Perhaps someone could save me $40…
Recently, I snapped the front e-brake cable. I was shown where it failed; it was at the very end, where it connected to a metal plate from which the two rear cables start out.
The shop wanted $200+ for an entire assembly(!); the auto-parts store wanted $40 for the replacement cable. I thought I’d just loosen the adjustment all the way, run the loose end through the aforementioned plate and through a bolt with a drilled shaft, keeping it in place.
Haynes, alas, tells me the e-brake picks up the slack automatically and cannot be adjusted. But clearly it must be adjusted all the way down when the cable’s initially installed, right? Can anyone think of a way to save the cost of a new cable that won’t entail more than an afternoon’s fiddling with the car?
There are probably some better cable clamps that you can find that would work better than your drilled bolt.
You can probably buy the same type and sized cable at a hardware store and clamp the plate end at the needed length. Won’t cost much to find out eh?
Whether you do it or someone else does, it will still take a little time to repair.