Fulvia handbrake

[RobD]

The handbrake on my Fulvia has never worked properly and a day spent trying to adjust it proved fruitless. The brakes would just about come on with an almighty pull on the lever but even then the car would roll down the slightest incline. There's a lot of nonsense on the 'net about Fulvia handbrakes and how they never work. Funnily enough, in every contemporary road test I've read about Fulvias not once did the road tester day the handbrake didn't work...
 I would have bet money there was something wrong inside the drum on my car but upon hiring a hub nut removal tool  from Omicron [the club tool was out on loan] and having a look inside all seemed OK, just very , very tired. The shoes were also badly worn. I've never understood how handbrake shoes wear, in essence they're only acting as a set of wedges and it baffles me how they get worn. I suspect it might be a result of poor adjustment allowing he shoes to rub constantly.

Anyway , there was nothing outwardly untoward with the handbrake on my car but having gone to the trouble of removing the hub I decided to give the handbrake a thorough overhaul. Omicron do an excellent overhaul kit which includes all the weird springs and stuff found in the Lancia hub, not to mention service exchange brake shoes
It's not a difficult job to do but I would advise anybody tackling it to do one hub at a time so you've got a point of reference should you forget where everything goes.  The trick is to overhaul the mechanism in the hub and then, leaving the caliper off so it doesn't confuse the issue by adding a bit of drag, wind the brake shoes on using the adjuster in the hub until the hub is locked on, then back off the adjuster three or four clicks until the drum spins freely. Repeat on the other hub and then adjust the handbrake cable.

Before...



After , showing the shiney bits from Omicron



The handbrake now works perfectly and will even hold the car on my steep driveway , a feat which many modern cars won't perform.
If you've got handbrake issues on your Fulvia my advice is don't put up with it, there's nothing inherently wrong with them and they should work as well as a modern car.

Work on the Fulvia-Amphicar hybrid is progressing nicely

[simonandjuliet]

Very satisfying, I'm sure ....

[stanley sweet]

Mine really doesn't work at all any more. But it will have to be sorted before the next MOT. There was a bit of blind eye turning last time. It did work perfectly for a time after Bernie Fisher adjusted it but that was years ago. Now I just leave it in gear when I park and perform nifty footwork on hillstarts that Nuryev would be proud of. Must be nice for you to have confidence in it now. You're quite right - they all had working handbrakes once otherwise all Fulvias would have been off the road after their first MOT. In the same way people excuse horrible noises from their cars saying things like 'Well, it's 12 years old now'. Yes, but you wouldn't have bought it new making that noise and there's no reason why it should be making it now.

[RobD]

To me, the mark of a well-sorted classic is when you can toss the keys to a mate and tell them to go and have a drive without also giving them a list of foibles and idiosyncrasies they need to be aware of. I've used this benchmark for years and it's a good way of being brutally honest with yourself about the overall condition of your car. My Fulvia has got a long way to go before I'll be able to do that.

[the.cern]

To me, the mark of a well-sorted classic is when you can toss the keys to a mate and tell them to go and have a drive without also giving them a list of foibles and idiosyncrasies they need to be aware of. I've used this benchmark for years and it's a good way of being brutally honest with yourself about the overall condition of your car. My Fulvia has got a long way to go before I'll be able to do that.

That is excellent Rob and really says it all.

As for that 'before' photograph ..... yes, everything looks as though it has been past its best by date for some time!!! Well done on getting it sorted so comprehensively.

                                   Andy

                               

[lancialulu]

Lucky the adjuster was not seized (made in brass so probably unlikely but you need to be able to back off the shoes to extract the drum/disk to service the handbrake.

The design touch with the adjuster being restricted by the spring is ingenious.

Ps the club tool has been returned so is available for hire once again.....

[chriswgawne]

Am I correct in remembering that a dry lubricated S2/3 Fulvia handbrake mechanism could easily stick on? And then be the very devil to rectify.
A very good reason to keep it all working properly I would say.
Chris.

[neil-yaj396]

Every time I think of buying a Fulvia may friend Alan (who has had two I think) says "they are too complicated......."

[RobD]

I've got an aversion to complicated stuff, but I wouldn't say Fulvias are complicated. I like rugged simplicity and whilst the Fulvia undoubtedly employs some avant garde engineering in certain aspects of its design, they do seem as tough as old boots, which is no doubt why they were so successful at rallying.
The reason for so many Fulvias having feeble handbrakes is not because the design is flawed in any way, it's simply because you need a specific [very simple] tool to remove the disc cum hub. Few owners will have this tool, ergo the handbrake assembly becomes neglected and over time starts to seize up.
As the saying goes, there's no such thing as a bad dog...

[stanley sweet]

You're right - it is the tool that is the problem. I don't consider a Fulvia complicated, as a person who doesn't tinker too deeply. In fact, touching lots of wood, it's quite simply the best car I've ever had for reliability. While I couldn't toss the keys to a friend without pointing out some extra switches (and I defy any non Fulvia owner to find the choke!) I remember saying to my wife years ago that I wish more cars were like the Fulvia after something stupid had gone wrong on a modern. By that I meant I'm happy to jump in any time and drive anywhere and know I'll get there and back without any dramas. On a long trip it's oil, water, tyres, go. I know I shouldn't be saying this but in 22 years it's failed once and that was on the way to Ixworth House in Suffolk for a big Italian car day about 20 years ago. The clutch cable snapped in Borley, the most haunted village in England, so I put it down to the car being scared. In one of those strange coincidences, a Martini Delta pulled up at a house further up the road. I knocked, asked for a copy of Viva Lancia, phoned Omicron and after the AA got me going again Elizabeth Cliffe brought the new cable to the show in her Flaminia. They are tough - Graham Bates told me once that David Piper walked into his workshop and picked up a Fulvia wheel bearing. 'What's this off?' he asked. Graham said a Fulvia. 'Bloody hell', came the reply, 'it's bigger than the bearings on a Ferrari Le Mans car!'.

[chriswgawne]

My earlier post had a typo which meant it made no sense. Apologies.
What I meant to say was:
Am I correct in remembering that a dry unlubricated S2/3 Fulvia handbrake mechanism could easily cause the handbrake to stick on? And then it can be the very devil to rectify, never mind the embarrassment of trying to drive off.
A very good reason to keep it all working properly I would say.

Chris.

[fay66]

Series 1 have the Dunlop handbrake with a separate set of pads and mechanical mechanism for the handbrake, great if you keep them in good condition, if not they can be a right orphan!
one good point is you can adjust the handbrake through the slots in the wheel without removing wheels, it also doubles as a pretty effective back up if the main brakes fail as one of our Fulvia owners found out on the Fulvia Knights Rally while descending the Col Du Bonnet ( not sure about the spelling) on our way to Col De Turini.

Brian
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