Handbrake and J Turns

[Dannysyncro1.8]

is the syncro system still capable of coping with these stresses or will i break it. there is a thing that activates freewheel in the rear so i should think aslong as all is working it’l be fine?

[no such user]

J turns trash transmitions, not just syncro ones. well more to the point it killes the reverse ideler so if you liek your car droppign the clutch in reverse is a bad idea. other than that drivetrain wont mind that much. as for the handbrake qusetion never actuly woked out the defanate answer, i don’t think the handbrake warngin light switch connects inthe the syncro loom so i dought there is anythgin engadgeing the freewheel so dont think it would be optimal to try handbrake it. it may try and work as a 4 wheel handbrake through the transmition that’ll give the frount diff a bit of what for, but don’t think the rear drums would provoide enuff brakeing force to actualy damage anything. it’s hump back bridges + full throttel in 3rd that really don’t mix

[ld50]

tbh I know everyone moans about the drums on the syncro but I never had any complaints about them – the handbrake on the syncro was always better than on my gtis. The handbrake on my current gti is ok but only because I just recently replaced the whole rear brake setup.

I never had any problems using a bit of handbrake on the syncro whilst driving, on roundabouts etc, but found it drifted more elegantly using weight transfer and “swing” than by forcing it with the handbrake so I didn’t really experiment much further with it.

The ins and outs of the freewheels I don’t know too much about but what might also make a difference with handbrake turns vs transmission life would be your tyre width, especially while you’re experimenting.

I may be wrong but I’d say doing handbrake turns with wide tyres will hammer your rig more than if you’re using skinny or stock tyres because of the extra grip and the increased forces in play with the wide wheels.

It might be worth experimenting on a slippery surface like grass just till you figure out what’s what before hitting the tarmac…besides it’s fun

[no such user]

I think trying to pull handbrake or J-turns on a Syncro will result in breakages – everything is tied together. You’re asking things to do two different things. Using the handbrake to encourage break-away is one thing, but trying to lock the rear wheels while keeping the fronts turning is going to place a big stress on the whole drivetrain.

The only circumstance in which you could overcome this problem is to have a switch in the car that activates the freewheel, but that’s a rather big effort unless you’re some sort of stunt driver who needs to pull this sort of stunt repeatedly. If you’re not then learn your car and get it set up a bit – as LD50 has said, using weight transfer will get the rear end of a Syncro out, although the naturally sticky nature of the car won’t allow you to do it too often – it’s designed to have very good grip, you’re relying on it having easily-breachable limits if you’re pulling J-turns and handbrake turns.

[no such user]

drums are better for handbrake than disks ever were. takes a lot of effort getting a gtis handbrake to work right

[Author]

Posts