Hey guys, rather large update.
As some of you may have noticed my posts earlier, I was experiencing problems with my handbrake sensor going off all the time. Must have been pulled off my all THE INSANE G'S I WAS PULLING DOWN DEM MOUNTAIN ROADS AT 185 MPH LOL
(My apologies, Photobucket has for some reason refused to downsize my pictures, even if it says it has done so)
Regardless, it got REALLY bad at one point, so a fix, even a temporary one had to be made. Toothpicks are normally quite good for this! Hard part was of course doing this with the centre panel still on, through the tiny gap under the handbrake, but it was doable!
(NB : I obviously only took the picture today,after stripping everything)
A proper fix meant stripping the whole thing, and taking off my Richbrook handbrake lever. Now this was an utter &$%! to get on, so there was no way I would put it back on after taking it off. This meant of course, getting another handbrake lever, as I had butchered the original one, as I needed to bottom half of it to fit my Richbrook. The delightful David from Sere Motors was only happy to oblige, and I bought a
Cupra lever from him.
Leather gaitor came off, first and foremost :
Then the handle and gear gaitor :
The new Haynes manual is incredibly handy, and I couldn't recommend it enough:
Out came the ashtray:
Off came some bolts to take off the centre trim:
(There are 4 screws in total - 2 under the gear gaitor near the cigarette lighter, and 2 under the ashtray - you need not touch any others!!)
After using my hands to pry out the tray between the gearstick and handbrake, the centre trim could now be moved:
Handbrake
sans centre trim:
Switch is now back in place, clipped on under the handbrake:
The finished item, after some hoovering up and re-assembling - not bad huh?