Best hackjobs you've done fixing a car...

[Sonic]

Finally got off my ass and fixed the AC leak on my Murano tonight, the leak was where the suction hose connected to the compressor, the rubber gasket shrunk, I didn't have any spares and was too damn lazy to go to CT so I decided to instead keep the old gasket on and use some hockey sock tape around it to make it thicker andto hold it all in tight...seems to have worked!

I figured it's rubbery too and should hold just as well as a new rubber gasket.

The Murano has 275,000km on it and it's not worth much anymore, so this is probably the last time anyone will ever touch that hose.

So...what's the best hackjob you've done fixing your car?

I've also used zipties to hold up a sagging muffler instead of buying a new hanger and when I was 18, instead of re-soldering a headlight connector, I just stuffed a tshirt in between to hold it in place :rofl:

[ShermanEF9]

anytime i pick up a pair of vice grips, you know its going to be a bad time.

[rage2]

For the OG's: https://youtu.be/wKJtyT0gSXs?t=3m27s

[TomcoPDR]

Rust repair on my beater, $6 ducting tin, $8 undercoating that's been sitting in the garage over 10 years, $2 rivets

http://image.ibb.co/kNJnEk/01600d2aebe41c18816b65f9561f40d3ef4f3d6abe.jpg

http://image.ibb.co/jfSfZk/01249d244915ed6cf034eca27e1c6b0e09dfaf0f9d.jpg

http://image.ibb.co/mJr7Ek/0107fcfd7c05128a61b8b576ab52cad8bace0a715e.jpg


Then I pulled it up front to this high end bodyshop, cause the owner wanted me to do some Free-Dent-Repair (Free-D-R) on his exotics, kinda public relations in our industry having to do these. But shops gives $$ of work to our industry. But I was still annoyed to do it, so I made sure I showed him my bodywork, still didn't scare him from me touching his cars tho. Then he didn't want to drive his $$$$$ high end car, so I had to give him a ride home in my $3,000 beater. He hated it but had no choice, asked why I didn't drive my new work truck, I laughed on the inside. It was fun.


http://image.ibb.co/jtnQ0Q/01c57b962dc585cd04eaa2ac6c238fc86df4eee227.jpg

http://image.ibb.co/fJH3n5/0170d1a6fd1d7f3e22bee7be6ea04f859fbc976dae.jpg

[botox]

I've also used zipties to hold up a sagging muffler instead of buying a new hanger and when I was 18, instead of re-soldering a headlight connector, I just stuffed a tshirt in between to hold it in place :rofl:

Coat hangers work better for sagging mufflers :thumbsup:

[Nufy]

Used a clothes pin to hold open a carbeurator flapper valve on an old ford escort.

[Twin_Cam_Turbo]

Fixed drafty ass rust holes in my drivers door on the $1000 Laggin Wagon with aluminum tape and rustoleum paint.

[G-ZUS]

Broke a bolt on a thermostat housing on a older civic. held it together for a few weeks with vice grips until a was able to get one from picknpull.

[03ozwhip]

used an ice scraper to hold up my drivers seat in an 02 intrepid I bought for $250. also no heater in that car( that was my supposed winter beater) so just used a hair dryer connected to 12 volts to defrost and get some heat.

good times in that car. sold it for $300 5 months later lol

[revelations]

Used a couple of cut up coke cans and metal wire to fix a hole in the exhaust pipe of a car I had as a student. Worked quite well.

[Sugarphreak]

...

[mr2mike]

Thread is giving me a list of people not to buy from. But those fixes are quite easy to spot.

Friend in high school wanted me to install a used stereo for him. I show up, he's got ZERO tools. I propose to go buy some quick connects. He said, too much time to go do that. Just twist the wires together and we'll tape them.

Worked for a lot longer than I thought it would.

[03ozwhip]

Thread is giving me a list of people not to buy from. But those fixes are quite easy to spot.

Friend in high school wanted me to install a used stereo for him. I show up, he's got ZERO tools. I propose to go buy some quick connects. He said, too much time to go do that. Just twist the wires together and we'll tape them.

Worked for a lot longer than I thought it would.
that's how I thought it was supposed to be connected for the longest time lol

[spike98]

Thread is giving me a list of people not to buy from. But those fixes are quite easy to spot.

Friend in high school wanted me to install a used stereo for him. I show up, he's got ZERO tools. I propose to go buy some quick connects. He said, too much time to go do that. Just twist the wires together and we'll tape them.

