The most "ghetto-tastic" thing you've ever fabbed for a car.

DaewooOfDeath wrote:

JoeyM wrote: all my sheetmetal has been "found" (i.e. trash) material

And inspired my vastly inferior rocker cover repair!

...and I was inspired by Andy Nelson, who used a washing machine for the floor of this $20XX Challenge car

That thing is awesome. I wish I had half that skill.

oooh... just remembered this fix from last summer, which is way more better than my expanding foam fix from last night:

what you are looking at is the torque arm mount on the back of the transmission on my Camaro after i "fixed" it in a gas station parking lot in downtown Austin, TX .. i was stuck in rush hour traffic on I35 just trying to get to my final destination of San Antonio for a family reunion... then i started hearing/feeling a "clunk" right under the shifter every time i hit the gas or brake pedal.. i pulled into a gas station to get gas.. after pumping the gas, i jacked the car up and noticed that the torque arm wasn't fastened to the tailshaft any more, but the bracket was still there... i was just about to wrap a whole bunch of duct tape around it because that's all i had in the car when a couple of nice Mexicans in a beat up old Ford truck pulled up and gave me a large chunk of wire to put it together and get me back on the road, then gave me faulty directions to the Stevie Ray Vaughan statue that got me lost in the nether regions of that craphole city... that wire stayed there for another 5 days and 1600 or so miles until i got back home to MN after going all the way down to Corpus Christi.. i was able to find a proper bolt in my old oil drain pan full of discarded nuts and bolts and fix it the day after i got back home..

DIY CAI involving spaghetti sauce cans for the tube and a used compressor cylinder for an air cleaner adapter.

DaewooOfDeath wrote: That thing is awesome. I wish I had half that skill.

Yeah, we all feel that way about his work. As I've said before, I really want to subscribe to a magazine named
GRM: What is happening in Andy Nelson's garage?

Knurled wrote: It's not ghetto, it's functional. Ghetto is something that is half-assed and not really functional, like a chunk of rope out the window to move the wipers.

speak for yourself. i lost the wiper motor in my dually in a downpour once. got to a gas station and pulled the wipers up and used one of my tie down ropes tied to the driver's arm, looped through both slightly opened windows and tied inside so it was one big loop. all i had to do was drive with one hand on the wheel, one hand operating the wiper rope side to side, and one hand shifting gears.

patgizz wrote:

Knurled wrote: It's not ghetto, it's functional. Ghetto is something that is half-assed and not really functional, like a chunk of rope out the window to move the wipers.

speak for yourself. i lost the wiper motor in my dually in a downpour once. got to a gas station and pulled the wipers up and used one of my tie down ropes tied to the driver's arm, looped through both slightly opened windows and tied inside so it was one big loop. all i had to do was drive with one hand on the wheel, one hand operating the wiper rope side to side, and one hand shifting gears.

But was it a permanent repair? That's the key. Emergency MacGyver fab is one thing... emergency fab that is on the car for two years is another.

I drove a Ford Pinto for three years with a pencil stuck in a hole, in the side of the carburetor. I kept meaning the find out what was supposed to be in that hole, but the pencil did such a good job ov fixing it, it was still there when I sold it.

There aren't enough pics in this thread.

No photos, but I "repaired" the leaf springs on a '78 Cordoba with outdoor wood once.

Piece of coat hanger was used when one of my door lock tabs snapped. Made it easy to break into my car when I locked the keys inside. Flathead screwdriver to pry on the door frame, and another piece of coat hanger to pull the lock up . Still have it 2 years later.

I once held a radiator in using only zip ties for about 10,000 miles or so. Does that count?

Apis_Mellifera wrote: I made this portable air conditioner from an Igloo cooler, Ford heater core, a bilge pump, and a inline blower.

I have one like that too, but a bigger cooler and the heat exchanger is inside so the condensation doesn't leak all over.

You know how some people berk up a car and then just trade it in rather than fix it?

Working on one right now. Species involves a supercharged Ecotec.

