I got a free 91 Civic wagon that had gotten a completely new charging system and still wouldn't hold a charge. I replaced the battery (which was the first thing the PO replaced) and had a free car that never had charging issues again.
I got a free 91 Civic wagon that had gotten a completely new charging system and still wouldn't hold a charge. I replaced the battery (which was the first thing the PO replaced) and had a free car that never had charging issues again.
Plymouth K car had a catastrophic failure - two of the three engine mounts sheared, and the driveline assembly literally fell out of the bottom of the car.
Found two six-foot 2x4's and a stout rope in the garage at my parents house, so my dad and I levered the engine up into the bay with one, we laid the other 2x4 across the engine bay, then hung the engine from it with the stout rope. The hood was tied closed with a pair of shoe laces. Drove it all the way home that way.
alex wrote: Fixed my truck's door with a rubber band. Proud of that one.
Zip tie. That mirror control switch wont go anywhere now.
Why do I see this thread going towards the old woman jokes. I.e. "My wife with one hit!" Maybe it's the cynicism in me.
I fixed the starter in my GTV6 with some brake cleaner. NAPA wanted $800 for a rebuilt starter so I went home and tok it appart and 6 years later it was still working.
I had a 74 Subaru that overheated on me one day. When I opened the hood to add water, I found that one of the shock towers had rusted so badly that the spring pushed it away from the inner fender. It was actually touching one of the valve covers. I used a scissor jack and a piece of 2x4 to push it back where it came from and then bolted two pieces of angle iron across the shock towers to hold it in place. That was the day that I invented the strut brace.
Fixed a TON of weird electrical issues on my old Plymouth Duster by tightening down a ground strap behind the dash...
nderwater wrote: Plymouth K car had a catastrophic failure - two of the three engine mounts sheared, and the driveline assembly literally fell out of the bottom of the car. Found two six-foot 2x4's and a stout rope in the garage at my parents house, so my dad and I levered the engine up into the bay with one, we laid the other 2x4 across the engine bay, then hung the engine from it with the stout rope. The hood was tied closed with a pair of shoe laces. Drove it all the way home that way.
Thats insane, and a lot of ingenuity.
I hesitate to mention that the story continues... I trimmed the board across the engine bay to length and drove it like that off and on for about a month. At times I'd have to pull over and adjust the board position/drivetrain elevation to get the CV joints to engage correctly. 
nderwater wrote: I hesitate to mention that the story continues... I trimmed the board across the engine bay to length and drove it like that off and on for about a month. At times I'd have to pull over and adjust the board position/drivetrain elevation to get the CV joints to engage correctly.
/thread. You win. Not in the good way though, like the Red Green way.
Lots of 2x4 fixes. I had a beater '87 Escort that died one day, like the alternator had crapped out. Pop the hood to find the belt totally loose. Grab the alt and the entire alternator bracket had broken loose from the engine. Every bolt had sheared off into the block. I wedged a 2x4 in there and drove it another few months before selling it.
Also, the catastrophic Mercedes S500 air strut blowout that happened about 800 miles from home. Drove (VERY slowly) to Home Depot, and bought this:
Then did this:
And it sat like this, and actually didn't ride too bad!
Oh, and once I went to look at an '83 GTI that wouldn't idle. I looked it over, gave the guy the $200 he was asking for it, got the title, wrapped the intake boot in electrical tape, and drove it away.
Not me, but I was there....
Bought a much modded 70 Chevy truck for a steal as it was not running. Got it home and brother pulls the distributor wire from under the valve cover where it was grounding out....ran great!
Once noticed a 95 T-bird sitting in an Outback parking lot...up on a jack and 2 guys crawling around underneath. Something told me that they were looking at the fuel pump and were probably doing it wrong.
A quick conversation had them pop the trunk and we reset the inertial fuel cutoff switch.....they bought me a steak.
Bruce
Dad fixed the rear lift hatch on a C-130 with duct tape. Well the military version.
I fixed a ruptured fuel line with an ink pen barrel.
I repaired a stranded girls 81 Escort by replacing the $3.00 fuel filter. It kept vapor locking in Atl traffic and I found it and her stranded in a gas station parking lot. She went on a date with me and then married me.
I was given a Kawasaki GPz for free because it looked like crap and wouldn't run.
