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Aug 26, 2013 20:34:11 GMT
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I had a clutch master cylinder on my Land Rover fail in the middle of France with no chance of getting a replacement other than having one posted over. Bored out the damaged cylinder with a British WW1 military surplus lathe at the local fire station and then found a seal for an unknown item among the mountains held in the fire station garage spares stock. Still working fine when back in UK 3000 miles later after going down to Spain to pick up a Passat that had been crashed in Czechoslovakia (recovery firm took it to the French / Spanish border due to owner living in N Spain) and delivered it to farm in Auvergne before returning to Brussels before home.
Paul H
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Aug 26, 2013 22:23:23 GMT
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Me and a mate on mine were out in his s2 RS Turbo one nite when the fuel pump relay packed up, maniged to get it going again by useing the 12v feed to his sub amp passed through a gromit in the boot floor and twisted around the positive contact on the pump !!
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1980 mk2 escort 2 door 1979 mk2 escort 2 door 1990 mk2 orion 1.6, Now written off !! 1986 mk2 orion 1.6 i ghia 51 plate Rover 25
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Aug 26, 2013 22:36:55 GMT
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A couple of my favorites were over in India with a mahindra jeep. It was my cousin doing the bodging. First one was ram out of diesel so he ran it on paraffin till we got to the pumps. Another one was when a bolt fell out of the rear brakes spilling brake fluid. The threads had died on the bolt so he just wrapped fabric round it and tightened it back up
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Had to ziptie the throtle cable on the linkage of my taunus because the clip disappeared . Not really mcgyver but had to do it on the hard shoulder of the very busy antwerp ringroad ! Never bodged something up this quick as its the scary's place to be working on your car ever On the beetle the brake lights failed once still had to do 60 miles to get home . Took the cable of the foglights an wired it to the brakelights just pull switch on the dash to have brakelights Me and mate once fixed a leaky carb with a piece of chewing gum he drove it like that for a month
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if sparks don't fly you're ridin too high !
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My favourite was on the Daimler Sovereign we tool on the Shitbox Rally this year ( was reasonably proud of us dismantling and rebuilding the carbies by torchlight one evening on the rally too)
About a month out from the rally I thought I would be nice to the car and give it one last oil change. Pulled the sump plug out and a helicoil came with it (damn alloy sumps). Hole the helicoil came out of was perfectly smooth so no chance of another going in. Bought a tap to suit the largest sump plug available but after the helicoil there was not enough meat left for it to get a decent thread and I could not go to a larger helicoil as the current size was already scraping the inside of the bottom of the sump.
Lacking alternatives I covered the thread of the biggest sump plug with fueltank repair putty/steel, screwed/pushed it in by hand, then covered the plug and surrounding sump area with the rest of the stick of putty, then a couple of days later wacked soem JB Weld across the top of it all for good measure.
Bodge lasted 4500km across some nasty dirt roads, through water crossings, up sand banks and was still in place when the car was auctioned off at the end of it all.
Less pretty but also amusing was the red wire running from the starter solenoid across the engine bay tied off on one of the braces ready to be used in place of the starter solenoid each time the car needed starting
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Remade In Australia thereimaginarium.com.au
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Thinking of that, we had a similarly impressive bodge on the 2012 rally. Our poor Vauxhall Victor's radiator cracked in the middle of the outback, so with cable ties, a battery drill, a stubby holder, some miscellaneous radiator hoses and a short section of Alfa Romeo exhaust we managed to fit a Datsun 720 radiator which was 30% wider and had outlets on the opposite sides of the motor. The same radiator setup was still on the car when it succesfully completed the rally again this year!
Similarly this year the skilled bush mechanics fitted a late model Falcon radiator and thermo fans to a Humber Supersnipe which had done it's waterpump. The spare pump was substantially longer so everything with pulleys had to be spaced forward and the modern thin radiator fitted further forward with thermo fans on front as there was no space left for the old fan.
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Remade In Australia thereimaginarium.com.au
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When I gave a relatively new build 998 in my Mini the beans. At 90 one of the valve adjusters losened and the valve gap was like 2cm! Engine ran on three, I left the Autobahn at thevery next possible place. And realised I have no tools to properly adjust the valve. But with a Leatherman multitool, a beer opener and a postcard I was able to adjust the valve and continued my way to a job interview - and got the job.
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Aug 27, 2013 20:27:57 GMT
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I was taking a GF to a viewing spot high up in the hills driving a mach1 kadett 1.3. Late at night in the plantations when all of a sudden things start going darker and then no electrics.open the bonnet and use a cigarette lighter to fault find.turns out the tensioner bolt on the alternator broke.with nothing to repair it I did the next best thing got a reasonable thickness stick out the bush and hacked it to the right size with the wheel spanner and jammed it between the block and alternator and hammered it in with the wheel spanner.a quick push start and we were on our way alternator charging merrilly away next morning put in a new bolt
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No my car is not modified its just had an update!!!!!!!
