What's your best 'MacGyver' moment ?

Probably not so much as a MacGyver moment more of a complete panic fix
Towing a Rover P6 Auto with my SD1 many years ago, tart of a mate decided when I hit 40 mph
to drop it into drive to see if would jump start, HELL NO!
Almost took my head off with the lash up, ripped my Watts linkage apart
so, as a 18 year old fixed it with bits of my Meccano set...
4 wheel steering ensued !

When I was a lot younger and not long passed my test I owned a 1275gt mini in inca yellow , I fitted a 1380cc and a single 40 dcoe weber with a hastily cut hole in bulkhead ,not even boxed in just a dirty big chrome k&n filter poking through dash was fun watching passengers ear drums pop when you floored it hahah

Anyway driving past local pub one night and car just randomly hiccuped due to it being slightly out jetting wise , anyway car cut out so pulled into pub car park by this time smoke was entering cabin

Just as I start to reach for key to restart the filter bursts into flames inside cockpit ,so very panicky I jumped out and ripped bonnet off
luckily for me was only two bonnet pins to remove and I proceeded to put fire out by standing on slam panel and err lets just say relieving myself ,much to the amusement of the regulars at the pub

Put it out but soon realised the fuzzy carpet backing around heater matrix was still alight , this was quickly doused by a pint or two of beer lol

Anyway lesson learned and always have an extinguisher in car to hand in case

Great thread idea, as many of us have had to improvise over the years. Here's a few short ones from me:



I had a similar situation to the guy with the Mini in my 924 many years ago. I didn't think about what the rust reverser might do to the fuel lines of my car, and they burst into flames on my way home two nights after treating the rusting lines. Since I no longer drink, I don't mind saying that I was good and drunk when they burst. Standing on the fromt bumper of the car, I used my very full bladder to extinguish the flames while many in the grocery store parking lot cheered. It smelled SO bad! Worked though... This was after removing my shirt and beating the flames had failed.

My bro and I were returning from a vintage Fiat show in my 124 Coupe, and his 850 Spider. Neither car was anywhere near up for the 400+ mile round trip... (I picked up my brand new to me Fiat 124 enroute to the show) Each car depended on the other for all sorts of fuel line, tires... My bro's generator died on his Spider along a US Freeway right at dark when we were returning home. We unplugged the right headlight and the left taillight of his car, and rotated the batteries through my car's working alternator for more than 200 miles to get us home. We strangely had an awesome time keeping each car alive during the trip.

My bro did a narrative while underway in his 850 of our journey down to the show that gives a rundown of our trials at that point in the weekend:



Last year the radiator hose in my V-Tec Civic sprung a big leak along a long stretch of motorway in the States. I happened to have two bottles of bottled spring water, some epoxy putty, and some packing tape in the car. That combo got me 20-something miles into a town that had a replacement. Pretty basic, but I felt like a badass!

I was in my old expert van when the water hose came adrift and rubbed on the alternator belt cutting a hole in it. Luckily enough aldi was doing a special on flavoured water and I had 4.5 litres in the van. so with plenty of tape and strawberry flavoured coolant managed to get to b&q(Bank holiday weekend). Purchased 2 jubilee clips and a bit of plastic pipe a bit smaller diameter than the hose and sleeved it. Ran it for another year like that.

dead phone in a dead car led to this macGyver moment using the battery from the bluetooth hands free and
some cable tie creativity

Just remembered another one when I locked the keys in my mums fiesta and I broke into it using the window rubber

on the way to RRG11 my clutch line snapped in the M25-M40 traffic jam. Nursed the last 100ish miles to the campsite shifting without using the clutch (thank god for me practising it and VERY forgiving Toyota gearboxes). Me and a mate went to Bucklands scrappy, bought some Toyota brake lines from an MR2 and bodged them in, after making a new flare with a phillips screwdriver. Got me home, and was still in use a couple of months ago, untill i pulled the engine out.

Driving along in my mk3 golf 1.4, from Colchester to Cheltenham, everything was fine right until i approach the outskirts of Oxford. The golf suddenly looses power and i'm reduced to an absolute crawl to the nearest petrol station, no warning lights, nothing.

Pop the bonnet open and find nothing suspicious at all, look around the car and nothing is amiss, go to turn the engine over and 10-15 turns later it slowly starts. Now bear in mind i have no phone charge, cant remember the girlfriends mobile number and half way in the middle of nowhere, i had to make the trip to Cheltenham, didnt have a choice!

So i continue on, with 25~ miles to go, with a golf that's topping out at around 45mph, my concern increases to the point where i start hearing a loud banging noise from the engine, "Thud thud thud thud thud thud thud BANG.". Smoke pours out of every conceivable orifice and leaves a huge trail of oil and smoke behind me stretching around 1/2 mile.

I pull over at the next petrol station, and pop the bonnet open again to find a hole the size of my fist in the block. Distraught at this sight, i thought of what to do next. The crank was visible from the hole in the block and it looked intact, topped up the oil with some surplus oil in the boot and eureka! 15 turns later it spluttered into life! So another trip inside the petrol station and walked out with their entire stock of 10w/40, left me a bit lighter in the wallet.

So i carried on down the lonely road with a very loud, smokey, oily mk3 with hazard lights flashing, preying to get to my destination with a stop every 2 mins for another liter of oil. I make it into cheltenham town, high as a kite from the fumes, to the bottom of the apartments which was my destination with the golf, with a blown engine, waving out the window to mates like an idiot, cross eyed and sweaty.

I hadn't long had my Golf and I was out in the Sticks (just outside Wolverhampton) when the bonnet popped open on it's catch. It wouldn't Shut and as I was on a 60mph road, I was petrified of it slamming back into the screen. I took the front grill off with a multitool I had in the glovebox (Like the one that geezer used to cut his own arm off) to find the bonnet catch spring had disappeared. I then used a doubled over elastic band on the latch so I could shut the bonnet.