The Camaro Club (UK)

As the title says, my car failed its MOT today There were 2 issues, the first is the lambda reading was too high and the second was the passenger side parking brake was insufficient.

I fitted an SLP Loudmouth earlier this year, does anyone think the Loudmouth has affected emissions or has an o2 sensor gone bad, I'm open to other suggestions as well?

As for the parking brake, I had to remove the brake disc to put in a new wheel stud, I didn't touch the parking brake but does removing the disc mean it should need attention?

Any assistance would be most appreciated.

Thanks in advance.

MOTs 'R' me so I'll try to help.
High Lambda usually means a leak in the exhaust, check it thoroughly. Small leaks are usually not a problem but larger ones will.
Weak disc brake effort is often a caliper issue, parts siezed up like slider pins, pads in the carrier, cable etc. Sorry but you'll just have to pull it apart and look for trouble and check it's all working as it should. Does your park brake operate the caliper or a drum inside the disc, I think it does but just remind me.
Sometimes if the effort is just a bit low, driving the car and hammering the brakes can help quite a bit with the heat. HTH
Cheers, Martin

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I think the 4th gens have a brake shoe for handbrake inside the disc, so it's possible you may have dislodged something when the disc came off. No idea if they're supposed to be self adjusting or not.

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“You only live once, but if you do it right, once is enough.”

It's a drum inside disc, as chevy-stu says.

Could a leak be anywhere along the exhaust to cause this? The only places I can think of at the moment are the joins at each section of the Loudmouth.

What's the best way of plugging those gaps?

Have you used this garage before? Sometimes they can be a bit over the top on yanks. Handbrakes on these are crap anyway.

It's my regular garage, I've been using them for years.

I did find online how to adjust the parking brake, so I'll give that a go.

If the loudmouth has 2 exits in the exhaust did the tester block one up. Must always be done as only a single pipe into exhaust. But check for leaks too. If you have access to a data logger that would tell you how O2 sensors are behaving. Not sure if the ebay specials will do it, i've got the full tuning suite so keep trak of everything that way.

The parking brake is easy. Jack up and get caliper and disc off (let the handbrake off and chock the front wheels) Check the shoe is central. Then at the bottom there is a cylinder with a nurled ring bit. This moved to open up the shoe or close it. Just try adjusting that a bit and then it should be a bit tighter, dont go overboard or you wont get the disc back on

Pull the handbrake up and down a few times at it has a sell adjusting mech in it too. As DUNC said, they are crap handbrakes and i've driven about before not knowing mine is on :O

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'99 Z28 A4, 253 LS2 heads, 228R TSP cam, Patriol Dual Springs, Double roller timing chain, LS6 ported oil pump, OBX LTs, 3" True Duals, LS6 intake, 42lb/hr injectors, SLP lid + bellow, EFIlive COS 3 Speed Denisty Tune (self tuned), 3200 Circle D stall, CAI mod, KYB AGXs, Eibach Pro Front Springs, UMI panhard, LCA + Brackets, Strut Brace, Custom Subframe connectors, WS6 axle with 3.42s, 18" American Racing Rebels, US mirrors, 93 tail lights, 3.5 inch custom cowl hood. Mickey T's Street DRs on Vette-ZR1 wheels for the strip !
Best ET: 12.0 @ 116 mph (on a 0-60ft of 1.8 s)

Passed MOT today.

Tester didn't put probe in past the tail pipe and into main exhaust last time, this time he did and got an almost perfect lambda reading.