"Temporary" or Hack Repairs, 'Fess Up!

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OK, I'll start. I had an old Plymouth station wagon. When it sat out in the rain, water would somehow get in and collect in the fresh air vent duct under the dash. When I'd make my first right turn, cold water would spill out all over my feet.

For the life of me, I couldn't figure out where the water was getting in . . . so I found the lowest point in the plastic duct, threaded in a 90 degree fuel hose fitting, and ran a 1/4" drain hose under the carpet and out through a hole I drilled in the floorboard.

Problem "solved."

Next.
 
Yeah, sure you drilled that hole in the floor! Does slapping roofing tar on a hole in the floor so the inspector won't see it count? Yeah, I'm guilty of that..
 
quote:

Originally posted by 55:
Yeah, sure you drilled that hole in the floor! Does slapping roofing tar on a hole in the floor so the inspector won't see it count? Yeah, I'm guilty of that..

Yes, I drilled the hole. All of the existing holes were already patched with galvanized sheet metal, pop rivets, and "Great Stuff" foam. OK, the roofing tar was just there to make the patches waterproof.
 
I went on a ride to Sturgis many years back with a bunch of Harley riders. Of course we were all making bets on whose Harley was going to break down first. Turns out that my bike (a Kawasaki) was the first to bite it on the way. My hydraulic line for my clutch came loose, fell on top of the cylinder head and rubbed a hole through it right as I was entering Utah.

Of course this happened at a time where the only Kawasaki dealers in Utah were ATV/snowmobile shops and had no bike parts. Oh, and it was during the UPS strike so we couldn’t get parts flown in either.

We tried fuel line from a Kawasaki shop but it wasn’t stiff enough. Then we put 80 zipties around it to try to get it to hold the pressure better. Ended up going to a hardware store and bought some copper tubing for an icemaker and fastened it with hose clamps and zipties. The setup worked for a whole year before I finally had the money to pay to have it properly replaced. I felt embarrassed taking it to the dealer, but they actually thought it was pretty cool (and that I had…uh…larger male anatomy because I went to Sturgis on a Japanese bike and lived to tell about it).
 
When the column switch wore out. I wired in a household light switch to turn my wipers on/off in my 88 S10 Blazer.
 
Pretty much every repair I've done falls into this category
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I ran out of gas earlier this week. Completely dead, and a long walk away from a gas station. (The gauge had decided to stick at 1/4 tank.) Not wanting to make that long walk, I decided to punt. I dumped in a bottle of Techron and ... a bottle of 70% rubbing alcohol. Believe it or not, it worked and got me those 2 miles to the gas station.

I bet that fuel system is clean now...
 
OK, since we are admitting to our "kludges" (as opposed to our "clean" fixes), how about:

My 1st car eventually had the rust on the hatch go all the way through. To keep the water from raining in, I got some stick on (water proof) bathroom tub edging, and attached a couple of pieces of it to the hatch (one piece on the outside, and one on the inside). Did a pretty good job of keeping the water out. And since it was a white car, the tub edging (also white) wasn't even all that obvious (unless you looked closely)...
 
Where's my buddy "hackjob"?
Home Depot water/irrigation check valve on a Volvo (turbo) bypass valve comes to mind.
Cut up a car (Mazda 323) into managable peices and tossed it in a dumpster.

I've also seen zip-tied brakehose doubling as ghetto SS brakelines.

70% alcohol is high in octane? peeing into it might have gotten ya even more mpg's
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When I was young and cash poor, my power steering pump siezed in a full sized Ford. I pulled off the pump and put an old dead alternator in its place just to have a pulley to hold the belt that was needed for somthing else. As for the steering, I just sealed off the lines (as I recall, tied them in a knot) from the PS pump and drove it like a manual. What a bear to steer that thing. Fortunately I got rid of that car within a year.
 
my first car was a 79 ford fairmont.it used a case of oil to a tank of gas.for the last 3 months i owned the car i used 150 weight gear oil in the engine and cut the consumption down to about 3 qts per tank.
i also had a pinto that i got right after this car and had alot of problems with the front brakes sticking and eating up the left front rotor and pads.after about 3 rotors and sets of pads i took the caliper off and put a cap on the brake line and drove with only right side brakes on the front and basicly very little brake in the rear.
 
quote:

Originally posted by pcsoon39:
When the column switch wore out. I wired in a household light switch to turn my wipers on/off in my 88 S10 Blazer.

