell were you thinking?"
The C3 cars were anticipated to have a useful life span of 5-7 years....just like all the other 1960-70 vintage Chevys. You are complaining to designers who built a parking brake system that worked perfectly well for MORE than their anticipated life span. If you can't get it to work as it should, you need to find out what you didn't repair or replace to put the system back into 'serviceable" condition. I've had 4 C3's over the years and the parking brakes (which were not totally rusted out or poorly adjusted) have all worked fine. My suggestion would be to research the Chevrolet Chassis Service Manual for how the parking brake system can be properly repaired and for how to get them adjusted well. The adjustment method is a bit 'sticky' and you have to follow the instructions explicitly.
I'm not saying they don't work - I'm saying they're hard to assemble. My 73 had NO parking brakes (and not much in the way of backing plates either, for that matter) - I don't mean they didn't work, they simply were not there. Missing. Vanished. Discarded. Absent - much like the sense of humour of some folks in the forum there.
I was just surprised at how difficult it was to assemble them - even with the spindles out.
This was meant to be funny. Not sure how it's being taken seriously.
Some things that happen in life are “Just Pain Luck.” On my 73 the e brakes work really really well. I am sure that they were refurbished at some time. On my 88 FIERO, Pontiac/GM decided to get rid of the e brake shoes and go with a bolt/shaft that would increase the fluid pressure to force the calipers to close., when a cable is pulled. The system probably worked great till the warranty was over. Besides a magnet for rust, if they did work, you Would still have to get under the car to tighten the cable as the calipers wear down. I wonder how modern disc brake cars have their e brakes configured?
07-25-2020, 12:53 AM
Open Letter to the GM Engineers from 1964
