E Brake / State Inspection

Massachusetts state inspection test that every vehicle needs to pass to get a inspection sticker.
(includes vehicles with antique plates)

They pull your E brake on. They put your van in gear, They apply the accelerator pedal until the engine reaches 1000 - 1300 rpms. They hold it there for a couple of seconds. Then let off the accelerator pedal. If your van/vehicle moves you fail.

I've had my van for over 20 years now and have always had trouble getting a sticker in Massachusetts because my E brake will not hold my van at 1000 - 1300 rpms. My E brake WILL HOLD parked on a hill or anywhere......it just wont hold when the accelerator is applied. All my E brake cables are new, The brake pads are good, I took the rear brakes completely apart cleaned and inspected everything. nothings out of the ordinary. E brakes adjusted properly. Nothing seems to be wrong with my E brake.
I guess my question is...... Are the E brakes in 1st and 2nd generation vans suppose to hold when you apply the accelerator pedal? Are they designed to do that? Will your E Brake hold your van from moving at 1000 - 1300 rpms?

My vans a 1968 GMC Handi Van with a Chevy 350 engine, TH350 auto trans, 411 gears in the rear end.

I'm interested in hearing about this as well since I also live in Massachusetts. When I had my van back in the 70's and 80's, I don't remember having to do this. It never failed inspection. Have the inspections gotten more stringent now?

buy a 2500 rpm stall torque converter, should get the job done

seems to me,,,,unless you sit on the doghouse and pull up on the parking brake handle with both hands, a van parking brake aint really on,,,,,,,,,,

Yes vanny the state inspection in mass has gotten more stringent. If you live in mass and get any vehicle old or new inspected they will do this E Brake test. Not sure how long they've tested the E Brake like this in mass but for the past 8 years or so I've had trouble with garages getting a sticker because of this test. If your sticker guy doesn't do this test. your lucky. you found a "easy going" sticker guy.  

I had a 2700 B&M stall torque converter panelmanrd. I took it out 6 years ago when I blew my trans and put a stock converter back in when I rebuilt it.

I make sure they pull the E Brake lever up all the way when I go to get a sticker donivan65. It takes a little muscle to pull that thing up all the way but it works good....I'm sure that's why they switched to the foot pedal E Brakes later on...much easier.

just pulling it up dont set it,,,,,pulling it up REAL hard does ,,,,,,is the handle adjusted? I would scuff up the rear shoes and scratch up the drums, to make the parking brake grab and hold for the test,,,,,

On mine the E brake seem to grab better if I got the brake peddel down whenI pull handel??

thats a good idea,,,,,to have the master cylinder put 400 psi to the wheel cylinders to force the shoes into the drums and then pull up on the handle to hold them there,,,,,,but,,,,,,if you have to depend on the Inspectors muscle, you might be in trouble,,,,,,how about run a test, put the parking brake on, put a wheel or furniture dolly under a rear wheel, see if you can pull or push the van seeing how good the parking brake holds that one rear wheel on the ground,,,,,then do the other side,,,,you might find one side aint holding,,,,,

What a PIA. There should be exceptions for classic vehicles to be able to perform at a different scale due antique designs. There's quite a few performance features my old van can't match against new cars. I'm glad AZ doesn't have these inspections.

Something to look forward to, I guess

get underneath the van and tighten up the cables to the point where the rear brakes are nearly dragging, then when you go to the inspection, sit on the doghouse and pull up as hard as you effing can like don said

we have a safety inspection here in Missouri, says nothing about the
ebrake even being present much less if it works.

I'm surprised that newer cars can pass this. I had the brakes go completely out on an 05 impala so I jammed the parking brake and it did hardly anything. They are parking brakes not emergency stop brakes now days.

Believe me I've tried everything over the years to pass this test. I've tightened/adjusted the E Brake so tight my rear brakes are dragging in the parking lot of the place before I try to get a sticker and it still won't pass......and I always check to make sure the guy doing the sticker pulls the E Brake handle up all the way.

I've had to take my van off the road several times since I've owned it simply because my E Brake won't pass the test to get a sticker....Can't drive it legally without a Massachusetts state inspection sticker.