Worked for a lot longer than I thought it would.

Is this not the SOP at Visions?

[JustinL]

We used a rubber chair leg as a cap for a coolant line in our chump car... those things are not rated for that much heat! It started peeing at about hour 3. The wine cork we used to plug the idle stabilizer hole in the intake boot works like a charm though.

https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-Kh-45O8e3vE/V4-xXtx_4jI/AAAAAAAAEI4/LN9clyL-jZgbeCRF-bpn0mk7xYhSPXRgQCCo/s576/IMG_20160719_190447.jpg

[civic_stylez]

Patched a 5 inch crack in my radiator with JB weld out in the bush. Couldnt believe how well the stuff worked. Still confident that it would have kept on going forever if i hadnt switched it out.

[90_Shelby]

I had an old truck that broke down many miles from my house. Diagnosed it on the side of the road to be a clogged fuel line. To get home I walked to a gas station and bought a jerry can and fuel. My rad overflow was empty so I pulled the hose off of the nipple beside the rad cap and plumbed it to the inlet side of the mechanical fuel pump. I had to refill the overflow with fuel 4-5 times to get home but it worked! The only tool I used was some loose change in my pocket for the hose clamp.

[ExtraSlow]

On one of my beater trucks the parking brake cable was stretched so bad it didn't engage at all. Cut it shorter and use aircraft cable to make a shorter one. Brakes held good after that, although I'm not 100% sure all the connectors and fasteners I used would hold as much tension as oem. Used it carefully from then on.

[SKR]

I had an 82 Trans Am and the wipers were on all the time. So I cut two pieces of wire, stuck them into the fuse box and ran them to a household light switch that I zip tied to the dash.

[BerserkerCatSplat]

I had an old truck that broke down many miles from my house. Diagnosed it on the side of the road to be a clogged fuel line. To get home I walked to a gas station and bought a jerry can and fuel. My rad overflow was empty so I pulled the hose off of the nipple beside the rad cap and plumbed it to the inlet side of the mechanical fuel pump. I had to refill the overflow with fuel 4-5 times to get home but it worked! The only tool I used was some loose change in my pocket for the hose clamp.

Haha, that's legit! Very resourceful.


I'm not usually one for hack fixes, but I definitely broke the end of the Jeep's trans kickdown cable where it attaches to the throttle body. Had to get to work in the morning, so I JB welded the end together and stuck my worklight under the hood overnight to make sure it was cured. I intended to grab a replacement cable from the junkyard, but I forgot and ~6 years later it's still holding together just fine.

[Offroad]

Snapped accelerator cable in my Suburban years ago in front of the Palliser Hotel......jumped out grabbed some staple wire I always carried in my tool box I got from work......hooked it to the throttle body linkage ....fished it thru a hole in the fire wall and hand throttled it home....even had some suits making impressive comments how fast and smart the fix was :)

[Masked Bandit]

Shit I thought I was doing good with black duct tape and flexi-glue. You guys are masters!

[Seth1968]

anytime i pick up a pair of vice grips, you know its going to be a bad time.

:werd:

Epic thread!

[botox]

Couldn't get power to my Stereo so I hooked it up to my dash lights which only come on when I turn my parking lights on. Worked great until we went to a drive in movie theater and guys in some other vehicles didn't like my lights being on so we threw some jackets over them. Good times.

[revelations]

Thread is giving me a list of people not to buy from. But those fixes are quite easy to spot..

Im guessing a lot of these were done on vehicles costing 1000$ or less.

[Chantastic]

I shoved a cloth into the hole in the floor of my 240 so that the cold air wouldn't keep coming into the cabin, also so that it would stop whistling at high speed. You could see the cloth from sticking out from the outside. On the same car, all the lights (interior and exterior) randomly died on me at night once and the only thing that would work were high beams. $1000 of electrical work later everything is fine and dandy and then the dash lights went out. Rather than spend more money fixing it, I bought one of those LED head straps and strapped it to the steering column for night time driving. I'm pretty sure it illuminated my whole face along with the dash!

edit: the crazy part is that after writing all that, it really makes me miss the car

[hurrdurr]

97 Jeep Cherokee, headlight switch didn't work so I was unable to switch my headlights on and I was supposed to be leaving for a road trip that night.

