In praise of kludges...

[wings&wheels]

Original(!) silencer from my '74 Triumph.

I am generally not a kludger, fix it once and fi it right, but... Took the fun car to work and driving home I noticed the sound of an exhaust leak. Looked under and found a ~1/2" hole which I was able to open up a bit more. New exhaust time, but there was a British car show the upcoming Saturday and I would not have time to install the exhaust even if I was able to get one in a few days. So, after dinner I got a sheet of Alclad I had hanging around, some aluminum mesh, a bunch of small SS screws and some PC epoxy. I pushed some rock wool into the hole then used the mesh as a matrix to support a thick layer of epoxy sandwiched between the aluminum and muffler making sure I got good squeeze out around the patch. Whole process took maybe 2 hours. I ordered a stock exhaust in SS, and figured that this patch would get me through the show and possibly the entire driving season....that was in early 2002.

It is finally at the end though...

Lets hear about some good "temporary" repairs.

 

[JLTD]

At 16 years for your "temporary" repair you've got some skills!

Sorry I don't have a temporary repair story...

 

[fdcg27]

I've often kludged an exhaust leak and had the repair last for some time.
You are to be commended for doing such a thorough job of your kludge repair, with the outcome of having it hold up for a very long time.

 

[Linctex]

I have some... that are horribly embarrassing to mention or repeat,

but the vehicle did function as intended after said "repair".

 

[Snagglefoot]

Similar to your repair, using aluminum flashing cut to cover the entire upper side of a muffler using a tube of Permatex Ultra Copper in a checker board pattern to seal to the muffler. Worked well. Didn't use screws.
.

 

[eljefino]

The super cheezy tiny screw holding down the distributor on my dodge dakota 2.5 (K-car motor) stripped/ broke. I got a 1" C-clamp to hold it down instead. Lasted several years and I sold the truck with it!

For whatever reason they cast a flat little boss under there so the clamp had something to bite without slipping off.

 

[Anduril]

There's a hose clamp holding the accumulator in place on my XTerra, because the screw broke off inside the original bracket when I removed it. It works fine and I don't plan on ever replacing it.

 

[ekpolk]

My first car, in high school, was a rusty light blue 69 VW. This was in 79. Broken down on a road side -- long before I ever heard of a cell phone -- I used an 18 inch bit of fuzzy magenta yarn, found on backseat floor board, to lash a fuel line back on to the carb! Sounds pretty sketchy (it was), but it held and I drove the car that way for a year until the rust forced us to scrap it.

Forty years later, I'm wondering -- is there now a code for this? Like, P1369, which, looked up, decodes as, "unlucky sucker has attempted unauthorized repair -- charge maximum for parts and labor.". ......‹

 

[ZX11Rebel]

"Temporary" repair of muffler on my 1993 Chevy Pickup

 

[SeaJay]

I've rehung dragging mufflers in the old days with a wire coat hanger, and kept going for quite awhile with that kludge.

Can't do that anymore, wire coat hangers are an extinct species.

 

[DriveHard]

-vice grips as an exhaust hanger
-bent finishing nail as a cotter pin to hold my shift cable onto the transmission
-clear silicone as windshield sealant
-fog light relay used in place of starter relay (got me home)
-pop can and hose clamps on exhaust (who hasn't?)

 

[Dave Sherman]

Two come to mind:

Having to rig a shift cable clip that popped off one of the shifter cables on the Saturn. Lost first and second gear, but managed to carefully limp home because the dealer was closed. Took the counterpart and determined it was roughly the same size and shape as an air filter breather clip. Walked over to the part store, found a suitable candidate, and doctored it a little with some tin snips. Stuck it in, got first and second gear back, and could drive normally until I could get the right clip.

The vent line from the Midget's gas tank broke off at the vapor separator in the trunk. Wouldn't have been a problem, except I drove it to work one day and got gas at lunch. On the way back to work, the strong gas smell alerted me there was a problem; the vent line was hanging down in the corner of the trunk and siphoning gas into the trunk. Hunted down some colleagues who I knew were golfers, found one who had his golf bag with him, and bummed a golf tee from him. Jammed the golf tee into the hose until I could get home and replace the vent line.

 

[ZX11Rebel]

Did someone mention Soda Can exhaust pipe repair? It's not a soda can but the principle is the same. Exhaust pipe repairs to my 1993 Chevy Pickup.