As some of you know Contours have an e-brake cable problem. Especially in cold climates where they salt the roads. Eventually the inside of the cable will corrode and the rust build up will seize the cable. I'm on my third one now. (about $40 per set)
I decided to install this one my self last night. 5 hours later I was finished but it didn't need to take that long. Per the Haynes Manual you have to remove the center column. THIS IS NOT TRUE. After attempting to remove it I moved on to the underside of the car. I just couldn't slide the e-brake handle out of it's boot. When I talked to Terry he never said anything about removing it but I didn't remember that until it was too late. Anyway I unbolted the exhaust heat shield to see what it looked like under there. Also per Terry & the manual you must drop the exhaust. I was able to slide the 2 cables from the T area by bending the heat shield out of the way. It would be a little easier to unbolt but mine was pretty rusty at the flange and I knew it wasn't going to come off. There is a cable that runs off the underside of the e-brake handle and runs down underneath the car and attaches to a bracket. The 2 cables then just unhook from that. The rest is pretty straight forward. You'll need a 13mm wrench to aid where the cables run through the body. They have a 3 prong locking system and you need to slide the closed end of the wrench down the cable to push those in. Everything works great now except my back.
