Classic & Vintage - Campagnolo brake lever aero routing help

I have some old campy brake levers (1st generation chorus?) which have what seems like an aero routing hole through the body of the brake.

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3194/2630314703_de41eac05b.jpg

(Here are the levers with the old style non-areo cable style).

I tried to switch to an aero style routing, but when the lever is attached to the bars, there seems to be no cut-out or space to the route cable/housing passed where brake and bar meet. The brake body is pretty flush to the bar.

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3045/2631136798_522b741183_m.jpg - side
http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3258/2630315747_973cac2ce8_m.jpg - other side

Have tried a number of different points to get the cable to not be squished by the brake body.

Has anyone got any ideas or better yet pictures of where the cable/housing needs to be to use the aero routing option in these levers?

I have a set of these. I had to file a slot to clear the cable housings. On mind, there was a kind of a recessed "slot" on the side of the lever body (this "slot" would face inwards) and I filed an opening followingthis recessed area.

Yes, the cable should exit the lever on the inner side of the handlebars. I have a set of 1st gen Athena levers which are essentially the same as yours and I did not find the need to file or cut an opening, the exisiting slot was sufficient.

There definitely isn't a slot, so I'll look for the recessed part you were taking about DSchlichting.

Nick - So the 'right' spot for the cable to exit is just above the clamp-on band on the inside?

Thanks for your help.

Yup, that's the spot.

I'm finally getting back to this project and am looking for advice. For a while I couldn't work out where to make the notch that folks had talked about. However when I saw the following photo, it all made sense:

http://www.tinyblueplanet.com/junk/lever2.jpg

On my c-record levers, I have the molding marks for the notches but the material needs to be removed:

http://www.tinyblueplanet.com/junk/lever.jpg

Is there any reason why I shouldn't mod these levers myself to 'aero' route them? Or should I not desecrate such pristine (the hoods are grubby but the lever bodies are pretty much NOS) c-record levers?

Seems like it shouldn't be too much work to file them out. I just want to make sure that I'm not about to do something stupid.

They're meant for bars with drilled holes near the stem and under where the lever attaches.

Is there any reason why I shouldn't mod these levers myself to 'aero' route them?

No. However, there's no reason to file out both sides, as in your picture.

They're meant for bars with drilled holes near the stem and under where the lever attaches.

Thanks. I was wondering why they had aero routing but lacked the cable notch. That makes a lot of sense.

These were delivered with out being filed. They could be used aero or non and if you choose non-aero it would be best not to file them. I have seen the bodies crack as a result of poor filing jobs on these levers. I too filed a set which did not have any slots filed in them.

They cracked there on the Ergo's, too (plastic).

The metal is very thin at the notch area. I used to use needle nosed pliers to snap out the metal, then finish with a file or sandpaper.