It wouldn't be too hard to put in one of those in line valves they sell for buggies etc.
You apply the brakes and pull the knob to keep pressure on the shoes, push to release. (or visa versa) sort of like a line lock.

Yes, "line lock" that's what I was thinking. Like drag racers use. Not sure how involved it is to install....

almost suggested that, but if you have a brake problem, they wont work either. I would check to see if they will except that as an e-brake before installing. you could always adapt another handle to get more pull on your cable. my parking brake isn't so good either, but don't need it for inspection and feel its good enough to slow me to a gradual stop, don't really want them locking up anyway if I needed them.

You could get more "pull" from a lever type like in most cars with consoles. A lot of older medium duty(non air brake) trucks had them. And I would suspect the floor mount lever could be adapted to fit. That would seriously effect your originality and cool factors. Maybe if you could come up with a custom mount and installation for it? Just bouncing ideas off my empty head.

,,,,are the drums and shoes glazed????? are the drums out of tolerance so that the shoes no longer make full contact upon application?

There is a fullcrum arm mounted to the trans crossmember that the pull-cable attaches to the end of to increase the mechanical advantage over the two cables going to the rear brakes.... You could make that arm substantially longer, but you'd create longer travel at the handle, so you'd want that front cable to start pulling from the very bottom and hopefully not run out of travel.......

I've been toying with the idea of re-purposing my clutch pedal to set the e-brake, but would have to create a releasable ratcheting mechanism for the arm coming up through the floor

I guess I'm going to try new rear brake drums and shoes and see if that helps. My drums might be worn or uneven. Honestly I don't think these E Brakes were designed to do what the state of Massachusetts wants them to do.

I agree, never meant to do all that. azdon had a good idea, just redesign the arm for more pull. even 10-20% should make a huge difference.

Back in the day (before power steering was standard equipment) a lot of the equipment required the user to put some muscle behind it..... I'm wondering how they do this test with stick shift vehicles (?)....The easiest way to create more leverage is to lengthen the fulcrum arm (in your 1st and 3rd pictures) and adjust that front cable as tight as you can without the brakes dragging, so that it pulls from the very bottom of it's travel..... That arm is just a piece of flat steel with three holes drilled in it, so it wouldn't be hard to duplicate..... It may require you to add another pulley on a horizontal plane for cable alignment purposes.....

Actually, the same increase in leverage could be accomplished by moving the center hole on the arm (that the rear link is clipped in to) slightly closer to the pivot hole.... It will still increase the travel on the handle though, so you'll need to adjust the handle to utilize the full travel available....

Also, the fulcrum arm angle to the two cable attachments affects how much power the pull takes and how much travel results. Maximum effort is needed when the fulcrum arm is 90 degrees to the cable (center of travel)......Ramping up to center requires increasing power and also increases the pull distance while past center of travel requires diminishing pull force but also produces diminishing travel.
The object here would be to create a flat arm that goes past center about the time the pull starts to become hard, but is ramping up to center on the pulled cable.... The pull effort and travel rate on the long part of the arm would be diminishing while the rate of effort and travel was increasing at the short hole (pulled cable)

I crawled under my van for a looksee.....Alignment of the front cable from the last pulley to the arm should not be an issue if you lengthen the arm....
The arm I am picturing having the most dramatic effects of my previous post would be "L" shaped with the pivot hole at the end of the foot, the pulled cable hole in the heel and the pull cable at the top of the "L" (the top being fairly long)....
At rest, the pulled cable's hole and the pivot hole would be in almost direct alignment with the pulled cable, and the two holes a fair distance apart, so that from first movement, the distance the cable is pulled is dramatic.... The long end of the arm would move over center fairly early, and so would require diminishing force even as the short two holes were ramping up pull rate and necessary force to move.....I believe the diminishing force necessary at the long end of the arm would "win" in how it was perceived at the handle, but I'm not a mathematician (or a real engineer) so I have no idea how to prove, or even determine optimal design..... Most likely, optimal would be a "soft" "L" (less than 90 degrees)

To clarify...... When I mention "over center", I'm talking about the halfway point (90 degrees) in the arc of travel.... I am NOT talking about "over the top" (beyond 180 degrees) which is something you definitely don't want to achieve .......

Sorry for all the editing, but I keep proofreading for clarity because I want to be clear...