andyzed Posted July 19, 2009 Share Posted July 19, 2009 I decided to swap my OEM plastic/rubber handbrake lever for a Titanium one and change the gaiter to a Red leather one as I already had the Gaiter as it came as a pair with the Gearknob gaiter which I had already fitted. I looked around for a direct replacement lever but couldn't find any, but I found a Richbrook lever which fitted the Micra and it already had a cutout on the bottom of the lever which I knew looking at previous mods would be required to fit on the OEM internals. Richbrook do various colours in the lever I was going to mod, I opted for Titanium to match the gearknob, right hand pic below: I was lucky enough to get one of e-bay for £17.50 plus P&P in the colour I wanted. I didn't know how much I would have to mod the lever or if it would fit at all, however my wife has a Micra so if all else failed I could fit it to that as it is a direct fit for this model Anyway I looked a previous post on another forum for instructions before I started and it looked straight forward enough Well first job was to use a stanley knife to cut down one of the seams on the OEM lever cover, handy these seams as it guides the knife while you cut, I cut it down as far as possible to just before the rubber insert attached to the centre console, be careful you don't cut too far as you don't want to cut into this insert and damage it, as this doesn't get removed. Once the cover is cut down one seam just ease it off over the handbrake internals, it is just stuck on in a couple of places with some glue, mine came off really easy, this is the end resultLever 3.JPG[/attachment][attachment=0]lever 4.JPG[/attachment] Once the cover was off I tried sliding the new handle over the top of the mechanism but the slot at the bottom of the handle was just too small approx 1/2 " you need 5/8" to slide over the web on the OEM internals, I therefore widened the slot by using a junior hacksaw and dressed it up using some small needle files, you could use a dremel instead but I prefer using handtools if possible as you can't mess up as easy I like it to be neat but to be honest the finish doesn't need to be that good as long as it fits over the web, as you wont see this once the gaiter retaining ring and gaiter are in place. I used a workmate to hold the handle whilst I sawed it as the flat sides of the replacement lever allow it to be held nicely in the workmate vice, I wrapped the handle in some towelling just to prevent it getting marked, see next post for how it looked when finished. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
andyzed Posted July 19, 2009 Author Share Posted July 19, 2009 following on from previous post, here is the new lever with the slot widenedlever 7.JPG[/attachment] Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
andyzed Posted July 19, 2009 Author Share Posted July 19, 2009 Now you have drilled and tapped the existing lever, stick the double-sided pad that came with the new lever onto the top of the existing release button and slide the new lever on and secure it in place with the 2 angled grub screws, make sure they are flush or slightly below the surface or you wont be able slide the gaiter retaining ring onto the lever as this mounts over the top of these screws, I had to cut a bit off one of mine to allow it to fit. Dont' screw the top retaining grub screw in yet as his also secures the gaiter ring. Slide your gaiter over the retaining ring an turn it inside out, it should look like this.gaiter 3.JPG[/attachment] Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
IanS16 Posted July 19, 2009 Share Posted July 19, 2009 Nice clean mod We just need to make that actual brake part work now Maybe you should have put this all on one thread though? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
andyzed Posted July 19, 2009 Author Share Posted July 19, 2009 Couple of more pics of the new Titanium handbrake lever and Titanium gearknob Quite an inexpensive mod around £ 25 but much better than stock handbrake lever IMO[attachment=2]new mod.JPG[/attachment][attachment=1]new mod 2.JPG[/attachment] Here is a pic of the range of colours they do, these levers are all polished aluminium and cost around £25 the titanium is on the right[attachment=0]richbrook.JPG[/attachment] Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
andyzed Posted July 19, 2009 Author Share Posted July 19, 2009 Nice clean mod We just need to make that actual brake part work now Maybe you should have put this all on one thread though? Ian I tried to but it would only let me put up 3 pics per post, maybe I need a lesson in posting cheers Andy Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Randomfry Posted July 19, 2009 Share Posted July 19, 2009 Neat little job Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ekona Posted July 19, 2009 Share Posted July 19, 2009 You can only attach 3 pics per post, but you don't have to start a new thread every time! Just click the 'post reply' button on your original thread, add the contents of the other three threads to that and then a kind Mod can delete the rest of the threads for you. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
andyzed Posted July 19, 2009 Author Share Posted July 19, 2009 Altered post to include entire mod in the one posting Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
andyzed Posted July 19, 2009 Author Share Posted July 19, 2009 Here is the new lever with the slot widened Attachment: lever2.JPG[/attachment] Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
andyzed Posted July 19, 2009 Author Share Posted July 19, 2009 Now you have drilled and tapped the existing lever, stick the double-sided pad that came with the new lever onto the top of the existing release button and slide the new lever on and secure it in place with the 2 angled grub screws, make sure they are flush or slightly below the surface or you wont be able slide the gaiter retaining ring onto the lever as this mounts over the top of these screws, I had to cut a bit off one of mine to allow it to fit. Dont' screw the top retaining grub screw in yet as his also secures the gaiter ring. Slide your gaiter over the retaining ring an turn it inside out, it should look like this. lever4.JPG[/attachment] All that's left now is to turn the gaiter the right way round and tuck it into the rubber finishing piece that was left on at the start, job done and should hopefully look like this [attachment=0]lever6.JPG[/attachment] Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
