Excessive handbrake lever movement (possible cause)
 

I was going to start another thread on this and I still might!
Just had friend's ZT V8 Black Tourer in to repair his Sunroof sliding blind & Handbrake grip pointing skywards problem!

Now this beauty has only done 14k miles so no wear was suspected.
Both adjusters clicked nicely 2 clicks upwards to lock both drum/discs.
No problem there, except handbrake grip still pointing skywards!

Undid the torx screws holding in CD liner under central armrest, to see what was going on with the cables..........Noticed drivers side moving far too much!!

So it was off the driver's side caliper & disc to reveal the inner cable not connected through the lower fulcrum. It looked like it had been like this from the factory. Worse still it had just passed it's 1st MOT like that!!!

Rethreaded the cable correctly and handbrake is now fully on within 2 clicks & holds very well.

Just done my handbrake today (I will call yesterdays balls-up a practice go) :getmecoat:

For the record both my adjusters were the same way around with the capstan on the left & the exposed thread on the right. Mine was built early 2001.

I was on 7 clicks before & still had to avoid steep slopes, now I'm solid on 3 clicks & I would have to force it to make click 4.

One tip I'd make is once you have found the correct location of the capstan in the hole make a score mark on the edge of the disc along the edge of the brake pad. This helps with alignment of the hole after checking for the feel of the shoes on the drum. Another thing I noticed was how little adjustment was needed for the disc/drum to move or be almost fully tight. It felt like only one notch worth of a turn on the capstan.

One job done well and properly :grouphug:

glad you sorted it, mine still seems ok after a few weeks .

Shame they didn't make them auto adjust like on the old Dolomite range (with the similar ratchet wheel arrangement);)

I posted some time back that it depends how they are fitted. They will fit either way round, so expect them to be random from the factory (even if they aren't supposed to be).

Bit like the randomly incorrectly assembled bonnet release divider block then:p: