Parking brake and more

[Karmageddon]

Hi

I'm new to e30's, and cars in general. I just got my e30 on the road and I need to hook up the parking brake so I can get it safetied some time in the next 8 days. Is there a good trouble shoot for what is wrong with my parking brake?

PO says it might just be the springs, I'm trying to do my research before i jack the car up and pull everything apart (it becomes really hard to get parts when the car doesnt move).

I've looked around and havent seen much info on the parking/hand brake in the DIY section (I did see something on another site, but not much detail).

(I havent looked into this yet) I'm coming from a TDI where the engine temp should be a certain temp for best efficiency, is the fact that even after hard driving my car doesnt get to the halfway mark on the temp gauge an issue I should look into?


Thanks

[dnguyen1963]

Search YouTube...there are some nice videos on how to adjust the parking brakes even replacing them. I think "ericthecarguy.com" has some related videos. As for the cool temp, E30 will never get to half-mark in the winter of a cold weather region...and I live in Wisconsin not as cold as Toronto. Do you get sufficient heat output from your heater? If not, you might want to replace the t-stat with an 88C one.