Handbrake install

Alright, here are a few photos from the install.

First, this is the ring that I made.  I took the factory shift ring off and made a duplicate out of 11ga. steel.

From there, we added 1"x3/16" flat bar's to bolt the handbrake to the shift ring, then threw in another 1" flat bar to triangulate the brackets together.

Once all that was done it was time to hook up the lines and run them.  Opposed to drilling holes through he chassis we cut the factory shift ring and rubber dust boot to make room for the lines to come out.  Using rubber vacuum line for protection of the lines, they come straight out of the shifter and go down along the passenger side of the transmission tunnel and under a factory plastic cover.

After coming out of the plastic cover, they tie into the factory mounting locations and run down the passenger side of the car. (This photo was before the lines got mounted under the holder bracket.

From there, the lines go up into the fender where the 350z has a factory junction block.  4 lines meet up here and was the perfect place to put the new lines.  Adding 2 "T" blocks made tied everything together.

So this is how the system is run:

1.  Brake master cylinder

2.  2 lines out of BMC

3.  2 lines run into ABS module

4.  4 lines come out of ABS (2 front and 2 rear)

5.  2 rear lines go into a junction block in the passenger fender under the liner and 2 leave this block

6.  The 2 lines going into the junction block get "Teed" together and a new line runs into the handbrake "feed"

7.  Another new line runs from the handbrake back to the fender and gets "Teed" into the 2 lines that leave the junction block

That's it.  It may sound hard, but its really pretty simple.  The problem is bleeding the system.  In order to do this, you have to disconnect the battery.  It's wayyy better to use a pneumatic vacuum bleeder but and standard hand pump bleeder will work.  It just takes a lot of time.

Here is my parts list

25ft. 3/16" brake line

8 3/16" brake line fittings 

2 3/16" "T" blocks

Double flairing tool

DOT 3 brake fluid

(though if you can get 2 10mm "T" blocks, 4 10mm brake line fittings and 2 10mm to 3/16" adapters would make a nicer install because you wouldn't have to cut the 4 factory lines to put on 3/16" fittings)

I also had access to a welder to make the brackets and a drill press to make the holes.