Amongst the buffoonery, besides the questionable modifications and randomly (poorly) spray painted parts, are things like metric fasteners replaced with the next size up SAE fastener rammed into the hole, but my favorite is the Honda-looking bolt shoved into the intake manifold to hold the blower on. It was too long, so they just reefed it down instead. Guess what broke when trying to remove.

The cylinder head looks like the deck was cleaned with 36 grit sandpaper (just perfect for MLS, right?) and several of the head bolts weren't even torqued. Just lovely.

This is aside from the normal hackjob indicators like wiring connectors not secured and spring-type hose clamps replaced with worm-type so as to guarantee coolant leaks.

This is why modified cars lose, not gain, value...

novaderrik wrote:

Giant Purple Snorklewacker wrote: E30 aero with narrowed Late Model Monte Carlo nose

looks more like an IROC Camaro than Monte Carlo..

What I saw:

I made a adjustable FPR out of a standard 3 bar FPR, a shiner bottle cap, a nut, a screw, and the hot glue gun (aka welder)

Well my new e28 came with granite rocks (think curb stones) holding the battery up, a wire hanger holding the exhaust (barely) on, the mismatched sets of tires that include 1 summer, 2 winter tires, and 1 studded tire.

This counts, right?

Knurled wrote: You know how some people berk up a car and then just trade it in rather than fix it? Working on one right now. Species involves a supercharged Ecotec. Amongst the buffoonery, besides the questionable modifications and randomly (poorly) spray painted parts, are things like metric fasteners replaced with the next size up SAE fastener rammed into the hole, but my favorite is the Honda-looking bolt shoved into the intake manifold to hold the blower on. It was too long, so they just reefed it down instead. Guess what broke when trying to remove. The cylinder head looks like the deck was cleaned with 36 grit sandpaper (just perfect for MLS, right?) and several of the head bolts weren't even torqued. Just lovely. This is aside from the *normal* hackjob indicators like wiring connectors not secured and spring-type hose clamps replaced with worm-type so as to guarantee coolant leaks. This is why modified cars lose, not gain, value...

they should have just stacked a few washers under the head of that bolt.. noobs.

I ran my Ranger for over a year with a zip tied motor mount. These were no ordinary zip ties, mind you.

disclaimer: I work for the linked seller.

The Ford coil I'm using in my '75 Duster is mounted in a metal electrical box like this:

The GM HEI module that controls it is bolted to the side of the box with a piece of license plate acting as a heat sink. Function > form.

novaderrik wrote: they should have just stacked a few washers under the head of that bolt.. noobs.

That's the extra fun part. They DID. Just not enough...

I should also mention the use of silicone on what would normally be re-usable O-rings and gaskets. Not anymore, though...

helped a buddy in college install a new fan shroud in his caprice. what he didn't know was that the car had been wrecked before and the front end was all out of whack, making using the normal mounting locations impossible. we ended up using about half a bag of zip ties to strap it in place and keep the shroud out of the fan. last time i saw him he said it was still holding up when he sold it after grad school for a new camaro.

this isn't much compared to some of you guys, but I felt like I was involved in some redneck re-injun-earing today when I used a hair clip as a cotter pin for an axle on a camry..
This shop has NO supplies. Like none.
No brake cleaner, no pb blaster, no sand paper, no collection of bolts and cotter pins, berkeleying nothing.
I'm trying to not let it irk me but 12 hours of it today was a bit much lol.
That, and the jag which keeps coming back for new struts. Today I replaced the RF, last week someone else replaced the LF, a week before that someone replaced both fronts. How much you wanna bet it comes back again next week?=]

This is the interior of my 90 Miata.

Toggle switch for lights. Toggle switch for heater (full blast or nothing). Heater controls Ty-rapped to HOT Volt meter for a gas gauge.
No instruments at all... just a scan gauge. GPS for speed. No ignition switch, just a toggle switch and a push button to start.

Put a boat horn under the hood...

Windshield wipers were on / off, single speed no parking. Bungee cord for trunk lock.

Passenger power window was wired with a super long harness and to put the window down, you would first have to pop the hood, use a broom stick to hold the hood up. Uncoil the window harness and touch the wires to a terminal block under the hood.

It had some other quirks too.

We got a winner.

I said... we got a winner!