Repair jobs/fix you are embarrassed of.
04-06-2007, 05:11 PM
#17
Racer
Join Date: Oct 2005
Location: Toledo, OH
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Originally Posted by theiceman
any one experienced this story ?
i would be embarrased about some of the repairs to my $400 SAAB, but i'm rather proud to keep it going for almost no money! like JB welding the massive leak on the a/c pressure relieve valve instead of replacing it.
David
04-06-2007, 06:46 PM
#19
Seared
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Many, many years ago I had a 1980 Subaru 4WD GL wagon. It took me through thick and thin, with nary a complaint. Then one afternoon, after an exhausting day spent riding mountain bikes in WV, the car decided to die on the way home. A few dash lights came on to alert me in advance. After an hour of proding around under the mud-caked hood, my friend and I concluded that the coil was not getting juice. Somehow the starter would rotate, but the engine would not fire. So we yanked a few feet of thick speaker wire out from under the seats and connected the battery to the coil. The car started and we made it home just before the battery gave its last volt.
During the next few days, I replaced the alternator three times. It would sort of work, then smell, then not work. The local parts store was not amused. The solution? Finally poking about under the dash and realizing that the multi-prong connector behind the starter switch was askew (from some vigorous off-road pounding that day...).
Oh, and the speaker wire? Nice heavy-gauge home speaker stuff swiped from my father.
Andreas
During the next few days, I replaced the alternator three times. It would sort of work, then smell, then not work. The local parts store was not amused. The solution? Finally poking about under the dash and realizing that the multi-prong connector behind the starter switch was askew (from some vigorous off-road pounding that day...).
Oh, and the speaker wire? Nice heavy-gauge home speaker stuff swiped from my father.
Andreas
04-06-2007, 07:38 PM
#20
Team Owner
and I do NOT want to go into my horrific car run away story after I tried to fix the E-brake.. too painfull. that is what searches are for :-)
04-09-2007, 02:10 PM
#22
Team Owner
Well loaded guessed it , left my oil cap off after checking the oil, I was wating in line at a gas station about 20 mins later and the alternator light came on . The oil cap had fallen down into the pulley area, just about got sawed in half by the pulley and sawed right through the alternator belt. I did get it fixed by hammering way at it with a tire iron to dislodge it, smacked it back into shape, put my spare belt on and off I went , of course after finding my backfiring was due to knocking the coil lead off in the dark while fumbling with the belt.. what a night ...
04-09-2007, 04:04 PM
#23
Instructor
Join Date: Feb 2006
Location: Boulder, Colorado
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Ice, that's too funny.
I have one of those. My first car was a 1990 ford probe. It was the most bitchy car I have ever owned. One snow day during high school, we decided to play destruction derby with the small piles of snow that was piling up around the neighborhood. At one point the entire front plastic valence fell off! We ran over it laughing the whole way. we managed to duct tape the front bumper after drying the car with his mom's hair drier. it looked like it scraped something, but didn't get run over. we used super glue and several other adhesives his dad had laying about the garage. Looked good as new. Sold it to another class mate, and he promptly drove it into the divider wall, but the bumper remained intact with the glue/tape/misc adhesives on the road.
That car was so crappy, the heater didn't work. Back before i knew about temperature sensors and things, the heater would only work on warm days. So on cold days, my friend Jeremy borrowed the power inverter, and we stole his sister's 3 hair driers, and plugged them in and had them taped to the dashboard to be our "ghetto" defroster. Worked pretty well. His sister wasn't happy about that. But hey we needed to get to school!
I have one of those. My first car was a 1990 ford probe. It was the most bitchy car I have ever owned. One snow day during high school, we decided to play destruction derby with the small piles of snow that was piling up around the neighborhood. At one point the entire front plastic valence fell off! We ran over it laughing the whole way. we managed to duct tape the front bumper after drying the car with his mom's hair drier. it looked like it scraped something, but didn't get run over. we used super glue and several other adhesives his dad had laying about the garage. Looked good as new. Sold it to another class mate, and he promptly drove it into the divider wall, but the bumper remained intact with the glue/tape/misc adhesives on the road.
That car was so crappy, the heater didn't work. Back before i knew about temperature sensors and things, the heater would only work on warm days. So on cold days, my friend Jeremy borrowed the power inverter, and we stole his sister's 3 hair driers, and plugged them in and had them taped to the dashboard to be our "ghetto" defroster. Worked pretty well. His sister wasn't happy about that. But hey we needed to get to school!
04-09-2007, 08:27 PM
#26
Poseur
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Never leave on a trip without some allen wrenches. This happened to me with my 914-4,--close enough, right?
