When you apply the parking brake in your 1967-1982 Corvette, you expect that the car is going to stay put…or so you hope. Unfortunately, that’s not always the case. A typical problem in all 67-82 Corvettes, the design of the original parking brake allowed the cables to stretch and the shoes and levers to become rusted, grease covered or even frozen so that the whole system was inoperable.

Fortunately, a relatively simple rebuild can fix the problem. Follow along with our technical article 1967-1982 Corvette Parking Break Rebuild for step-by step rebuild instructions and photos.

Start with a new 1967-1982 Park Break Rebuild Kit to replace worn cables, pulleys, brake shoes and levers. All of the brake shoe levers, springs and brackets in the kit are stainless steel, so the problem with rust is eliminated. No more frozen levers or adjusters.

A complete rebuild including cables, shoes, levers and pulleys will take approximately 3 to 5 hours depending on your ability.  But it’s time well spent when you can have the peace of mind that your Corvette will stay where you parked it! It’s also a good idea to have a shop manual for your particular year available before you start the rebuild.

In addition to your new Corvette Parts, you’ll also want to gather a Phillips and flat blade screwdriver, electric drill, 2 pair needle nose pliers, 1 pair standard pliers, nut driver, sockets and ratchet, masking tape, marking crayon, and lubriplate or white lithium grease for this project.

Once the rebuild is complete, don’t forget to burnish (break in) your new parking brake shoes. Here are two different methods:

METHOD 1:
With the car traveling at 50 mph, apply the parking brake lever until a light drag is felt 6 to 10 notches. Operate the vehicle for approximately 50 seconds at this speed. Now return the handle to the full released position. Your new shoes are burnished in. When you park your car, apply the parking brake to see if it holds sufficiently after it has been burnished. Sometimes you may have to readjust the shoes after break in.

METHOD 2:
Apply the parking brakes three to five times at approximately 40 mph, slowing to 20 mph each time. Allow a cooling period between applications. As the applications progress, apply the brakes more gradually, since the brake effectiveness improves and wheel lock-up will occur more readily. Readjust parking brakes after the burnishing operation.

For other great DIY projects, visit Zip’s corvettemagazine.com, your online source for Corvette technical articles and how-to’s.

Purchase online at Zip Corvette Parts

• 1963-1967 C2 Corvette Parking Brake Parts
• 1968-1982 C3 Corvette Parking Brake Parts
• Corvette Shop/Repair Manuals

When they rolled off the assembly line, the front brakes on the C4 Corvette were quite impressive. However, it was inevitable that over time, those brakes would become outdated. Thankfully, replacing your brakes is a great do-it-yourself project and Zip has the C4 Corvette Performance Brake Rotors and C4 Corvette Factory Brake Components you’ll need to get the job done.

New to this type of DIY project? Follow along step-by-step with our tech article C4 Corvette Front Caliper and Rotor Installation as we replace the stock 12-inch single-piston brakes on our project ’86 Corvette with a set of 13-inch dual piston brakes that came on the 1996 Corvettes. We used a complete C4 Corvette Performance Brake Rotors package with the Grand Sport calipers and the 13-inch Gas Vane rotors.

We used the upgrade version to install the big brakes on our ’86. This is not a difficult Corvette Part to replace, but you will need to make sure you can devote an entire day to allow for the chance of complications. You will need a 13mm wrench and a 21mm wrench in order to remove the caliper. You may also want to have a hammer handy in case your rotors are frozen onto the spindle assembly. You will also need a small container of brake fluid to top off the system back once you are done.

The first step is to jack the front of your Corvette off the ground and make sure you support the car on jack stands. Then, remove both wheels. Next, using a 13mm wrench, remove the caliper line bolt. This is a special bolt that is not supplied in the kit, so make sure you don’t misplace it. If you are going to be replacing your brake line (a good idea), then you can go ahead and loosen it from the steel line where it is attached to the car and discard it.

Next, use a 21mm wrench to remove the brake caliper bracket bolts. These are very tight so you might have to use a pipe over the wrench to get some leverage. If you have access to air tools, you can use an impact gun to remove the bolts.

Once the caliper is removed, the rotor should slide off. However, sometimes they are frozen. If necessary, lightly tap the rotor with a hammer until it slides off the spindle assembly. Now it’s time to slide the new rotor into place.

Read our entire corvettemagazine.com tech article here for the installation details. Just a few hours of work and you’ll be all set to enjoy the added stopping power – and race car image – of the bigger brakes.

For other great  DIY projects, visit Zip’s corvettemagazine.com – your online source for Corvette technical articles and detailed how-to’s.