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I was recently going over my '88 740 auto sedan in advance of its annual vehicle inspection required here in North Carolina, which is due by the end of March. The lights, mirrors, and exhaust system are all fine, so I thought I was in good shape, but at the last minute I thought to grab the emergency hand brake lever, and WOOSH! it pulled right up without any resistance and without any braking. Since the car has automatic transmission, I wouldn't necessarily need the parking brake, but N.C. does require it as mandatory safety equipment. So, I have 11 days to fix it. I got up under the car and saw that the secondary cable coming off the main cable near the differential and going to the right rear wheel was broken, so obviously that needs to be replaced. The main cable going from the lever to the left rear wheel does not appear to be broken, but it does look extremely corroded and messed up, and its outer coating is worn away in many places, so I would be inclined to replace it as well. So, how do I go about doing this? The FAQ's don't have much info about parking brakes, and a little bit of other scouting on the web hasn't turned up a whole lot of info. On the surface, it would seem to be a very simple and straightforward procedure, but I have a feeling that getting the cables connected and routed correctly and adjusted to the proper tension may be pretty tricky. For one thing, it wasn't clear to me whether replacing the left-hand cable would require tearing apart the interior and pulling up the carpeting in order to feed the new cable back up to the lever. Obviously, I'd rather not have to do that. Also, my research found something about Volvo having a new design for the 700-series parking brake cables, so if I got parts from the dealer I would also have to get some other hardware to retro-fit it in. Please tell me what I need to know about all of these procedures. Thanks.
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