Yep, I did that for a headlight switch on my '66 VW.

I owned a '68 Opel Kadet that would blow the guts right out of the master cylinder warning sensor if I stepped on the brakes too hard. The pedal would go straight to the floor and all the brake fluid would leak out. The master cylinder must have been bad, but I was a broke college student and German parts were expensive. I unscrewed the shell of the sensor and filled it up with a propane torch and about a foot of plumbing solder.

That Opel also had a bad fuel gage. I once drove it a mile or two on a couple of bottles of Heet.

These stories are bringing back memories. Please keep them coming.

[ September 15, 2006, 09:25 AM: Message edited by: BigAl ]
 
A blown fuse in a 68 Bug replaced with foil from a cigarette pack. Those stupid clips/sockets for the fuel filter on GM's got cut out and a metal can fuel filter was installed with hose clamps (that was when I was really green). A simple resistor/capacitor was added to the O2 sensor circuit to eliminate a CEL. I had to replace the cat when it blocked completely, and the engine wouldn't run. To those who have run out of fuel, I carry 6 packs of quarts of pure Isopropanol alcohol for cleaning machine parts in my work vehicle. I have used those quarts a few times in the past to raise the level of the fuel in the tank enough to get to a station. It doubles as charcoal lighter at impromptu picnics with other techs. I did try 4 quarts of 20-50 and a can of STP to fix a leaky valve cover at one point. I finally figured out the cover was stress cracked, and had it brazed. Nothing I have done beats my friend at work with a Chevette diesel. All the windows were RTV'd closed to keep them from leaking. The car was painted with a brush, and red latex paint. He added brake fluid every time he filled up, and had to pump the brakes to build pressure. The engine was sound though, until 318,000 when the timing belt snapped. BTW, that was on Pennz 10-30, and a quart of MMO every oil change for it's whole life. He's doing the same thing with his Malibu.
 
On an old Blazer with a bad ignition switch, I wired in a toggle switch into the start relay. Had to be carefull to switch it off as soon as it started, or else the starter stayed engaged.

Old 65 ford farm truck, put water in the rear tires to keep them from "squatting" when hauling a heavy load. Once had 80 square bales of hay on that truck, stacked on the hood, roof, and even one on the seat next to the driver. Thats also the truck we put drain oil in the engine, having to strain out the grasshoppers and crickets from the drain pan from the previous vehicle's oil change.

On my first truck, an old 69 Chevy truck with a straight six, I wanted "ram air-cold air induction". So I had an old molded radiator hose, with the right curves and bends to go from the end of the air cleaner horn to the front radiator support panel. Opened a hole between the radiator and the headlight for the air to be rammed into the hose, into the air cleaner housing. Was a small diameter hose. Dont know if it made a difference, but made me feel good...............
 
The splines broke for my Jetta windshield wipers so only one wiper moved. The fix was taking a hammer to the bolt where the spline was connected and melding it to the wiper arm. It held for the next two years I owned the car.
 
In my first car, a '79 Caprice, the muffler decided to start dragging on the pavement while I was in a not-so-nice neighborhood in Detroit. The only store nearby was a convenience store. They did have some twine, though, so I tied it up and made it all of a mile down the road before the twine gave out. That's when I had a bright idea. I opened the trunk and retrieved the tire wrench, inserted the long end in the muffler and hung it over the rear axle. I actually made it most of the way home that way, only having to stop 2 or 3 times to retrieve the wrench and re-hang the muffler.
 
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