Its called an "emergency" brake but mine acts more like a "I will stop in about 5 minutes" brake. Is there any way to tighten it up or make it more reactive?

 

yes, there's a nut under your coin tray, i believe you need an extension to reach it. I believe it should be set to fully lock in 6-7 clicks but don't quote me on it.

 

Only 05's and older can adjust fron under the coin tray , the new modles must pull the rear wheels.

 

anyone know how to reach nad tighten this bolt?

 

Your best bet is to remove the rear wheels and rotors and adjust the cog wheel adjuster located at the 12 oclock position giving just enough room to put the rear rotor back on then two lugs to keep it flush,then test the feel of your E-brake. If you like your adjustment then put you tire's back on.

 

I'm having the same problem with mine... I have an '04. Does anyone have a picture of what the bolt looks like that is under the coin tray?

 

I have no experience with the coin tray one but if you take off the wheels there's a small rubber thingy, looks like a keyhole, on the rotor. Pull the rubber thing out and move the hole in the rotor to the 12 o'clock position, shine a flash light in the whole and you'll notice a lil cog wheel, loosening this will push the cog thingy out and make it so the drum break is tighter with the rotor. If you look at the bolt thats inside the cog on mine when I redid it I had it so I could see almost 3 threads of the bolt and it tightens fully up in 4-5 clicks.

I probably explained this horribly but I know exactly what I'm talking about, hope it helped tho.

 

Step 1 , remove coin tray. step 2 look inside to the aft of the car and lift ebrake up and down, you will see a 12mm nut moving up and down. Step 3 , tighten 12mm nut with 12mm deep socket till you like the feel of your ebrake. If you still need a pic. just post one and i'll draw an arrow on it.

 

Wow, all of these responses and nobody has mentioned it.

It's called a parking brake (or a hand brake). It's not designed for stopping. It's designed to keep you stationary.

The parking brake in the Z is notoriously weak when trying to use it to stop from speed, or to to induce a drift. No amount of adjusting is ever going to fix that.

 

If you really want your e-brake to stop your car, pick up a set of Project MU Inner Shoe's.

 

thanks, seems pretty easy. Ill try it out this weekend.

 

It would be better to pull off the rear wheels and use the adjuster.

From the service manual:

ADJUSTMENT
o To perform adjustment operations, remove tire from the vehicle with power tool.
1. Remove ashtray. Insert a deep socket wrench to rotate adjusting nut and loosen the cable sufficiently. Then, return the lever.
2. Using wheel nuts, fix the disc to the hub and prevent it from tilting.
3. Remove adjusting hole plug installed on the disc. Using a flatbladed screwdriver, turn the disc in direction A as shown in the figure until the disc is locked. After locking, turn the adjuster in the opposite direction by 5 or 6 notches. [Direction A is down.]
4. Rotate the disc to make sure there is no drag. Install the adjusting hole plug.
5. Adjust cable as follows:
a. Operate lever 10 or more times with a force of 294 N (30 kg, 66 lb).
b. Rotate adjusting nut with deep socket to adjust lever stroke.
CAUTION: Do not reuse the adjusting nut after removing it.
c. When parking brake lever is operated with a force of 196 N (20 kg, 44 lb), check that the stroke is within the specified number of notches. (Check it by listening and counting the ratchet clicks.)
Lever stroke: 6 to 7 notches
d. With the lever completely returned, make sure there is no drag on the rear brake.

I should do mine too.

Asterix