Trying to park the Jeep on a jaunty slope for a scenic sunset photo, the handbrake lever came all the way out and the exhaust made embarrassing noises, so it was time for some repairs.
First fix was to replace the handbrake lever.
A new cable to replace the broken one got the drum operational again. Yes, there's only one drum at the back of the transfer case for the handbrake.
Next, the exhaust. I wanted to add an extra hanger under the floor of the Jeep. That meant opening the tool compartment under the passenger seat. I couldn't reach the lid because the seats are mounted over the lid on a frame, so I had to remove the frame and seat. I had never opened this compartment in my fourteen years of ownership, so it was a surprise whatever I found in there. Some previous owner had left a nice multitool and a crank for a jack in there.
Once I was in I could drill a hole and fix the exhaust hanger under the car. Before closing the compartment I cleaned it and flushed it with my own mixture of linseed oil and anti-rust-compound.
Here you see the hanger. The bracket is bolted to the underside and there's a rubber strip to the exhaust. At that time I thought I could get away with a short exhaust stub.
Meanwhile I thought I'd make a simple hand throttle for the Jeep. There was one I liked in the Gipsy, so I copied the general idea. Another bracket with a knob.
This bracket was bolted to the throttle pedal and the knob is at the end of a threaded stud. If you screw in the knob, Idle goes up. Handy at cold starts or for driving very slowly off road. I'll look for a fine knurled knob later.
A test drive convinced me while the handbrake and hand throttle worked fine, the noise from the short exhaust was too much, so I welded parts of the old exhaust back in place. Much better.
