Hand Brake Switch location?

[arthurk33]

Hello, in my 1977 Fiat Spider 124, I know there has to be a switch button that's triggered by the hand brake, but I suppose the old owner removed it for some reason or it was lost somehow. I see the brown and white wire that's connected to the ideogram light at the bottom, but the switch itself is gone. Does anyone have a picture of how this is supposed to look? This is what it looks like in my car https://imgur.com/gallery/wVqFSA3?s=sms

[aj81spider]

Here's a picture of mine. It's between the three heating knobs, pressed down when the emergency brake is disengaged.

[18Fiatsandcounting]

The handbrake "switch" is part of the chrome bezel for the ventilation system, in the lower front of the opening for the handbrake lever. The switch is just a plastic plunger that is surrounded by a rubber boss (attached to the bezel), and there is a metal end to that plunger that attaches to the wire/rubber boot with the right-angle bend. You can just see a hint of that plunger/boss in the picture from A.J. above, right between the black knobs of the three ventilation levers.

When the plunger is up (handbrake lever pulled up), the wire is grounded to the chrome bezel and the brake light comes on. When the plunger is down (handbrake released), the ground connection is broken and the light goes off.

If you show us a picture of your ventilation bezel, perhaps we can figure out what part (if any) is missing.

-Bryan

[arthurk33]

The handbrake "switch" is part of the chrome bezel for the ventilation system, in the lower front of the opening for the handbrake lever. The switch is just a plastic plunger that is surrounded by a rubber boss (attached to the bezel), and there is a metal end to that plunger that attaches to the wire/rubber boot with the right-angle bend. You can just see a hint of that plunger/boss in the picture from A.J. above, right between the black knobs of the three ventilation levers.

When the plunger is up (handbrake lever pulled up), the wire is grounded to the chrome bezel and the brake light comes on. When the plunger is down (handbrake released), the ground connection is broken and the light goes off.

If you show us a picture of your ventilation bezel, perhaps we can figure out what part (if any) is missing.

-Bryan

Thank you for the picture, aj81spider.

That was a great description Bryan, thank you so much. The old ventilation bezel was all broken. I bought a new one which seems to have a hole where the switch should go, as you described. Here's what that looks like.
https://ibb.co/h1Q4wzG
https://ibb.co/cgvNfz7
Now I just have to figure out how to get those small holes open under for the optical lights

[18Fiatsandcounting]

Looks good, ArthurK. The larger hole in your new bezel would be where the plunger would go through, and the smaller hole (off in the corner) is the hole where the rubber "boss" would be secured.

As far as the "ideograms" on the bezel, my recollection is that the fiber optic cables for them are attached with clips below each ideogram.

-Bryan