Whats some of the jury rig things you have done to cars?

Quick fix coathanger exhaust strap.

 

back in 1972 I was driving my 64 MGB from Atlanta to DC. Not much interstate finished back then.

The SU fuel pump began to crap out on me in NC and I'd coast to a stop, whack it with a wrench, and it would resume ticking for a while. I did this every 50 miles or so.

finally, I'd had enough so I tied a wrench to the battery box in the vicinity of the pump, attached a string, and pulled it up to the driver seat. Yanking the string caused the wrench to whack the pump and I could continue driving.

Made it all the way to DC like that. Cleaned the points on the pump and I was good to go again, all the way back to GA the next week.

 

Going to the Jersey Shore a rear brake line blew coming to a red light. I managed to miss other traffic and pulled into a lot. Having no tools with me, I borrowed two hammers from a roadside business and hammered over the broken brake line crimping it between the two hammers and limped back home on three wheel brakes. Several years ago now and never made it back to the beach.

 

I have a low mount alt in my 283 62 Nova. Coming back from Hot August Nights to So Cal in the middle of dessert, one of the bracket bolts broke causing the alt to loosen and throw the belt. It's the only belt and drives the water pump too. Used a bunch of zip ties to pull it up and back. Some around the dipstick tube and some around the valve cove wingnut. It got us the 300 miles home plus drove it around home for another 3 weeks before fixing it. Probably would have held up a few thousand miles. Gotta love zip ties...

 

I have been following this thread for the fun of it, and have done some jury rigging that I dont want to tell about mostly in my yungndumb daze. But one was pretty good when i was somewhat older. It was not on a car but a motorcycle, however it could still apply [with a metal float].Riding with bunch of buddys out dirtbiking in some remote areas and one guys bike sputtered and died. after checking it over we finally got it down to the carb, it was the brass float. It was full of fuel, and upon shaking it we could only get a little gas out at a time. The hole was very tiny and it would take forever to get the fuel out. So I got the bright idea of warming it up. So I said well anybody got a 'match'. gggg Well we put the float on the sand and lit it off! and then we scooted back aways. It worked great! As it got warmer the gas was shooting out like a mini 'flame thrower'. Once it stopped, it was dry and we reinstalled it and he rode several niles before it stopped again. we did that a couple more times and got back to our trucks.

 

I was discussing this thread with a good friend of mine and he told me a story about how he made it to the next gas station after the car ran out of fuel.

After the car died at the side of the road, he took all the windshield washer hoses he could strip off the car, plugged them into the washer pump, and ran the leftover hose into the gas tank.

His theory was that there would ALWAYS be a puddle of gas left SOMEWHERE in the tank. With the washer pump and hose being used like a vacuum cleaner or bilge pump in the tank, he managed to pull out a couple of soda bottles full of gas from the puddles in the "empty" tank that the fuel pickup just wasn't reaching.

He put the fuel pump intake hose into the soda bottle and made it a few miles to the next gas station.

The friend riding with him was so surprised and said something like "I never would have believed you could run out of gas, siphon gas from the EMPTY tank, and then use it to drive home!"

 

I just posted in another thread about a missing air filter on my Harley dirt bike.
I took a Planter's Peanut can, drilled it full of holes, attached it to the carb, stuffed it with a couple of knitted pot holders for a filter, snapped the plastic lid on and ran that way.
It drew a lot of comments from everyone every time I ran it.
I wish I had a picture of it.

 

hey! you could have beaten K&N to the punch!

 

The speedometer on my old Econoline seized temporarily due to lack of lubrication. Some WD40 and vicegrips got it unseized but the end that fits into the transmission was rounded off and to work it needed to be square. I cut a strip off a tin can lid, folded it and stuffed it into the hole in the transmission then shoved in the cable and bolted it on. It gave enough friction or whatever to make it work except once in a while the speedo needle would shake like crazy for a minute or two, then go back to working normally.

 

Dropped one exhaust pipe on the way up to Santa Maria. I "borrowed" some fence wire from the chain-link fence along the highway to hang it back up.

 

Nylon stocking for a fan belt...............

Egg in a leaky radiator.............