The bike had two air filters; a brand new panel filter and, deeper in the airbox, a foam filter that was completely soaked with oil. I removed the inner filter, replaced it with a piece of air conditioner foam that I had in the garage and it immediately became the fastest motorcycle I'd ever ridden.
Then I removed the gas tank, fairing and fenders and sent them to a prison body shop and had them painted for the cost of the paint; $72.
Then I sold the bike for $1100.
porksboy wrote: Dad fixed the rear lift hatch on a C-130 with duct tape. Well the military version. I fixed a ruptured fuel line with an ink pen barrel. I repaired a stranded girls 81 Escort by replacing the $3.00 fuel filter. It kept vapor locking in Atl traffic and I found it and her stranded in a gas station parking lot. She went on a date with me and then married me.
SO the question is, what is the actual cost of the fuel filter? 
Where do you guys get all these free cars/motorcycles from!
porksboy wrote: I repaired a stranded girls 81 Escort by replacing the $3.00 fuel filter. It kept vapor locking in Atl traffic and I found it and her stranded in a gas station parking lot. She went on a date with me and then married me.
wonderful story, that's how it should happen, I'm tearing up now...
The odometer gear on my bmw stripped a tooth (teeth?). So used jb weld and let it cure halfway and used a razor blade to form the teeth. It worked well for many miles until the rest of the teeth stripped except for the for the area that was jb welded. I eventually bought a complete gearset and replaced all the gears.
the crank pulley on the Toyota 4afe motor (and probably others) was actually 3 parts - the inner hub, a rubber ring to act as a damper, and the outer flange with the grooves for the belt:
that rubber ring will shrink over time as its affected by heat and engine gasses, road gunk etc, ad the outer ring will begin to unseat itself. That happened to me, and to fix it, I drilled into it at noon, 4 and 8 (give or take) and used countersunk sheetmetal screws to fix the pieces together...probably introduced a good deal of vibration into the crank, but it ran fine that way for 3 years, and as far as I know, is still running today (was as of June).
New unobtanium pulley from 'yota - $128, 3 countersunk sheetmetal screws - approx 28 cents
Uncoiled wrote: Where do you guys get all these free cars/motorcycles from!
Our friends know we can fix cars and make them useful again. They also know they won't get anything for their cars in non-running condition so they give them to us.
A friend called and asked me if I wanted her '83 SAAB 900 Turbo. I told her I didn't have the money at the moment but, yeah, I wanted it. She said, "Good. It's free and it's being towed to your house right now."
It wasn't running so I saw the popped piece of hose at the turbo outlet. One hose clamp later, I had a very neat, fine running SAAB Turbo.
SVreX wrote: Fixed a dented quarter panel in a unibody hatchback with a toilet plunger.Perfectly!
Done this a couple of times. The last one was a few weeks ago when someone backed into our '97 Camry while my wife was shopping. She was really down when she came in the door. I stopped her in mid-sentence and said, "Wait a minute." I ran into the bathroom, got the ol' Toil-a-flex 400a, ran down to the car and pulled the dent. Then I yell back up to my wife, "So what were you saying?" Got a nice big kiss after she stopped laughing.
I used outdoor wood railing balusters to repair the suspension on a '78 Cordoba. The leaf spring shackle mounts rusted out and went right through the trunk. Jack up the back end, slip the wood through the shackle, lower it down and now the wood was long enough to cover the rust holes. Drove it for a few thousand more miles, never attempted an inspection.
I repaired a $1400 windshield wiper arm on a motorcoach with a pen I found on the street and some bandage tape I had in the first aid kit.
16vCorey wrote: Oh, and once I went to look at an '83 GTI that wouldn't idle. I looked it over, gave the guy the $200 he was asking for it, got the title, wrapped the intake boot in electrical tape, and drove it away.
Around 1977 or so, my brother and I went to look at a 1973 Capri, 2.0 4 speed, for $300.00. It ran like a bag of ass, he offered the girl $200 and she grabbed it so fast it almost broke a finger. We went ~2 blocks, raised the hood, listened for where the hiss was coming from...
and stuck the PCV valve back in the breather separator. He drove the snot out of that car for about a year until he hit a washout and endoed it.
Taiden wrote: Today I fixed a lot with very little. On the e30 I fixed these items with a single paper clip: 1. Speedometer 2. MPG gauge 3. temp gauge 4. cruise control What's the most you've fixed using very little while still remaining confident that it was a high quality fix?
I have all these problems and a paper clip, where does said clip go?
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