Leather parking brake

This is a pretty easy mod except one thing.. The install notes show you just pulling off your old handel!! well that wont happen. You have to take a knife to it !!

it easyer to pop the console top off..

When you get the old one off remember that you will want to reuse part of it! you can install the new handle without it but you will see the gear and a few wires inside under the handle. I think this is why its not a USA item.. However we can fix this..
You will be reuseing the bottem part of the old handle . The Peice that covers all the stuff under the handel . you can see this part in the pic above its the long skinny ruber that is infront and behind laying on the silver trim.

cut from the bottem up.. and then pull the handle off

2

here you can see the part i want you to keep .. go cut the entire thing now so you just have the very bottem part with the extra rubber to hide the workings under the hand break handle

cutting

finished cutting :)

now go slip this back on the break handle and tape it in place.. I also used one wire tie.

n

Now you can slide the new handle on .. it wil fit down a bit further and show you more of the silver button on top. It will be kinda hard to slip on but you can pull it off again later.

next

Now clean it up with a nice leather wipe. pop the console back in and enjoy.

This also came from Japanparts.com see my Mazda Speed Knee Pad thread

Very nice. I hate the stock parking brake... looks like a fishing hook or something.

yes i know!! what the hell was Mazda thinking with that ugly thing..

Now your brake handle looks like the one in every other car that isn't an RX-8.

BTW its "handle", not "handel". Handel was a composer.
Pet peeve, sorry.

Yea.. Bite me.. if you dont have anything nice to say then keep your trap shut :)


Spellin is over rateded :P

P.S..

This Handle looks and feels much better than the USA version..

But if you like yours than so be it !!

I didn't like mine, either.
So I installed the matching red leather version.

BTW its "handle", not "handel". Handel was a composer.
Pet peeve, sorry. [/B][/QUOTE]

and WTF are you talking about ??

besides You can see what time it was after i made this Post ....

And if your an english teacher then get a clue.. People here want to know how to mod there cars not Spell ...


Sorry but people keep trying to be smart and pointing out my typeos ... I was born with Dysleskiea (spelling) so at that time of night after having worked on the 8 and taken countless pic's and then altering them with photoshop takes a long time.. I spent about 1 hour just putting that post up .. So if you dont have anything nice to say then ....


btw thanks for careing

Originally posted by MazdaManiac
I didn't like mine, either.
So I installed the matching red leather version.

Ohh got a pic.. Iwant to see the red.. I almost got a diffrent color for my 8 ... even though its blue :)

so does this handel(haha) go down flat when the brake isn't on? or does it still stick up? Basikally is that picture of the finished product with the e break on or off?

Thanks

p.s. do you have a pick of it in the other position also?

English is my third language (after Danish and German). Get over it.

break is up or on in the picture .. when its down or off it still sticks up just like the oem one does. just look at yours and hold your hand over the loop part on the bottem . The break will still stop in the same place Still poining up :)

To heck with the typos, this is a very nice DIY thread. KUDOS to you, thew! :D

typos are my trade mark.. hehe and I try to type to fast and dont think to go back and check for errors untill later hehe :)

Thanks.. the MAzda instructions are written for Japan only. But theres a few pictographs. :)

looks nice and its unique

what a great DIY thread. Good instruction and pictures too.

Thanks !

you bet :)

Originally posted by thew
typos are my trade mark.. hehe and I try to type to fast and dont think to go back and check for errors untill later hehe :)

Thanks.. the MAzda instructions are written for Japan only. But theres a few pictographs. :)

Well, you got "pictographs" right :p

Thanks for the instructions. The OEM brake Handel is unique but sometimes I think that's the only thing it's got going for it. Other times I think it's ok.

I'm sorry, but did I miss the part number for the autoexe handbrake handle? It looks really nice. :D
From what I can gather, you got it from www.japanparts.com.
Am I right? :) or wrong. :confused:

Thanks.

yes.. i did.. its there under there but they also have the MS ones to ..its the AutoExe

Thanks. Got it. :D That's so much better than the Mazda 'fish-hook'. :p

yepppp

I don't mind the Parking Brake, however i want to know Mazda's logic behind making it look like a rapid fire rifle handle, did they assume i would be pulling it up every time i take a turn?

Because it is beautiful and different.

I made a custom leather parking break from a leather steering wheel cover--$14.99 at many auto stores. I’ll be taking pic’s and posting shortly.

It wraps around the standard handle and it feels much better than the standard plastic. The hardest part is the stitching.

:eek: Because it is beautiful and different.:eek:

Because it is beautiful and different :}

hey no.w. I am just busting your chops cause you like the fish hook and i like the fishing pole :)

Mostly the loop got in my way.. :) and I like my 8 to look diffrent that yours :)
PEace

I'm missing why we need this lower part cut off the old one. Can you explain that better??

to cover the gear and the mech that make the hand break work. cutting off the old oem base and installing it first keeps that stuff out of sight. you dont have to do it. in fact you can install it without and then you will see for yourself why. Then you can reinstall the old rubber base under the new break handle :)

BUMP. The photos appear to be gone... and I'd like to see them since I just broke part the base of the parking brake. Can anyone help?

Did a DIY job on mine, if you think it to large on a LHD it's worse on a RHD, not keen on the hover handle look either, the guard bit seems to do nothing!

I have the same "oops" problem -- cold weather broken plastic that so many other people have noted. The thing that really bugs me is that the plastic piece, from the way it looks in the photos (thanks for posting them again, BTW) looks very long, several inches at least, and I can't find it anywhere, even inside the center console. Did it slip into a hole somehow that I missed? I think I would certainly have noticed a broken piece of plastic that big if it were laying in my passenger footwell.