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cavman
Part of things
feeling inspired :)
Posts: 233
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Aug 27, 2013 22:15:27 GMT
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When the ignition switch in my old Mk3 Astra imploded just pulled it all off the back of the ignition barrel. Then I found two bits of copper rod that were in the boot, bent them into U shapes, used one to bridge the permanent live contacts and the other was the 'key' for bridging the starting circuit. Now hotwiring cars is nothing new I know, but the starting procedure remained like this for at least another year till it got scrapped!
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'78 Mk1 Cavalier Coupe - I wish I had a pound for every time someone told me "my dad used to have one of those"!!
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rtlkyuubi
Posted a lot
Low and Slow
Posts: 2,922
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Aug 29, 2013 17:25:12 GMT
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When the alternator belt tensioner pulley went on the granada, I used zipties as a temp belt around the crankshaft and water pump. got me 45 miles to my destination.
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kevfromwales
Posted a lot
the conrod's REALLY out the block now!
Posts: 3,909
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Aug 30, 2013 12:03:33 GMT
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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. haha - I remember that! unsurprisingly I've had a few of these type 'fixes' over the years our most recent one involved our new bmw skidcar, a 325i e36 cabrio - we loaded it up and headed off to buxton, but unfortunately *someone* managed to smack it fairly hard into buxton's very unforgiving concrete wall. damage included 2 snapped engine mounts, snapped arb droplink, bent wishbone, bent track rod, bent and cracked wheel, strut pushed back so the wheel was tight against the a post, and inner wing pushed in so the throttle linkage was bent - as well as a fair chunk of body damage, wing, bonnet, rear 1/4 after getting it back to the pits, we used a borrowed jack to plop the engine back where it should have been, then a ratchet strap round the mount and crossmember to hold the engine in place - then we used a nissan jack and eddie rattley's alfa jack to push the strut forward and the wishbone and track rod straight-ish this allowed us to drive across the pits to a concrete block, where we chained the car in place, and reversed a few times, which got the wheel roughly where it should be - unfortunatley, while trying to pull the front wing out a bit we managed to rip most of the headlamp loom out! after this a simple matter of re-installing the lights (which now don't exactly work) and ratchet strapping the bonnet and boot shut,and applying liberal amounts of gaffa tape to the chopped up front wing fbcdn-sphotos-d-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-prn1/45905_10151786268483554_597785353_n.jpgfbcdn-sphotos-a-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-ash4/q87/1002841_10151786269693554_1083102325_n.jpgmade it 90 miles home, at no more than 50mph, and our only incident involved vosa pulling in to the petrol station where speedy88 and I were saying goodbye - cue comedy 'standing infront of the worst bits of the beemer' poses! - kfw
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Almost on the road: b11 sunny breadvan, e36 tds, 325i skidcar,
nearly there: ford f250 tathauler, suzuki alto, u11 bluey
not for a while: ford pop, 32 rails,
not in this lifetime: ruby, '29 hillman
''unfortanatly I'm quite old and scruffy and in need of some loving. my drive shaft needs a new boot....''
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Aug 31, 2013 21:38:34 GMT
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using a rubber band as a replacement for a broken throttle return spring
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Lopez
East Midlands
Posts: 867
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Sept 1, 2013 10:55:22 GMT
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Had a very similar one to kfw in my Sierra. A spot of late night mucking about left me with a shattered bumper, crushed wing, cracked radiator and a headlamp pointing at the floor. I limped home but knew I couldn't drive all the way to Uni like that the next day and hammering a wing straight at 7am was not going to impress the neighbours. Set my alarm for half five, drove to the car park on the mountain with a selection of tools and got to work. Drilled holes in the bumper and stitched it back together with thick electrical cable. Beat the wing into shape and tapped over it with duct tape until reasonably smooth. Put a trolley jack in the headlamp hole and got the slam panel where it should be. Aligned the headlamp and set in place with chemical metal. Sealed the radiator with self amalgam tape. Then sprayed the duct tape in the correct shade to match the car. From a distance you'd never know it had happened.
Next was in France in a Golf GTI, torrential rain. A washer on the rear coilover failed and the damper rod came through the parcel shelf as there was nothing to hold it down any longer. No tools and no parts and still with several hundred miles to drive by the end of the day. Found a Hyper U with an underground car park. Bought two adjustable spanners. Undid the top mount on the other side and thieved a non critical washer. It fitted the damper rod perfectly. Jacked the car up, supported the car with it's own wheel, then used the jack to compress the damper from below while I levered down on the damper rod from above with a hammer that inexplicably came with the spanners until I could get it compressed enough to slide on the washer and the top mount nut. The temporary repair not only lasted the trip, it's still working 30,000 miles and three years later. The other top mount is none the worse for donating it's parts either!
Doing the Bro Caron road rally in a 205 GTI, the exhaust came off on a rough road at the downpipe. Tied a rope to roll cage, out of the door, under the car, round the exhaust hanger, back in via the other door and tied against the other side of the cage. Lasted the remainder of the rally.