andyzed Posted July 19, 2009 Author Share Posted July 19, 2009 Couple of more pics of the new Titanium handbrake lever and Titanium gearknob [attachment=2]lever 8.JPG[/attachment] [attachment=1]lever 9.JPG[/attachment] Quite an inexpensive mod around £ 25 but much better than stock handbrake lever IMO Here is a pic of the range of colours they do, these levers are all polished aluminium and cost around £25 the titanium is on the right [attachment=0]richbrook.JPG[/attachment] Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hotrain69 Posted July 19, 2009 Share Posted July 19, 2009 that looks very tidy job mate getting me very interested. just need to find a black aluminium lever to match my nismo gearknob! does anyone know if the gaitor needs to be specially made for the zed? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
andyzed Posted July 19, 2009 Author Share Posted July 19, 2009 that looks very tidy job mate getting me very interested. just need to find a black aluminium lever to match my nismo gearknob! does anyone know if the gaitor needs to be specially made for the zed? I got my gaiters from here, they are specifically made for the Zed not universal http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/NISSAN-350Z-GEAR- ... 1|294%3A30 really nice quality leather and will make them any colour you want Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hotrain69 Posted July 19, 2009 Share Posted July 19, 2009 that looks very tidy job mate getting me very interested. just need to find a black aluminium lever to match my nismo gearknob! does anyone know if the gaitor needs to be specially made for the zed? I got my gaiters from here, they are specifically made for the Zed not universal http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/NISSAN-350Z-GEAR- ... 1|294%3A30 really nice quality leather and will make them any colour you want thanks mate, was just looking at that on ebay as well. looks good. did you have to pay much on taxes when it was shipped over? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
andyzed Posted July 19, 2009 Author Share Posted July 19, 2009 that looks very tidy job mate getting me very interested. just need to find a black aluminium lever to match my nismo gearknob! does anyone know if the gaitor needs to be specially made for the zed? I got my gaiters from here, they are specifically made for the Zed not universal http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/NISSAN-350Z-GEAR- ... 1|294%3A30 really nice quality leather and will make them any colour you want thanks mate, was just looking at that on ebay as well. looks good. did you have to pay much on taxes when it was shipped over? They are based in the UK only £2.99 for postage Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hotrain69 Posted July 19, 2009 Share Posted July 19, 2009 that looks very tidy job mate getting me very interested. just need to find a black aluminium lever to match my nismo gearknob! does anyone know if the gaitor needs to be specially made for the zed? I got my gaiters from here, they are specifically made for the Zed not universal http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/NISSAN-350Z-GEAR- ... 1|294%3A30 really nice quality leather and will make them any colour you want thanks mate, was just looking at that on ebay as well. looks good. did you have to pay much on taxes when it was shipped over? They are based in the UK only £2.99 for postage oh yes sorry i was looking at a different one. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
M13KYF Posted July 20, 2009 Share Posted July 20, 2009 very nice mod Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
M13KYF Posted July 20, 2009 Share Posted July 20, 2009 merged down to one thread. No need for 4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
S1 HNK Posted July 20, 2009 Share Posted July 20, 2009 looks brilliant, think i might invest Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Adrian@TORQEN Posted September 22, 2011 Share Posted September 22, 2011 2 years later... where are the photos?? Any chance we could have them back? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
4RE Leather Posted October 15, 2011 Share Posted October 15, 2011 I bought the same hand brake in Titanium as you. However as previously mentioned. Can us new guys have the photo's back please. Pictures tell a story that the written word can't. Thanks Thenoname Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
coldel Posted October 16, 2011 Share Posted October 16, 2011 Second that...i have one guide but its not a good one, this is one of those mods which I feel I need to be fully 100% happy with as once you cut off that brake cover there's no going back! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
4RE Leather Posted October 16, 2011 Share Posted October 16, 2011 If the gaiters arrive from Poland by Wednesday I will give it to taras at RT Performance Brentford when he puts the spoiler on. I read a post on the USA 350 forum where he took his apart and came unstuck. he went on to say he drove around without a handbrake for over a month. Like I said pictures tell a thousand words:) thenoname Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
andyzed Posted October 16, 2011 Author Share Posted October 16, 2011 If the gaiters arrive from Poland by Wednesday I will give it to taras at RT Performance Brentford when he puts the spoiler on.I read a post on the USA 350 forum where he took his apart and came unstuck. he went on to say he drove around without a handbrake for over a month. Like I said pictures tell a thousand words:) thenoname It was me who posted the original thread, I'll try and find the pics as they me be on my old computer. If I come across them I'll repost the pics. The mod was pretty straight forward and took me around 2 hours in total Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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