As per title, I have to sort out my handbrake, the car has mk3 vr6 rear axle and mk4 disc brake conversion, I need to buy new handbrake cables, anyone know which cables work ? As I gathered there are 2 different lengths of handbrake cables and -unfortunately- the parts catalogue doesn’t take old VIN numbers anymore. Car had hydraulic handbrake which I had to remove it as it’s illegal in my country for MOT purposes ! Thanks in advance!
changed in 1988, check your handbrake lever. early is same as mk1 golf, cables attach to bracket on the front of it = 1800mm cables. late is same as mk3 golf, cables attach to a bracket way out the back of lever = 1625mm
Unfortunately the car is a 1998 and the handbrake lever is missing- it had a hydraulic setup but that was removed for MOT purposes…it’s hard getting it trough the MOT as it is with the engine conversion, let alone with mods ! Thank you !
your car is pre-88, bracket is welded to the car and lever has a pin with circlips. post-88 have 2 studs on the shell and entire lever with brackets can unbolt
a mk1 golf lever would work and that includes all year cabrio and scirocco if it helps. you also need the pivot pin and retaing circlip, little bracket where the cables go and the lock nuts that allow you to adjust cable length. good mk2 breaker will have all of it such as Brendon Moss or Matthew Palmer on FB
Update to my saga ! Ordered a bunch of hand brake cables (apparently there are 4 different ones !) and neither worked, the ones that were for brake calipers were too short 1630mm so I put the boy at the parts store and he found a similar pair but 1800mm long ! Anyway, these are too long but I can modify them to make them work ! I drilled a 8mm bar to take the handbrake cable and I will crimp the ends then I will thread the bar to take a speed/locking nut. Hopefully the handbrake will work properly ! I also found looking underneath the car that the brake bias valve on the rear axle is missing and the brake pipes from the master brake cyl go directly to the calipers- could this be the reason for my poor brakes ? Compared to this car, the other 2 golfs I have (one petrol with the mk3 gti engine 256mm solid discs and a tdi one with 256mm vented discs ) feel much, much sharper when braking ! I also seem to be missing the guide metal tubes below and one of the plastic end guides- don’t know if they are still available but will enquire today !
theres only 2 cables for disc brakes, the others are for drums (american made have some others but not relevant here) but yeah, if you dont have the guide tubes then you'll need those too 191711949A and 191711950. NLA but plenty of used ones out there, and you need pre-88 version as well
I ordered the tubes and they are special delivery 4-6 days, however I started modifying the cables and got it to sort of work but the cables don’t retract back ! The calipers are moving freely but they lack the springs ! I am waiting for the guide tubes and if the cables are too short then I will buy new ones…thanks for your help !
the mk2 golf ones have a spring on the outside, later mk3 design the spring is inside. you can get an externally mounted spring which was retrofit on some models (ford is where some have found them, iirc galaxy so sharan)
Thank you ! Defined need a pair ! Funny thing is I threw a lot of brake calipers last summer and many had these springs on ! Mainly mk4 and mk5 golf platforms…sods law !
tbh if they are mk3 type you dont NEED the return springs, they function perfectly fine without them. but if they're mk2 type then you'll have to source some