Buddy on the forum ghetto rigged a switch from the fuse box with wire from an extension cord that he sliced into. Grateful

[Kloubek]

- Had an old FC where the front fender was pushed in. Got in behind and forced in a plastic jar which kept it permanently pushed out into place. I also hooked up a fuel cut-off system inside the cabin because the rotary liked to flood. Flick the switch, turn it over a few times, flick it back on and start er up. Was also a good security device.
- The oil gauge wasn't working in my 944, so I threw in a resistor which kept it permanently in a certain position so it at least LOOKED like I had oil.
- Wanted turn signal covers for my '83 Supra back in the day, so I cut out rectangular pieces of plexi and used window tint. I also made ground effects for the car out of smooth-sided conveyor belt to make the car look slammed. Never got damaged by rubbing on speedbumps, etc, and got lots of compliments. Replaced rotted fiberglass moulding with a painted piece of drywall edging. Used PVC routed to the front air dam directly to the airbox and cut the words "ram air" out of electrical tape and put it on the side fender. It all sounds super ghetto, but looked a whole lotta alright. (Minus that last part maybe)

[craigcd]

- Wanted turn signal covers for my '83 Supra back in the day, so I cut out rectangular pieces of plexi and used window tint. I also made ground effects for the car out of smooth-sided conveyor belt to make the car look slammed. Never got damaged by rubbing on speedbumps, etc, and got lots of compliments. Replaced rotted fiberglass moulding with a painted piece of drywall edging. Used PVC routed to the front air dam directly to the airbox and cut the words "ram air" out of electrical tape and put it on the side fender. It all sounds super ghetto, but looked a whole lotta alright. (Minus that last part maybe)

Think this is worthy of pics hahaha

[mr2mike]

- Wanted turn signal covers for my '83 Supra back in the day, so I cut out rectangular pieces of plexi and used window tint.
Haha, I wanted to do colored turn signals waaay back. Only could find red or orange bulbs. Autozeal had these blue bulb condoms which leaked white light so I took to the drawing board and came up with stained glass window paint. Got some and after a couple coats, bulbs were dark enough to work how I wanted. Circa 1999.

Also did the PVC ram air setup. Routed down from the fog light area and up. Looked legit minus the joints.

[Sonic]

I feel I should update this thread, my hackjob fell apart, the hockey sock tape couldn't withstand the high heat and basically melted away. Headed to CT to get a new O-ring :)

[Twin_Cam_Turbo]

Swapping door speakers and tweeters into my buddies $700 wagon today. We mounted the tweeters with liberal amounts of duct tape.

[mr2mike]

That'll rattle like crazy and not sound good. Get at least some screws in there.

[Pacman]

http://image.ibb.co/jtnQ0Q/01c57b962dc585cd04eaa2ac6c238fc86df4eee227.jpg

http://image.ibb.co/fJH3n5/0170d1a6fd1d7f3e22bee7be6ea04f859fbc976dae.jpg

Is that an F40 on the lift?

[infamous]

Is that an F40 on the lift?

hnnngggg yes it is.....I want one so bad....but I couldn't afford one when they were cheaper than they are now, and with how retarded the prices are going I don't think I will ever own one.....

[ianmcc]

Totally butch but got the job done.
https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4406/36317057340_9b9912f772_b.jpg (https://flic.kr/p/XkdpT3)

[klumsy_tumbler]

Is that an F40 on the lift?


hnnngggg yes it is.....I want one so bad....but I couldn't afford one when they were cheaper than they are now, and with how retarded the prices are going I don't think I will ever own one.....

It doesn't look like an F40 to me... :dunno:

Edit: Nvm, I was looking at the bottom one (DOH). Carry on.

[Kloubek]

That's at Coachworks right? Was just there.

Here's the only remaining pic I have of my Supra I spoke of. Unfortunately, only shows the sides which were not nearly as impressive as the front. It does, however, show off the very slick bands of electrical tape covering the taillights. Ug.

79785

[D'z Nutz]

Stupid heat shield on my exhaust started coming loose and the rattling was driving me bonkers over the last month. $4.60 worth of hose clamps fixed that right up.

[NissanFanBoy]

Stupid heat shield on my exhaust started coming loose and the rattling was driving me bonkers over the last month. $4.60 worth of hose clamps fixed that right up.

I had that happen on an 06 Pathfinder, I just put a metal cutter on my angle grinder and sawed it off lol...just didn't park it on tall grass and the carpet never set on fire or anything :rofl: