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General TR Dumbest DPO

PeterK

Yoda
Offline
What the dumbest thing you've found left for you by a DPO?

- On my TR3A, the entire car was rewired with heavier gauge wire (good) but the entire wire harness was done in red (not so good!) I've had a new harness for a while but dread chasing down each wires instead of replacing green with green, white with white ... :highly_amused:
 
D

Deleted member 8987

Guest
Guest
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You limiting that to TRiumphs?
Got a whole list on Jags.
 

NutmegCT

Great Pumpkin
Gold
Offline
At least my TR3 wiring wasn't all red! Previous owner had replaced parts (parts!) of many of the wires with different color wires.

So a red might lead to a green, which ran under the carpet and magically changed to purple about a foot from the terminal.

Fun!
 

TR3driver

Great Pumpkin - R.I.P
Offline
On my current TR3, DPO had cut all the turn signal wires at the harness, then ran new black wires from each lamp to a toggle (!) switch on the dash. Also installed a 4.10 final drive with no overdrive; I guess he was planning to go racing.

NZXeBBk.jpg


BTW, a "toner" will make short(er) work of mapping out those wires. I used to manage a network and phone system where we had probably 2000 cables running through the walls, all the same color, and the installer had not bothered to write down which wire went where! My department spent a lot of time figuring out which wire was what. Eg, https://www.amazon.com/ELEGIANT-Mul...sr=8-3&keywords=telephone+toner+and+probe+kit
 
OP
PeterK

PeterK

Yoda
Offline
I'm a former network and phone system tech so I have my own tone&amp - you're correct, they're a great tool. I watched a new employee tracing a phone line with his finger on a 66-block after watching me do it holding the probe in my hand, when that phone-line rang and he got ringer voltage through his finger. He'd never did it again.

On my current TR3, DPO had cut all the turn signal wires at the harness, then ran new black wires from each lamp to a toggle (!) switch on the dash. Also installed a 4.10 final drive with no overdrive; I guess he was planning to go racing.

NZXeBBk.jpg


BTW, a "toner" will make short(er) work of mapping out those wires. I used to manage a network and phone system where we had probably 2000 cables running through the walls, all the same color, and the installer had not bothered to write down which wire went where! My department spent a lot of time figuring out which wire was what. Eg, https://www.amazon.com/ELEGIANT-Mul...sr=8-3&keywords=telephone+toner+and+probe+kit
 

Darrell_Walker

Jedi Knight
Silver
Country flag
Offline
What the dumbest thing you've found left for you by a DPO?

- On my TR3A, the entire car was rewired with heavier gauge wire (good) but the entire wire harness was done in red (not so good!) I've had a new harness for a while but dread chasing down each wires instead of replacing green with green, white with white ... :highly_amused:

My TR4A apparently had a bit of a fire under the bonnet. The DPO patched up the burnt wiring, all with the same light blue wire.
 

TR-3rg

Jedi Hopeful
Country flag
Offline
Hi,

The first time I dropped the oil pan on my TR3a I saw (7) factory connecting rod bolts and (1) Grade 5. I replaced them with ARP bolts.

RG
 

ed_h

Jedi Hopeful
Country flag
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Just remember--most of us will be a (D)PO for someone else.
 

TR3driver

Great Pumpkin - R.I.P
Offline
Just remember--most of us will be a (D)PO for someone else.
I'm OK with that, since I'll be beyond caring!

Whoever gets my current TR3 will have lots of fun figuring out what all I've done, especially all the relays tucked into out of the way places and extra wires running around.
 

CJD

Yoda
Country flag
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Just remember--most of us will be a (D)PO for someone else.

Not me!!! If it is worth doing, it is worth doing right. If I can’t do it as good or better than original I just don’t do it.

My favorite was an F100 truck I bought for $100 because it had a “bad clutch, no brakes, and no lights”...at all. The DPO had pulled the clutch fork out of the bellhousing. Still not sure how he accomplished that while trying to adjust the clutch. Pulled the tranny and stuck the same fork back in and got the clutch back perfect. Looked unde the dash and the DPO had cut the steeering column wires and reconnected red to blue, blue to orange, orange to green...and on an on. On a whim I separated them and put blue to blue, red to red, etc...and all the lights came back perfect. Maybe the DPO was color blind?? Finally, the DPO put power steering fluid in the brake master cylinder. WHen I popped the cover the upper seal exploded outward. It seams brake seals double in size when exposed to mineral oil! New seals in the MC and bled the system and got the brakes back.

After $5.99 in parts I drove my $100 truck for 7 years and 200k miles. DPO!
 

M_Pied_Lourd

Darth Vader
Country flag
Offline
My favourite were the wooden sills in my 59 TR3A...

And Ed, anyone would be more than blessed to get your car!

Cheers
Tush
 

charleyf

Luke Skywalker
Country flag
Online
I acquired a TR6 with a newly rebuilt engine. At first start up the engine ran for 10 minutes then quit. Upon restart it was rattling from the bottom of the engine / crankshaft area. We pulled the pan and eventually found that the engine had a mismatched rod/ rod cap. Apparently to make that cap work he put in standard rod bearings on a .10 over ground crankshaft.
 

Andrew Mace

Moderator
Staff member
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Not me!!! If it is worth doing, it is worth doing right. If I can’t do it as good or better than original I just don’t do it.
Amen to that! I won't bore anyone with details; suffice it to say I have fixed many cars over the years by "undoing" someone's previous bodge / workaround and reverting to whatever the original configuration was. Yes, sometimes it involved replacing those bodges with "new" original bits, but there were occasions when all I needed to do was pull out whatever someone had rigged up and restore original connections, etc., that were still in place!
 

charlie74

Jedi Warrior
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I have had my car long enough and have gained enough knowledge/experience that some of the bodges and work-arounds that I am fixing now are mine!
 

