Pagoda SL Group

W113 Pagoda SL Group => W11x chassis cars => Topic started by: PeterPortugal on August 08, 2020, 11:33:05

Title: W11X handbrake Woes
Post by: PeterPortugal on August 08, 2020, 11:33:05
Gents,

This is a puzzler for me. Car in question is a W111 220SE Cabrio from 1963.

The rubber grommet in the firewall for the handbrake cable was missing so I bought a replacement to fit.

According to the BBB their are two versions of grommet and I believe mine had the early version (Item 5) as the remmnants of this are still on the cable (item 2). The replacement grommet  I bought is the later version (Item 3) which is all that is available.

The problem I have is that my tube (Item 1) which the lever (Item 4) slides in does not seem to be compatible with this later version. It has a flange at the end which the grommet mounts on and this flange seems to have too large a diameter to fit inside the replacement grommet. I am also missing the metal part (Item 6).

I am pondering what to do:-
1. Buy the wrong cable complete with grommet as shown in Item 5 and try and remove the grommet and fit it to my correct cable? This assumes the grommet is identical to the original type.
2. Buy a replacement tube without the flange plus the new style cable (Item 6) with metal fixing.

This is all sounds fairly complicated but I have explained it the best I can. Any feedback is welcome.

Regards

Peter

Title: Re: W11X handbrake Woes
Post by: PeterPortugal on August 09, 2020, 11:34:19
Found a NOS version.

Where else.....the good ol' US of A of course.

I think my restoration costs would be halved if I lived there and didn't have to keep shipping stuff over. I would also have to put up with poor quality beer though  ;)
Title: Re: W11X handbrake Woes
Post by: wwheeler on August 09, 2020, 15:56:16
When I bought parts sold only in Germany a few years ago, the Euro exchange rate really killed me. Lately it has certainly been more favorable to the US. I will say given many examples, shipping INTO the US is by far more reasonable than shipping OUT of the US. The difference can be staggering. Not sure why?
Title: Re: W11X handbrake Woes
Post by: PeterPortugal on August 09, 2020, 22:14:37
A good question. The USA seems to be cheaper for just about anything and everything. I don't know how you do it.

Title: Re: W11X handbrake Woes
Post by: Mike Hughes on August 09, 2020, 23:30:41
Some guys on the M.G. TABC forum were just discussing this wildly out of kilter shipping cost difference.  Shipping a transmission core from the East Coast to the UK:  If the sender pays the freight in the U.S. - $500, if the vendor pays the freight in the U.K. - $80!