65' Front Parking Brake Cable

[Lane Ockerman]

I have an original front parking brake cable on my 65' coupe. It is looking VERY old and have purchased 2 reproductions from two different suppliers.
The problem is, the original has NO pressed-on, steel, gold ends as do the reproductions. As a result, the repros do not fit in the stock/original brackets. I have called the suppliers and they say their's IS correct. I do not think so. The "gold dichromte" pressed on ends are to big and do not fit.
Can anyone with a 64' - 66' please help me out on this??
Thank You !
Lane
#38102

[Mike Sasser]

Re: 65' Front Parking Brake Cable

Your right, I had the same problem with mine, it would not fit. I ended up cleaning up the old one, I bead blasted it, painted it with a chrome paint and it looked as good as new. The repo might work on some cars but it wouldn't work on my 65 A O Smith coupe

[Joe L.]

Re: 65' Front Parking Brake Cable

Lane-----

Your current cable is the original (or, an original style replacement that someone installed on the car a long time ago).

The original cable for 64-66 Corvette applications was GM #3842936. That cable is still available from GM under that original part number. However, the configuration of this part may have changed a bit and may be what's causing your problem. Since the part is still available from GM, I would expect that the part that you're getting from the vendors is the GM part. However, if you're sure that it's a reproduction, then you might want to try the GM part. It GM lists for about 30 bucks.

[William C.]

Re: 65' Front Parking Brake Cable

Before spending your money, if you have access to a heavy duty bench grinder with a wire wheel attachment, it is amazing what one of these will do to restore the condition of a used parking brake cable. After wire wheeling, a coating of oil needs to be applied to prevent rust and you will be good to go.

[Lane Ockerman]

Re: 65' Front Parking Brake Cable

Thank You, Mike, Joe L. and Bill for confirming my beliefs and assisting me on the "fix." Back go the repro's !!!

hanks again,
Lane

[Joe C.]

Agree With Bill......

....if the cable itself is not frayed, a wire wheel will clean the jacket as good as new. I cleaned all the gunk out of the inside by immersing the entire thing in lacquer thinner, and working the cable back and forth, then re lubed with powdered graphite and motor oil. I coated the jacket with satin clearcoat. This was all done over 2 years ago, and still looks brand new. Good luck.

Joe

[Gary B.]

Parking brake cable design

Joe et al.,

I've spent the past 4 or 5 months researching the REAR parking brake cable starting with the original cable on my 66. For reasons that I don't understand (cost?) some of the catalog companies are getting their cables from sources other than GM. In the case of the rear brake cable, the cable design GM used beginning with the 65 model year is no longer availble. The current GM service replacement rear parking brake cable is functionally equivalent to the original 65 cable, but not cosmetically equivalent, but it's much closer than some of the repro rear brake cables I've seen. There must be several vendors out there making rear parking brake cables for mid-year cars and the cables look distictively different from each other and from the original. The same is true for the front parking brake cable.

Gary