DavidApp

Yoda
Country flag
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A confession.

Back in the early 1970 a friend was working on a BMW Isetta (Bubble car) and had cut the steering column in half to make it easier to work inside. He had me weld the column back together. I hope it held.
Mind you the car did not start after my friends work so the world was probable safe from my welding.

David
 

dklawson

Yoda
Offline
My DPO story involves my brother-in-law and the family GT6 which we now own.

When my B-I-L was driving the car in high school it apparently needed carb adjustments so he tinkered with it until he got it to run. Fast forward about 15 years when my wife and I picked the car up after its long sit under a tarp. We got the engine started but it was obvious it was not right. Inspection revealed that the carb jets were not centered and to compensate my B-I-L had shimmed the vacuum chambers (where needed?) with flat washers. It had huge vacuum leaks but it sort of ran.
 

parkerg1

Member
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I bought my TR3 after the PO had passed away. He had installed a new wiring harness with all the fused wires coming off of the hot side of the fuse block. He also installed the left wire wheel hubs on the right side, and vice versa. I made it about 10 miles before losing a wheel. There were numerous other screw ups, but those were the worst.bent-frt-fender-web.jpg
 

Sarastro

Obi Wan
Silver
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Here's a pic of the wiring on my MG TD when I received it. Whoever did this should get an award for the scariest wiring "upgrade" ever created. I was especially charmed by the turn signal flasher, dangling by a piece of black tape--a significant accomplishment in the field of kludgery. There was another flasher under the dash--not sure which one, if either, worked.

I just ripped it all out and started over. The second picture shows the wiring in the finished car.
pic1.jpg pic2.jpg
 
D

Deleted member 8987

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Well, since we have an MG in here...

When I got the Jag, had AC....with enough pulleys to make it almost impossible to change a belt (almost rubbing the radiator) and you couldn't see the "generator" under the compressor. Once I yanked the compressor, found a Lucas Alternator.
Forward portion of the console (that holds heater controls and radio) were GONE to allow HUGE under dash AC head unit. Radio mounted in vinyl covered wood in package tray, which meant the cowl vent hadn't been opened in decades.

Then I found the air cleaner mounts were homemade....and the bracket across the rear head bolts to attach the hose for the clutch was moved to the middle of the engine to mount the homemade air cleaner bracket to.

Then found out the original carbs were replaced with mismatched Mercedes Pontoon carbs. HUGE jets.
Then found the breaker plate in the distributor was brazed tight in three places so vacuum advance didn't work.

Fixed all that, gutless as all get out...figured okay,. 3,000 pound car with 2.4L probably is.
Head gasket leaking externally. No amount of anything to fix it. Very low oil pressure. Clutch shook so bad is shifted the rear view mirrors.

Pulled engine and trans.....they had never surfaced the flywheel.
Checked cam positions before pulling apart (and especially since I had previously found exhaust lash was right on, inlet was zero lash).
Both cams 30 degrees of crank advanced.
Pulled the head.
Inlet valves hitting pistons (and had been for decades). To get the engine to turn over, they had back the lash on inlet vales to zero.
Two valves.
Pistons marked, pulled the sump...three inches of solid sludge.
Found a cotter pin in the screen..and the pump was broken in the rotor. Dug more bent up cotter pins out of the sludge, flipped the engine over, there was not one cotter pin in any of the castellated rod nuts.
At least one cotter pin went through the screen and wedged in the oil pump breaking it.

Jags are numbered starting from the read. Factory numbers were right, but the moron and centre punched marks for one through six starting at the front (rods and mains).
Flywheel was on in the wrong holes, which meant the mark through the bell housing when used to set up the cams was...30 crank degrees off.

Oh, and when they pulled the head for THEIR rebuild, they missed the two studs and nuts into the top front of the timing chain cover and snapped the ears off.
Heli-arced, surfaced installed on the block when they decked it.


Honed, rings, pump, milled head, decked block, been running fine with all sorts of power.

That's the short version.

Except...the coil mounts on the front of the cylinder head.
Apparently they lost the brackets.
So, they found a longer coil wire, and screwed the coil to the inner wing, directly below (and almost touching) the metal and glass fuel filter bowl.
 
Last edited by a moderator:

pdplot

Yoda
Country flag
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1. Bought a 1952 MG TD MK II in 1956. DPO had fitted an enormous Holley carburetor in place of the SUs. Had also drilled holes through the body and attached nuts and bolts to keep his door latches from slipping. I replaced the Holley with SUs but left the bolts as the TD latches were terrible.
2. My current TR6, bought 23 years ago. Car would not start. After purchase, I towed it home on a heavy rope. There were 36 things wrong with car. Alternator fried because battery installed backwards. Taillight wiring shorted due to 2nd flasher unit having been installed (original flasher still in service at the time and hooked up). Also blew fuses. Stop lights, directionals, backup lights, horns, handbrake all inoperative due to bodged wiring. Steering wheel on crooked ?(cured by installing shims in right rear trailing arm to make car track straighter). Glovebox messed up - could not open door and I had to replace with new box. No wiper blades or washer. Aluminum bar missing from grille (still missing - no place to attach it). I did all corrections myself except for tracing shorts and expert friend clued me in and helped me with shims as I was unaware that improper alignment would cause steering wheel to look crooked while tracking straight ahead.
 

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