Speedster E-Brake?

Do any of the Replica Builders offer a under dash mounted E-Brake? I know IM does, have any of you purchased one as custom option? I know that some of you have steering columns and the blinker switch assembly that are more correct to the speedster than the standard VW offerings.

Thanks,
][))

San Jose Ca. 95129
(408) 230-3554

Any JPS Owners in the bay area? I would love to chat and take a look at your Speedster.

pretty close to making my dream a reality...just needing to make final decision on the maker.

I am headed in the direction Of John Steele @ JPS.

Sorry I see that I was asking a Question that had been asked.

David, I have gone down the route of the under dash E-brake, not quite finished it yet, but its gonna work fine. Lots of fabrication required though! As for the steering, I have used a pre 67 bug column and an indicator switch from a split screen bus. I think using that would give the look you are trying to achieve. Good luck with your project. Darren

Are you specifically looking for the umbrella handle look or just wanting to get rid of the bug lever between the seats?
Latter: Lokar makes several under the dash e-brakes that are easy to install.
The former is a little more difficult w/ a little more leg work, but any good builder should be able to do it for you.

Carey,
Which, if any, of the Lokar units have you used? I would LOVE to get rid of my ebrake on the tunnel, it just looks ugly. If I could put a foot, or even better, one of those "old school" hand brakes under the dash with little difficulty I do it in a heartbeat. I'm not looking for an umbrella handle or an original look, I kust hate that ebrake between the seats! Thanks, Mickey

A 1950 Ford E brake unit is very close to looking like the Porsche E-brake handle and assembly .

It still is a bit tricky to fit, But it can be done . I have one on the Veepster dune buggy that I was thinking about swapin it into the speedster.

The cable goes throw the forward cowel and a slot is cut in the tunnel for a bell crank lever with a second cable that connects to the exzisting cable parts. It works great . But i can still see some improvements that should have been done to make it easyer to make.
The bell crank is a 1 inch by 1/4 thick bar 11 inches long with third rear brake cable mounted backwards with studs to studs connecting it to the other cables and the bar has a hook at the bottom just like the lever on the rear brake shoes the bar has a knotch that hooks in the slot on the tunnel. the lever ratio is 3 to 1 the knotch is cut in the bar 2 and 1/2 from the bottom and the cable bar has to work at a angle to the passanger side to clear the fuel tank. All very tricky!!!

There is one little querk ,The cable sheath has to be strapped to the tunnel floor in the ares below the shifter or it will interfer with shifer operations . But 2 U cable straps will fix that right up. the hard part is removeing the shifter and finagleing them into the tunnel. and stradleing thecable

That is a pain and needs improving???.

And Darren is right the bus switch is a perfec lookalike to the porsche swttch

LOK-EHB-9200 handle with LOK-EC8002U cable kit.

Mounted the handle kit 90 degrees from it's intended orientation so you can't see it under the dash at all. It falls right in line with the rear most bracing on our column, and the foremost mount right to the front "firewall" with a steel plate on the other side to strengthen it up a bit.
Cable kit allows a big sweeping 180 degree curve and eliminates the need for a bell crank.

Carey, when you use the Lokar e-brake how do you deal with the tunnel mounting and carpet? Do you cut off the mounting and re-lay the carpet on the whole tunnel, or do you have a cover for it?

All the ones that I have done were done before carpet was installed so we cut out the mounts for the VW lever and welded a plate in the tunnel to close it up.
It wouldn't be difficult to make a cover, either in leather or carpet, but not sure how it would look.

I used a Lokar unit and mounted side ways in front of the seat. The cables that came with the installation kit fit right in the disc brake conversion kit from cip1. Easy installation. A guy on Ebay was selling shifter and E brake boots. I think I paid $15 for the pair. I painted them with vinyl paint.

Carey, do you have any pictures you can post?

Carey, thanks. I've got a pretty good idea from your description of how you mounted it but, would like to see some pics also, if possible. I like Ron's rig in front of the seat as well, but I'd really like to get it out of site.

Thanks for all your replies and help...I was looking for something as close to an original 356 style brake...IM seems to have a good looking E-Brake. I just wanted to know if asking John if the under dash E-Brake would even be possible. I have heard and seen a few baja bug owners use an inline brake system....not too comfortable with that idea.

Again many thanks,

][))avid

San Jose Ca

Best photo I have of it, and it doesn't show much. It is REALLY tucked up under there. In the under dash shot you can just see the foremost mounting bracket (gold in color). The handle points to the left.
Even in person you had to pretty much crawl under there to see it.

Not sure why they are so pixelated. May be happening when they are reduced on upload. I'll try to shrink them a little and upload again.
Sick kids to the Dr. first... back on later.

Carey, You must not think much your help, I see the air conditioner blows warm air from your office into the shop :) ~Alan

Carey, you need pictures of that car on the website. It's one of the nicest you've done yet.

Alan,
Yeah, gotta love it. Makes for some great heat in the shop over the summer. :)

Lane,
Website is due for some updates... lotsa neat builds over the last year or so.

Does this help? Looks just about like the hood release on a 911 or 912. It's the brake handle on my next projekt.

Carey,
That's exactly what I'm looking for! If you have any of what it looks like from under the dash that'd be awesome but I'm pretty sure I can figure it out anyway. Thanks for taking the time to post them.

Another FWIW: I also absolutely hated the look of the VW "dork" on the tunnel. Fuggedaboudit! Not having any info as great as what Carey has posted up here, and getting nothing similar from JPS at the time, I opted for the in-line e-brake, which is an hydraulic lock on the rear brake, set and relesaed w/ samll button hidden, pretty much, behind the driver's seat. Works like a champ for me. HOWEVER: if one is needing to have the car safety inspected in order to get registered, etc., this might not pass in every locale. AGainst that possibility, I just asked JPS to run carpet over the bracket where the VW handle would go, and throw said handle in the trunk for delivery, in case it had to be added later. All the cables etc that attach to the rear brakes (disks) are in place too. So far, nobody has noticed the slight bump in my carpet where the bracket is covered over. Of course, a truly correct job would be to cut this off and weld over the hole. I anxiously await better pictures of what Carey has done here, so can consider how it might be used.

Sorry guys, the car is long gone and enjoying its life in sunny Florida.
I can certainly look again and see if there are more photos from under the dash, but I don't think so...

No worries Carey. My car is tucked away for the winter and I'm not planning on doing any work on it until spring. If it's cool with you can I call you to get a few more details if needed when I do the switch? Thanks again, Mickey

No problem. Drop me a line and I can help walk you through it.

David's original post asked if any builders offered a more original, under-dash e-brake. For what it's worth, Specialty Auto Sports Subaru-powered speedies and cabriolets use a 356 replica floorpan so the tunnel looks correct, and the e-brake is in the proper position.

Of course, the downside is the legendary amount of time required to get a SAS car. That parking brake location better be pretty dang important to you. I'll let you know if it was worth the wait-- whenever mine gets here... Paul