Late one evening while on a night drive from Santa Barbara to El Paso, TX I broke a fan belt. The 914 is different from a 911 in that the fan belt doesn't affect cooling at all,--but it does the alternator. I was able to find a new belt at a fuel stop but unable to get them to put it on. ("What's a 914?") So, off I drove with a new belt in hand but still not in the engine. As the battery got weaker and weaker I resorted to driving with just parking lights at night behind a big rig, drafting it for mileage and its lighting. I went in for a pit stop when I thought I better, and got them at a truck stop to recharge the battery. I had several allen wrenches but not the right sized one (maybe a 4mm or a 6). While having the battery recharged I struck up a conversation with a guy at the counter having an early breakfast. He had a shop nearby (this was about 2 in the morning east of Blythe, CA, if you want to talk REMOTE and LATE). I followed him over to his barn, pulled it inside, and he had a nice grinding wheel. He modified my allen wrench to fit the belt requirements and viola! Back in business. Gave him some beer money and was on my way! Here it was, a Sunday night on a 4th of July weekend. Without this nice guy, I would have been down the creek without a paddle.
Thanks to plenty of good people still out there willing to lend a hand to drivers of foreign cars!
P.S. I still have that modified allen wrench. I keep it in my tool chest!
Late one evening while on a night drive from Santa Barbara to El Paso, TX I broke a fan belt. The 914 is different from a 911 in that the fan belt doesn't affect cooling at all,--but it does the alternator. I was able to find a new belt at a fuel stop but unable to get them to put it on. ("What's a 914?") So, off I drove with a new belt in hand but still not in the engine. As the battery got weaker and weaker I resorted to driving with just parking lights at night behind a big rig, drafting it for mileage and its lighting. I went in for a pit stop when I thought I better, and got them at a truck stop to recharge the battery. I had several allen wrenches but not the right sized one (maybe a 4mm or a 6). While having the battery recharged I struck up a conversation with a guy at the counter having an early breakfast. He had a shop nearby (this was about 2 in the morning east of Blythe, CA, if you want to talk REMOTE and LATE). I followed him over to his barn, pulled it inside, and he had a nice grinding wheel. He modified my allen wrench to fit the belt requirements and viola! Back in business. Gave him some beer money and was on my way! Here it was, a Sunday night on a 4th of July weekend. Without this nice guy, I would have been down the creek without a paddle.
Thanks to plenty of good people still out there willing to lend a hand to drivers of foreign cars!
P.S. I still have that modified allen wrench. I keep it in my tool chest!
04-09-2007, 10:17 PM
#28
As you all probably know, Fiats have a reputation for rust, esp. the early 124 Spyders. I had a friend inform me in the mid '80s of a ''pristine'' '72 in red. '72s were about as rare as hen's teeth in New England even then, so I decided to check it out. I crawled over and under it, and it seemed remarkably sound, so I bought it on the spot. The price was quite good for the condition, but it was a friend of a friend, and I was quite excited. All it needed was a top and seat belts.
On the ride home , a block from my house, I was downshifting for a tight corner and the engine started making a horrible racket. I shut down the engine and coasted to a stop. The air cleaner had come adrift, and one of the nuts holding it on had been eaten by the engine. Ouch ! I was very upset, and the former owner gave me a new battery and top in compensation. It took me pretty much the rest of the summer to get that sorted, and along the way, I noticed a few things. First up, most of the bolts under the car were way too long, and some had 10 or 20 washers on them. I replaced most of these, and generally sorted the car out. While attempting to replace the turn signal assembly, I discovered that the big plug connector had been cut out, and the wires were twisted together and taped up. Ug ! ! I soldered the connections and re taped them. Not pretty, but it worked. Also not so pretty was the front suspension turrets. Someone had covered the rust with thin sheet metal and underbody sealant. GRRR ! Also, while trying to install seatbelts, I found that the mounting holes had been bondoed over. Someone had pop riveted sheet metal all over the floorpans, bondoed it up nice, and painted it. I let this go, as the car was almost running. It seemed solid enough, but certainly not the great car I had purchased. At least it ran. Finally.
So one fine Sunday morning I took my wife out for breakfast. Sort of a shakedown cruise as it were. Driving home on an empty backroad, I went through a third gear turn at about 45 MPH. Coming out of it, I straightened the wheel, only to find out that it was completely disconnected from the steering.
OMG ! Those were my only words as I realized the car still didn't have any seat belts. I gently applied the brakes, and the car drove itself between a telephone pole and a small stand of trees, winding up in some old ladies front yard. A quick inspection revealed that the bolt that secured the steering column to the steering box was completely the wrong size, and that the shaft had been bolted up with only about a quarter inch of splines connecting the shaft to the wheel. Knocking on some doors, I was able to borrow some wrenches, slide the steering column to the correct position, and drive home, where I replaced the bolt with the correct sized unit which acted as a lock to secure the shaft to the box. Then I dug the bondo out of the seat belt bolt anchors, and put seat belts on the car. I drove it for a while, then I retired it.
The car had a real nice dashboard, and I decided to remove it for use in another car. When I started the car to move it behind my garage, an internal short in the wiring harness smoked the entire loom, no doubt somehow related to the turn signal ''repairs''. Scratch one Fiat.