There are more but those are my favourites!
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bortaf
Posted a lot
Posts: 4,549
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Sept 1, 2013 13:23:16 GMT
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God there are so many and not just the usuall bodged return spring or shoelace throttle cable, they are just part of driving wibblepoo cars lets see, redbull can and 2 jubalee clip exhaust repairs are the norm as well, fan belts made out of a roll of hand towel from the motorway srvices loo, replacing a spark that flew out a transit pinto with a bottle opener modified on a curbstone using a brick, cutting down some fence wire to wire my axle in place after one end of the track rod snapped on a dark country road (I hope no cows got out due to my repairs ), many gaffa tape related leak fixes, cement sump repairs, screws tightened in tyres, even wing bolts put in on purpose to seal a leak in the tread (Mmmm ticky, ticky, ticky all the way home), reinflating a tyre with WD40 cos the foot pump fell appart/heat seized. I've driven so many cars with no clutch I cant even begin to remember, burst flexy hoses ignored by folding and clamping with mole grips for the trip home, reversing 4 miles home when the rear axle ripped out the floor of a cortina, altenators bypassed and torches tapped to the bonnet/roof, in fact half of em are so dodgey I aint gonna tell you I once got a Ka from Swansea to london with an extra long bolt in 1 of the rockers cos the cam follower had worn away, i just adjusted it every time it dropped to 3 cylinder and cruised back on the A4, by the time i got back (bowt 8 hours) the 2 inch bolt was no longer long enough and the push rod was rather shorter on that valve! i made the whole of the N Circ on 3 cylinders cos i was close enough to home not to care if it went pop, i'd just get a bus the rest of the way
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Last Edit: Sept 1, 2013 13:26:48 GMT by bortaf
R.I.P photobucket
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Sept 1, 2013 18:19:05 GMT
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Lol had a similar issue with a Opel Monza (south african so mach 2 kadett sedan) pin on the ignition that goes from the key to the electrical switch snapped.so steering wheel console off undo the alan head screw holding in the switch pull out the broken pin inserted a screw driver and start key in the ignition to disable the steering lock and voila off we go.what I didn't realise at the time was that security was watching 2 blocks later some very angry men with blue flashing lights and guns asked me to pull over, it took a lot of explaining to convince them to let me carry on my way
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No my car is not modified its just had an update!!!!!!!
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sweep
Part of things
Posts: 411
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Sept 1, 2013 20:12:45 GMT
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God there are so many and not just the usuall bodged return spring or shoelace throttle cable, they are just part of driving wibblepoo cars lets see, redbull can and 2 jubalee clip exhaust repairs are the norm as well, fan belts made out of a roll of hand towel from the motorway srvices loo, replacing a spark that flew out a transit pinto with a bottle opener modified on a curbstone using a brick, cutting down some fence wire to wire my axle in place after one end of the track rod snapped on a dark country road (I hope no cows got out due to my repairs ), many gaffa tape related leak fixes, cement sump repairs, screws tightened in tyres, even wing bolts put in on purpose to seal a leak in the tread (Mmmm ticky, ticky, ticky all the way home), reinflating a tyre with WD40 cos the foot pump fell appart/heat seized. I've driven so many cars with no clutch I cant even begin to remember, burst flexy hoses ignored by folding and clamping with mole grips for the trip home, reversing 4 miles home when the rear axle ripped out the floor of a cortina, altenators bypassed and torches tapped to the bonnet/roof, in fact half of em are so dodgey I aint gonna tell you I once got a Ka from Swansea to london with an extra long bolt in 1 of the rockers cos the cam follower had worn away, I just adjusted it every time it dropped to 3 cylinder and cruised back on the A4, by the time I got back (bowt 8 hours) the 2 inch bolt was no longer long enough and the push rod was rather shorter on that valve! I made the whole of the N Circ on 3 cylinders cos I was close enough to home not to care if it went pop, I'd just get a bus the rest of the way You win. Cement sump repair?
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rtlkyuubi
Posted a lot
Low and Slow
Posts: 2,922
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Sept 4, 2013 18:11:40 GMT
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Forgot to mention but when ever you tried to start the Granada it would blow the ignition fuse. Cue cutting the excitor wire to the starter motor, twisting some new wire to it and wrapping it around the strut next to the battery ended up routing the wire to the key (got bored of opening the bonnet every time I wanted to start it,) to then find the original had gotten trapped under the battery and was shorting out :/
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tenman
Part of things
m00000000000
Posts: 899
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Sept 5, 2013 11:02:33 GMT
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chewing gum doubling as a gasket and to hold in place a boost pipe after a jubilee clip perished... once I'd got it home I tested it, it blew off again after being at 1 bar a few times...
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RWD Fanatic...
2003 BMW 320d Wagon (getting old and boring) 1996 Mini Kensington (SWMBO's)
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