 

J-B Weld.
Fantastic stuff.
I had an 81 Buick Regal station wagon that I purchased from a shady dealer when it was only 1 year old and had only 4000 miles on it.
I learnd shortly after buying it the thing had taken a good hit in the nose in it's short life, he bought it, fixed it up nice n' pretty then sold it to me.I wasnt sharp enough back then to catch the prior body work so I lushed right into it.
I didn't expect much, I knew he sucked, his cars all had stories , but the Regal looked nice and his price was fair.
One month down the road it started pushing oil out around the timing chain cover area near the oil pump.
My buddy Jack and I yanked the radiator and stripped down the front of the engine.
The leak we discovered was from an opening in the front of the block about 3" long by about 1/4" wide.
When the Buick got "treed" between the eyes the impact must have cracked out a chunk of engine block too.
I knew GM wasn't going to warranty this dog and for sure Nutty Norman who sold me the Buick was probably going to tell me to "PISS UP A ROPE".
So.........WTF! Jack and I mixed up a gigantic ball of J-B Weld mix and shoved the paste into the ventilated block.
The patch held for the 9 years and 100,000 miles I owned it for.

 

Back in 1966 I was a poor student living beyond his means but living large and thinking I was the shit because I drove a Corvette.
It was nothing special but it meant the world to me, the poor and stupid student who knew nothing about the mechanics of a car.
If it was shiny and spiffy looking ....I was in.
The thing developed an annoying exhaust leak , like a tick noise in the exhaust manifold area while ridding home from school one rainy autumn night.
I pulled into my father's barn and discovered the heat stove tube had rotted off the right manifold of the little '58 gem of mine.
It also had a bitty old crack near the stub hole too.
Hmm........ I'm thinking, too poor to whip it to a dealership and didn't have any independent shop I would trust it too, especially a shop that would allow a stiff like me to make weekly payments over the rest of my life to afford this repair.
BINGO!!! In the darkest rat infested corner of the barn I discover a bucket filled with these soft malleable metal bars. They're gray in color, about 6" long, maybe a 1/2 inch wide, easy to form into any desired shape.
I grab one out of the bucket, form this bitch into a nice conical plug then with my trusty hammer and Craftsman, drill bore out the existing mess and pack my home brew plug into it.
I finish this black magic art, put away the mystery metal left in the bucket and call it a night.
Next day I light off the little 283 , it's stone quiet and off to classes I go.
I'm ecstatic, I'm stylin' now, looking cool and running silent.
BAM.....POP.......WHAP A WHAP A ROAR.
On the side of the road now, HUMILIATED and DEFEATED I lift the Corvette's hood to see fucking SILVER colored SOLDER blown all over the right side of it's once immaculate engine compartment.
I did learn a lot from that little car over the many years of ownership though.

it was a good stepping stone into hot rods for me.

 

It takes 17 Coors Lights to fill a radiator on an 89' Honda Civic Wagon. Found out on I-40 between Amarillo and Santa Fe.

 

"I refuse to provide evidence which may be considered legal testimony and therefore used against me in a court of law." I believe that's what my attorney instructed me to say the last time I monkey rigged something together, that should be the 5th. You can use it for free, cost me about 6 grand though.

 

had a 74 sportster blow a jug. hacked out a wedge hammered it in between the frame and head. it ran home.

 

"Accidentally" drilled a hole in the bottom of a friends battery.
A dab of black silicone RTV, top off with electrolyte, good as new!
He never knew!

 

My cousin:

Dropped a 392 Hemi into a 57 Chevy convertible while down south nawlin's way. Gas tank had a bad leak so he ran a one gallon plastic milk jug under the hood for a makeshift fuel tank.....all the way back to Dallas. He carried four five gallon cans in his trunk to top it off.

My co-worker:

Went on a road call to replace a leaky water pump on a mid sized rig (IHC with a DT 466). He took a drain pan, but didn't take anything to get the coolant back into the radiator. He searched the service truck and found his 6 oz sytrofoam coffee cup. Took him 5 hours to get it back into the radiator. Funny thing was he came back to the shop twice, once for the pump, the second time to press the old pulley off the old one and onto the new one.

Me:

Another road call....18 wheeler parked on the shoulder. All the fuel ran to the right tank, but in those days it only picks up on the left due to the crossover line. Dayum, no container to siphon diesel back to the left tank. I drove a mile to a convenience store, bought a gallon of milk, drank a few swigs, dumped the rest, drove back and siphoned enough back over to fire it back up.

 

I've done quite a few jury rig fixes. I've had two vehicles that had boat gas tanks I bought from Wal-Mart for replacement fuel tanks. The one was in the trunk (65 Rambler) the other was under the hood (77 F100). My Dad would always tell me if I ever got in an accident my truck would turn into a bomb. I got my chance to prove him wrong when I got hit by a Semi on the driver's side (same side the fuel tank was on). I didn't blow up. My friend liked my cheap boat gas tank fix so much that he did the same thing to fix the leaky fuel tanks on his 73 Jag.

