Rear brakes

Hi guys I'm running drums on the rear

Question is do I have too have the e brake cables or mechanism attached and if I don’t, what are the pros and cons

May be required to be operational to pass state inspection.

As said might be needed for inspection if its required.Here in Ohio we dont have them.If an auto car not a lot they do.Stick they are almost a requirement.Didnt have them on my 65 for a few years was a pain.

No they don't need to be attached. They have no affect on normal braking. Con you won't have a brake in case the hyd brakes fail.

If everything is in good shape why not hook them up There is absolutely no downside.

Gus

I try and keep mine adjusted so they start to work as soon as I start to pull on the handles on A bodies or push on the E brake pedal on the rest of the street cars I drive I want them to hold the car on a downhill grade by themselves before putting the automatic equip cars in park

If it's a MANUAL transmission it's IMO a good thing to have a "parking" brake. My '69 GTX is a 4-speed and my driveway has an ever so slight tilt or grade to it and there is no way that I trust letting the car sit and warm up as I close the garage up, maybe put things back that I had to move to get the GTX out without putting the parking brake on. As mentioned, there's more reasons to have it working properly than not. Also if you have kids that ride in your car, just think how easy it is to bump an old automatic into gear that doesn't have the "put foot on brake pedal" safety feature.

Great thread. So my 69 B'cuda Fastback has never had a parking brake.......all the hardware is missing. Being a 4spd car I'd like to make it function again. The handle in the car is there...that's it. All the cables and drum hardware...gone. Doing a quick search it looks like they configured the cables 2 ways...1 w/intermediate cable and 1 without. How do I know if it's all missing? Also...currently running an 8 1/4 rear....most likely came with 8 3/4...rear cables should be interchangeable? Thoughts? Sorry for the hijack..this just got me thinking about making it work after forever without one.