BTW. While I was sitting in the old ladies yard, having just passed between the trees and the telephone poles and in a mild state of shock, my wife asked me why had I pulled over. I grabbed the wheel and flicked it, spinning it around about a dozen times while we sat there. Up until then she had no idea of how close we came to death. And the answer to your question is no. I never rig up repairs.
At least not anymore.
On the ride home , a block from my house, I was downshifting for a tight corner and the engine started making a horrible racket. I shut down the engine and coasted to a stop. The air cleaner had come adrift, and one of the nuts holding it on had been eaten by the engine. Ouch ! I was very upset, and the former owner gave me a new battery and top in compensation. It took me pretty much the rest of the summer to get that sorted, and along the way, I noticed a few things. First up, most of the bolts under the car were way too long, and some had 10 or 20 washers on them. I replaced most of these, and generally sorted the car out. While attempting to replace the turn signal assembly, I discovered that the big plug connector had been cut out, and the wires were twisted together and taped up. Ug ! ! I soldered the connections and re taped them. Not pretty, but it worked. Also not so pretty was the front suspension turrets. Someone had covered the rust with thin sheet metal and underbody sealant. GRRR ! Also, while trying to install seatbelts, I found that the mounting holes had been bondoed over. Someone had pop riveted sheet metal all over the floorpans, bondoed it up nice, and painted it. I let this go, as the car was almost running. It seemed solid enough, but certainly not the great car I had purchased. At least it ran. Finally.
So one fine Sunday morning I took my wife out for breakfast. Sort of a shakedown cruise as it were. Driving home on an empty backroad, I went through a third gear turn at about 45 MPH. Coming out of it, I straightened the wheel, only to find out that it was completely disconnected from the steering.
OMG ! Those were my only words as I realized the car still didn't have any seat belts. I gently applied the brakes, and the car drove itself between a telephone pole and a small stand of trees, winding up in some old ladies front yard. A quick inspection revealed that the bolt that secured the steering column to the steering box was completely the wrong size, and that the shaft had been bolted up with only about a quarter inch of splines connecting the shaft to the wheel. Knocking on some doors, I was able to borrow some wrenches, slide the steering column to the correct position, and drive home, where I replaced the bolt with the correct sized unit which acted as a lock to secure the shaft to the box. Then I dug the bondo out of the seat belt bolt anchors, and put seat belts on the car. I drove it for a while, then I retired it.
The car had a real nice dashboard, and I decided to remove it for use in another car. When I started the car to move it behind my garage, an internal short in the wiring harness smoked the entire loom, no doubt somehow related to the turn signal ''repairs''. Scratch one Fiat.
BTW. While I was sitting in the old ladies yard, having just passed between the trees and the telephone poles and in a mild state of shock, my wife asked me why had I pulled over. I grabbed the wheel and flicked it, spinning it around about a dozen times while we sat there. Up until then she had no idea of how close we came to death. And the answer to your question is no. I never rig up repairs.
At least not anymore.
04-10-2007, 11:10 AM
#29
Rennlist Member
Not quite a Porsche story, but close:
My father told a story of his friends driving to a fishing trip in a VW Bug. They were cruising along on the highway at 60mph when, all of a sudden, there was an explosion in the back, followed by a huge ploom of smoke and a change in engine note. They also remembered seeing some pieces of metal roll down the highway behind them. Yes, that flat-4 threw a rod right out the engine. But they kept on going! Now, running on 3 cylinders, they were cruising at about 45mph.
They were laughing and joking when, all of a sudden, there was another explosion in back, followed by a huge ploom of smoke and a change in engine note. Another rod had come out of the engine! The driver downshifted into 2nd gear and was able to drive all the way back home (about 30 miles) on 2 cylinders, but the VW never recovered fully and was eventually parted out and scrapped.
My father told a story of his friends driving to a fishing trip in a VW Bug. They were cruising along on the highway at 60mph when, all of a sudden, there was an explosion in the back, followed by a huge ploom of smoke and a change in engine note. They also remembered seeing some pieces of metal roll down the highway behind them. Yes, that flat-4 threw a rod right out the engine. But they kept on going! Now, running on 3 cylinders, they were cruising at about 45mph.
They were laughing and joking when, all of a sudden, there was another explosion in back, followed by a huge ploom of smoke and a change in engine note. Another rod had come out of the engine! The driver downshifted into 2nd gear and was able to drive all the way back home (about 30 miles) on 2 cylinders, but the VW never recovered fully and was eventually parted out and scrapped.
04-10-2007, 11:12 AM
#30
Rennlist Member
The worst repair job I did was replace the 10-bolt rear end differential with a custom 12-bolt truck rear end in my 1968 Chevy Nova. The new differential was wider than the original one, so now the tires stuck out past the fenders. I had to get air shocks installed to lift the car up. Thank God I was a teenager back then