Putting this together for those who are curious about how exactly this job is done. This is a swap that seems simple on the surface but there are bits of nuance in the detail that are helpful to know in advance (wish I did). Honestly, though, this job sucks and it's always daunting when there is no undoing the work you're about to do so I hope some others here find this helpful as they're preparing to or considering doing this swap. Okay, here we go.

Here are the Ti Handle and Button as you will receive them from Garage Alpha. They're beautiful pieces and if you're careful, they still will be when you're done. (take note of the notch in the handle, it will be important later)

Console before you get started.

Remove the shifter panel cover and unsecure the e-brake boot from the tunnel cover (1 screw and 1 clip). I removed the tunnel cover as well; although I learned by the time I finished that it wasn't really necessary to do so.

Grab your favorite blade and cut through all the threads on the handle. Do NOT cut through the boot.

Below the leather is a thicker rubber grip, you have to cut through this as well. Again, do NOT cut through the boot.

All the way through. And as you can partially see here, there is an adhesive that runs along the center line of the arm, holding the grip in place. You need to break the grip free of this adhesive. Once you do the full e-brake grip and boot will be free to pull and slide off the arm.

As you can see here. Fully removed but still one piece (grip & boot). You can set this aside for now. Clean off residual adhesive and muck off the arm. The cleaner the arm is, the easier it will be to get the Ti handle onto it later.

The button is removed by twisting it off the threaded rod it is secured to.

Here is the threaded rod. Be careful at this point, this rod can 'sink' back into the arm and fishing it out is not easy (ask me how I know).

I grabbed some needle nose pliers to grip this rod while I threaded the new Ti button on.

Bam.

Instructions continue on next post.

 

Okay, back to the grip and boot(and you may want to move to a table or workbench). As mentioned previously, these are secured together and you have to separate them. What you need to do is turn the boot inside out so push the grip into the boot until you can see the bottom section of the grip.

This is what that looks like and as you can see, there is a small steel cable twisted tightly around the base of the grip. Don't cut it, as you will reuse this to secure the boot to you new Ti handle. (Although I suppose you could use a thin zip tie..)

Untwist and remove the cable. Now you can separate the boot from the grip (grip is now trash)

Feed your new Ti handle through the bottom of the boot until the notch reaches the point in the boot where it was secured to the old grip. Then put the cable back around the boot and twist the ends with your favorite pliers to tighten the boot into the notch of the Ti handle.

Like so.

This is the annoying part where some of my pictures were too blurry to be useful so I have to go with description.
• You can now turn the boot rightside out (is that a term?) and you're ready to finish the install. Back to the car.
• Spray a bit of WD40 or similar lube onto the e-brake arm to help with getting the Ti handle onto it.
• Feed the boot over the arm of the ebrake and start forcing the handle onto the arm.
• Unless you're inhumanly strong like the hulk, you're muscles will only get you so far. You will need a plastic deadblow hammer eventually.
• When you reach this point, get a bunch of towels, fold them over, place them over the top of the handle and start pounding away.
• Check your progress because once you reach the point where the button is exposed I have an important tip for you.
Back to the photos! - So, once the button is exposed grab some strong tape and tape it over the top of the handle so the button can't be exposed (I suppose you could do step earlier). The thing is, you don't want the button exposed while you're hammering because that will continually depress the button and it will harshly rub on the inside surface of the handle, potentially scratching your new pretty Ti button.

Once the handle is seated, remove the tape and reassemble the console. You're done, enjoy!

 

Thanks for the write up!

Those Garage Alpha Ti MazdaSpeed replica products are so tempting. I love their carpets, hooks, and tower brace.

Is there no other way to remove the handbrake handle?
The thought of cutting/ruining the OEM product makes me cringe.

 

Such a nice perfect handle cut down...I would have went this route to replace my old worn handle (instead of buying another good ebrake handle) if Garage Alpha offered them a year earlier!

Anyway, regarding the small steel cable, you can just snip them and replace with a zip tie, it works just as well.

 

Yep, used a zip tie a number of times. Typically the boot just comes right off the e-brake when you invert it and remove the wire tie, I think it may be more work with the new handle due to larger diameter.

Personally I'd find a used e-brake handle and do the conversion on that. There's plenty of ratty ones out there if you have a good one in the car. The actual mechanism is pretty foolproof so a used one should be cheap and plentiful. I THINK the JDM RHD handles may be different but I'm not 100%, something to consider if you're buying a used one to hack up.

Dale

 

The e-brake mechanism itself is identical, but the boot and the boots attachment mount are different. You can reuse the LHD boot & mount with the RHD mechanism.


If changing the handle, this is a good time to change the e-brake boot as most boots will not fit over the handle.

 

If someone needs a worn ebrake handle for cheap, shoot me a PM! 😁

 

GREAT write up.

My only amendment to this would be to REMOVE the entire eBrake assembly from the car. Doing it in cabin is possible (as shown) - but removing the three bolts will make everything cleaner.

ALSO, we DO have some eBrake cores available here for $40 a pop. Perfect donors so you can keep your OEM stuff.

 

should have done this.