Humber/Hillman Handbrake Improvement

The handbrake on the Hillman/Humber four cylinder 1960s cars has always impressed me as a simple, reliable system - but it has always had a minor problem that annoyed me. Essentially the working end of the handbrake cable ends with a rod to the right hand side and an unsheathed cable to the left hand side. The end of the outer sleeve attaches to the differential housing in a way that allows the cable to pull the rod toward the unsheathed outer sleeve. The problem is that there is inward pressure on the right hand side, ensuring that it is held more than fully off, and the opposite pressure - pulling on the cable side.
Thats means that it is a comprimise between not having the left hand side grabbing but getting enough handbrake action to move the right hand side a fair distance before it engages.

This matters a lot to an EV where the handbrake is all that will hold the car on a hill - no parking pawl.
My initial idea was to place a metal block under the handbrake extension lever on the right hand side - but then I thought of a simpler modification.

First I used a strong lever (big screwdriver) to wedge the right hand side on as far as it would go.

Then I drilled a hole through the lever where it slid through the diff. housing mounting. (Yes this is a setup picture as I had already inserted the split pin - see next picture).

Then I slid on washers to adjust, and finally inserted a split pin to hold the rod out enough so there was only a small amount of slack.

Now it is possible to take out a lot of the slack in the cable resulting in a shorter stroke of the actual handbrake handle. I took a lot of that slack out following taking this picture. (I know - that diff. housing needs a coat of paint - maybe when I stop jacking it up every second day...)