What crazy things have you.....

[67vertman]

......done to fix something?

Some of these are SCARY! 

http://now.msn.com/funny-quick-fix-photos

[Super Blue 72]

Funny pics. Actually gave me some ideas....

I did he coat hanger thing but not with a wooden one!!!!

In my old '74 Bonneville after I lost my dash lights for some reason I duct taped a little Chinese battery powered lantern to my steering column. Worked until the AA batteries died. 

My dad used bubble gum to fix a radiator leak on our old wagon when I was little...

[moparmaniac59]

Back in the early 80's I was with my brother and a friend riding up through the mountains of Virginia headed to Panther Falls for a group canoe trip. We were riding in a '70 Plymouth Fury 4 door lead sled. It was about 1:00 am and we were about 30 miles from the campsite in the boonies. No street lights, towns, houses or anything but dark curvey roads with narrow shoulders & extreme drop-offs. All at once the headlights/parking lights went out. We pulled over, but had no fuses. My brother had a million candle power spot light, so my friend sat with his upper body out of the passenger side window and held the spot light out so it would shine on the road in front of the car and we drove the rest of the way to the campsite! I'll bet anyone coming the other way probably thought, "WOW, that motorcycle must be mighty tall!!" 

                                                                             Matt B.

[Super Blue 72]

   I like that motorcycle comment!

I remember my brother in his old '80 Trans Am when his wiper motor died stole a squeege thing from the gas station and stuck his arm out the window and squeeged the windshield when it rained... 

[moparmaniac59]

 

[Gumby]

Horn wouldn't work in a 73 Charger I had, so failed inspection. I rigged up a doorbell switch and laid it on the console. It worked (and passed) inspection until I could get it properly fixed! lol.

[nqkjw]

Abt 35 yrs ago in my first car an AP5 Valiant wagon (what you'd call a 1965 Signet wagon?) I broke the throttle cable in the middle of nowhere.
I ran a length of electricl cable from the carb through the back of th hood(readjusted the hood so it was tilted up at the back)through the 1/4 glass and just pulled on it for a throttle.

[moparmaniac59]

Man. that's crazy with the throttle cable!  I once had one break in the middle of nowhere and I "spliced" or held together the cable at the break with a pair of needle nose vice grips until I got home. I have seen a few horn buttons rigged to the side of the steering columns. Hey if it works & passed inspection, why not??  There are some real MacGyver characters here!

I love the MacGyver episode where he machined a car piston on a foot pedal operated grinding wheel. You know, the out of round, lumpy ones used to sharpen a broad axe that turn maybe 20 rpm's!! Got to love it! Necessity is the mother of invention!! 

                                                                         Matt B.

[moparman82]

 

 

I remember my brother in his old '80 Trans Am when his wiper motor died stole a squeege thing from the gas station and stuck his arm out the window and squeeged the windshield when it rained... 

ive done the squeege too, but it was in Lake tahoe and it was snowing lol that got us back to the house, where i disconnected the wipers from the motor and ran a peice of twine out the passenger window, through (and tied to) each wiper then back through the driver window, so i had to sit in the passenger seat and ull the string back and forth for the 40 minute drive to the nearest NAPA   

[Relic]

This thread is great! When I first got one one of my challengers running I didn't have a key to start it so I drove around for about 2 months with a push button wired directly to the starter. Unfortunately the wire I used wasn't long enough so the button was on the front of the windsheild under the wiper. Real classy.

[Super Blue 72]

Horn wouldn't work in a 73 Charger I had, so failed inspection. I rigged up a doorbell switch and laid it on the console. It worked (and passed) inspection until I could get it properly fixed! lol.

   That's funny!

If your horn goes you can go to Home Depot and get one of these!

[cdstl]

I drove a 68 AMC Rambler for a YEAR with no reverse.   You got pretty good at picking your parking spots.

[67vertman]

Alright, finally some fun stories.

I too have done the throttle with a shoe string.  I broke the throttle cable and had to rig up a fix to get home.  And back in my early auto body days, a used sheet metal screws to mount a fender on my VW. I am sure the next body guy was going    and saying what ass did this.

[Moparal]

I did a couple of goofy things back around the mid 70's

I drove my 73 challenger I had just put a 440 in with a 727 manual valve body and hurst ****er from Baton Rouge La, to Greenville Mi, and back round trip with a steel rod going through the floor to shift the car. My cable burnt and I couln't get one. 2200 miles of driving with a round tube rod finding the gears and trying my best to get back. The second trip back up a couple months later, I took my 72 sat sebring plus up to the same town and used a Uhaul tow bumper to pull a 68 road runner race car home. The brakes went out on the Sat and my friend sat in the road runner I was towing using the brakes to stop us. We did this from Michigan to DenhamSprings La.  That was a trip my friends, with a lot of luck on our side. 

[Super Blue 72]

I tried to convert my Holley 600cfm carb from vacuum secondaries to mechanical using some bent up coat hanger rod.

Went for a test drive and thank God it was a deserted area.  I nailed the gas pedal and thought, "Cool!!!" when the carb opened up.

Took my foot off the gas and the engine was still revving at over 4,000rpm and thought, "Aww f*#k!!!!!" and the car was still pulling really hard down the street.

Did a quick shift into neutral and shut off the engine before it grenaded.

Turns out my little homemade mechanical secondary rod got hung up....