I drove a 51 GMC for a while that had a fuel pump that didn't work. I had an old motorcycle gas tank laying around which I strapped onto the roof using kite string and clothesline rope. It worked so good that I drove it like that for months I did get a lot of stares at the gas station and I always had a 5 gallon gas can with me. The tank was good for about 20-30 miles. That motorcycle gas tank has since been used with a few other vehicles but I never used it to gravity feed any carbs.

 

well, back before I was into real old cars, I built a full race honda crx for the local autocross meetings. after finally getting the thing all wired up from the engine swap, i just HAD to drive it, but I had no seats. two milk crates later my buddy and i were turning hot laps around the block.

 

This guy I was in the Navy with told me about a volkswagen bug that he had, and the seat was all busted up so he took one of those plastic chairs like in highschool and sawed the legs off. He then put some eye bolts through the roof and hung the chair with some bailing twine so it was like a porch swing. Things people do in South Carolina go figure.

 

yeah, me too. and i am white, but i am blind. and jerry or jurry, relax. just make it presidential

 

When I went to college, I had an old Mercury Montclair with 100K + miles. The radiator started leaking. It was winter, I was 200 miles from home, I didn't enjoy working on it in the parking lot and I couldn't afford a new radiator. First, I tried pinching off the fin that was leaking. That worked for a few days, but the problem was that the whole radiator was corroded, and it started leaking again in a different place. Went to the grocery store, bought a can of ginger in the spice section, dumped it into the radiator, put the cap on to the first notch but didn't seal it, and drove the car all winter. Every couple weeks I had to put in a new can of ginger, but it got me through until Spring.

 

seems like it would have been faster to walk at that point

 

Had a '53 Studebaker in high school that kept breaking motor mounts on the drivers side. Got tired of fixing them so I took a piece of bar stock and bolted it from the frame to the driver's side head. Was still on there when I sold it several years later.

 

I don't know if this qualifies or not,,,,, late one afternoon I came up behind what I thought was a friends car(60 Chevy) with the hood up. Well as I got closer I noticed he was sitting on the fender and his wife was driving. The fuel pump gave up the ghost and my bud was squirting gas straight in the carb from a plastic oil bottle he had punched a small hole in the lid of. I offerd to carry them home or what ever they needed , but Larry said naw we ain't got much futher to go and we'll be to the parts house (Steve's Autoparts) Larry nursed that old Chevy about 6 miles or so in all. I stiil get a chuckle when I think of this.

 

back in 76, 4th of july wekend (monday) in suburban shitcago. We were from central ILL (peoria) and had just realized his solid lifter 289 4 spd mustang fastback had a hole in the middle of the radiator as big as your fist! Saw a guy out washing his car, stopped and asked to use his hose, a screwdriver, and a pair of pliers. I pulled the radiator out, bent over what seemed like half the tubes in it, put it back in....no leaks.
That'll never last! said the cars owner.
Well, unless you have a spare radiator in your pocket, it's all we got!
so off we went. Was still not leaking 9 mos later when he finally replaced it.

Summer 91, my harley has a blown alternator and dies on side of I-80, 60 miles from home. Pres of my ABATE chapt comes by, and all he has is motorcycle jumper cables made from 10 ga wire. So we charge my battery enough to get it started, and off we go! 3 ft apart ALL the way to the toll booth near my house, his gf controlling the slack. Around off ramps, lane changes, the "DuKane Chapt Precision Motorcycle Drill Team". It died at the foot of my driveway!

 

Needed six volts to run some accessory on a twelve volt car. So I drove in a nail at six volts.

 

Duct tape rules!

 

a buddy of mine put a sbc in his skylark and ended up having to switch the drive shaft also. he needed a combination joint back at the rearend and supposedly could not find one. first idea he came up with was to buy one of each u joint with the proper cap sizes he needed and then took a grinder to grind down two sides of the u joint so the caps would fit off the other joint and make his own combination joint. thankfully i showed up and stoped him from putting in the car. so the next day i stop over and he says he found the correct one. he was running the car round the block and we were adjusing the timing and what not. he comes rolling up the driveway kills it bitches its overheating, gets out looks under the car and mumbles that didnt last long and walks into the house pissed. our other buddy and i puzzeled look under the car and the driveshaft is laying on the ground. turns out he did not find the proper joint and wrapped electric tape around the caps so it would fit!!! needless to say i will never ride in anything he owns!