• Hi Guest!
    You can help ensure that British Car Forum (BCF) continues to provide a great place to engage in the British car hobby! If you find BCF a beneficial community, please consider supporting our efforts with a subscription.

    There are some perks with a member upgrade!
    **Upgrade Now**
    (PS: Subscribers don't see this gawd-aweful banner
Tips
Tips

DPO Legacy

kyreb1862

Jedi Knight
Offline
As I have been slowly going through "Molly" and evaluating all her systems I have uncovered a fair amount of little DPO fixes. (1)Cut off nail used for fuse (2)Circlip that holds in clutch cylinder pushrod missing. (3)License plate light glued to mount with RTV silicone. (4)Jumper run from flasher hot wire to turn signals for power. (5)Silicone sealer used to cover twisted wire connections to the radio. (6)Rtv silicone used to try to patch a torn place in the carb diaphram. (7)Apparently "Molly" had set till the rear brakes were stuck because the e'brake adjustment and the brake shoe adjustment had been backed completely off.

I'm sure the list will expand as I dig deeper. From what I have seen so far I would think that I am quite lucky compared to some of the stories that I have read on the forum.

Let's hear some of your DPO stories! /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/driving.gif
 
Apparently RTV comes in right behind duct tape for LBC repairs. Of course other favorite LBC repair materials are old road signs, lamp cord wire and the ever popular combo of Bondo and newspaper. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/nonono.gif
 
About 1992 or so I saw a Big Healey with floorboards made from old aluminum storm doors. Also had a Chevy 327 installed. Scary. That car went to live in Decatur, IL...I don't know if it still exists or not...
 
/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/lol.gif There was a good DPO thread about a month ago over in the Triumph forum...
 
My car had home theater speakers velcroed to the parcel tray carpet, and of course there is the tube shock conversion.
 
In most cases I'm my own DPO. Once used a six pack of Old Milwaulkee cans as the backing for a rear fender patch... we later wondered why we hadn't bought a better beer.

...and here I thought the old road signs were for mixing the bondo on. sheesh.
 
"and here I thought the old road signs were for mixing the bondo on. sheesh."

No no, you must remember road signs are always used for floor boards. Beer and soda cans and window screens are for fender repairs. If these cars are to be repaired correctly one must remember where to use what material. Plus you must always remember to keep a good supply of coat hanger wire in case you need to put on exhaust components. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/thumbsup.gif
 
Yup-yup... coat-hangers: welded a former GF's 128 Fiat wagon exhaust up with 'em. 1" pipe didn't deserve REAL rod.

'sides: she dumped me shortly after that. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/devilgrin.gif

EDIT: Oooh! Just remembered! Brother's B-GT had an Ohio Rt 46 roadsign floorboard! Pop-riveted too! And old license plates work well as mud backers. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif
 
/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/iagree.gif Discarded bottle caps work really well as lock washers for a broken transmission linkage too. Don't ask how I that, but I was her hero!

Rick
 
Man, you guys are describing classic Ferraris, Maseratis, Alfas, and Fiats. I heard that during the war years, they'd steal aluminum road signs to mold into body panels.
 
I'm not going to tell you how I made a new skid plate for the gas tank of the CJ5 out of a "low shoulder" sign I got from a friend of mine this week. but heck, it's 16th inch thick aluminum, it was almost the perfect size already and it was free...
now I'm officially a "redneck"!
If any structural component of your car is made from an old road sign, you might be a redneck.
 
Jeff Foxworthy described Red Neck as " a glorious lack of sophistication" Sir your advanced engineering on that skid plate was very sophisticated. So maybe your a red neck. This will have to be studied by the Red Neck admissions Committee. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/thumbsup.gif
 
Don't forget old joist linnings...They make great structural repair patches as well......and old silk boxers make great CV boots(lasted longer than the rest of the Jeep did).

I had a 73 Corvette convert that was owned by the KING OF DPO's....alarm system installed using ONLY a tube of RTV, Bricks pickle jar lid as a coolant resovroir cap, wall hook as a wiper stopper, household electrical connectors everwhere, Household speakers RTV'd to the carpet behind the seats...Convertible top RTV'd to the windsheild frame to prevent leaks, zip ties substituting for a rad support, when the right muffler rusted so bad that the resonator fell out the bottom he just wraped it with thin aluminium and painted it black(left the resonator out), installed a new carpet kit using duck tape to hold the side rails in place....There were many other special touches, but this is starting to make my brain hurt....I even added a few DPO moves to the equation before selling the car /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/laugh.gif
 
Once saw an old Mercury with a metal 5 gal gas can sitting in the trunk. A copper line with a little shut off valve was tapped into the side of the can. This was the gas tank. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/rolleyes.gif
 
Just got a phone call from the shop, apparently the DPO welded my parent's brake master cylinder shut. They have a '78 Midget.
 
LOL!!! Well, at least they know there's no stray brake fluid making its way in there. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/wink.gif
 
Back
Top