-
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
Hey - did you know if you click on the title of a thread it will take you to the first unread post since you last visited that thread?
but were afraid to ask: 
STOP!! Never post your email address in open forums. Bots can "harvest" your email! If you must share your email use a Private Message or use the 
smilie in place of the real @
Pretty Please - add it to our Events forum(s) and add to the calendar! >> 
Most Unusual Bodge or Repair by a PO?
- Thread starter karls59tr
- Start date
Share this page
ekamm
Jedi Warrior
Offline
Just found some thing on my 3A. The idler arm and bracket on the steering rack had been modified rather than replaced. The shaft on the idler arm was remove and replaced/welded back. With a bushing on it that fit the reamed or drilled out bracket. I only noticed after trying to see if an old stanpart bracket would take out some slack and they weren't the same size.
Don Elliott
Obi Wan
Offline
BRSLimited
Jedi Trainee
Offline
TVR clutch hydraulic system filled with ATF (guess what kinds of problems that created), Triumph brake calipers held on with plastic zip ties (scary but they actually did work), Throttle linkage held together with wire twist ties (works to get you home) , rust holes filled with foam insulation and bondo'd over, convertible top that was more duct tape than top material, soda cans patching exhaust (does work to get you home in a pinch), Fence T posts wired to a big Healey frame that had rusted in half (yes they were still driving the car that way), Bugeye rear spring mounts fiberglassed over when they rusted out (again it was still being drivin that way) Name it I've probably seen it. Maybe I should start writing a book on the cob jobs I've seen. Never know it could be a best seller.
tomshobby
Yoda
Offline
I worked for a dealer that purchased auction cars for resale. That was interesting too. Like the car that had a flywheel flex-plate under the carpet and used to cover a large hole rusted through the rear seat foot-well. Apparently did not want to have the kids fall through the hole.
BRSLimited
Jedi Trainee
Offline
PeterK said:
Oh yeah, I forgot about the 57 MGA that was wired entirely in yellow and had also had a Triumph A type OD installed. Makes the car nice to drive but a pain to track down wiring problems.
Just how fast can you crawl out from under the dash to slap the snot out of your helper when you ask which wire is moving and he says "the yellow one"?
equiprx
Luke Skywalker
Offline
The PO of my 94 XJS coupe, one of only 200 built, had removed the rear seating, side panels and headliner and was installing a giant pair of sub-woofers in an enclosure. she also was in the process of painting everything in the interior flat black including the perfectly good burled walnut console top, dashboard and a lot of the original leather. Someone also added a leaper to the hood that I have been trying to repair for years. Did I mention she was a Goth. That was about five years ago and I'm still working on it. One of the POs of my minivan did some electrical bode when they added an alarm, and I think the damned thing is haunted. If the radio works the brakes loose boost and I need both feet to stop. There is some other sort of parasitic drain so I have to keep it on trickle charge or jump it every time I use it. Well the xjs was free and the minivan was a little over a grand with nearly 300K on it so I wrung it out for what it's worth. No regrets.
TR4nut
Yoda
Offline
Last TR6 I had the PO had used a piece of allthread to replace a busted frame pin for the differential. Banged a hole in the sheet metal just underneath the gas tank to tighten it. That was a pain to fix, and probably the reason why it was the last TR6 I've owned. If I do get the urge again, I will definitely be crawling under the potential purchase to check things out before I commit!
Bob Claffie
Jedi Knight
Offline
Not PO but typical. Years ago while racing at Lime Rock I sheared the key in one of the rear axles. Believe it or not, one of my crew mates had a Churchill Press with him. We pulled off the hub and replaced the sheared key with the middle one inch piece of a Craftsman regular screwdriver. Worked perfectly and is very likely still in there. (Mk3 Spitfire) bob
way to many PO stories with this tr4A, but one I'd like to share is the crank shaft bolt head was cut off with a torch, and it had a groove cut into it with a cut-off wheel so it could be removed with a flat head screw driver...??? gotta say it was easy to remove...BUT WHY DO THAT???
Darrell_Walker
Jedi Knight
Offline
My DPO was fond of light blue wire, there was a large section in the engine bay that way all light blue wire (due to, I believe, a fire under the bonnet).
I also found several t-shirts stuffed into the seats to compensate for seat diaphragms beyond their service life.
There was also a nail holding the throttle arm to the shaft, which broke off soon after I got the car. I became my own DPO when I tried to drill it out, and broke the drill bit off. I used that broken bit for the pin until I was able to extract it!
I also found several t-shirts stuffed into the seats to compensate for seat diaphragms beyond their service life.
There was also a nail holding the throttle arm to the shaft, which broke off soon after I got the car. I became my own DPO when I tried to drill it out, and broke the drill bit off. I used that broken bit for the pin until I was able to extract it!
Will_Ringrose
Senior Member
Offline
My PO did not like having to press his food on the clutch, or buckling his seat belt, or beak pressure warning lights. so needless to say there were a lot of cut bear wires and parts missing on my 73 GT6. He also thought that the brake servo was too much work. That was also just ripped off.
The worst part, he decided after breaking the bleeder screw he just drilled out the hole and forced a bolt into the hole. Needless to say that caliper was replace as soon as I could.
The worst part, he decided after breaking the bleeder screw he just drilled out the hole and forced a bolt into the hole. Needless to say that caliper was replace as soon as I could.
SkinnedKnuckles
Jedi Trainee
Offline
The magnet in the new midranges is off-set, so it doesn't stick to the footwell. Will I be a DPO if the speakers get glued on?
TR3driver
Great Pumpkin - R.I.P
Offline
My guess would be that he didn't have a socket to fit and/or the head was so badly rounded that it couldn't be turned. So cutting the head off would relieve the pressure, and the slot allowed the ruined bolt to be removed. I've done similar things on occasion.mtlman8 said:
Some day, someone is going to find the crank dog in my parts bin with the big bend in it, and wonder how that happened!
Don't see what all the fuss over wiring color is. My original harness is faded until all the wires are brown, but I had no trouble hooking it all back up. I do wish the DPO hadn't just cut off the wires he didn't want to use, though!
D
DougF
Guest
Guest
Offline
The PO replaced the rubber donut on the steering column but didn't attach the ground wire. Instead, he bolted a strip of tin using a peddle cluster bolt and wrapped it around the column. The horn worked....sometimes.
He also mounted the slave cylinder to the wrong side of the adapter plate. To make up for the lost length, he connected the slave to the clutch using a light piece sheet metal. The clutch worked....except in reverse.
Somehow the car passed state inspection, and I drove directly to a drive-thru window. In line in front of me was a fishing boat with the prop right at hood level. For some reason, he started backing up.....I tried to hit reverse, no good.....hit the horn, nothing. Fortunately, he stopped within inches of the new paint.
He also mounted the slave cylinder to the wrong side of the adapter plate. To make up for the lost length, he connected the slave to the clutch using a light piece sheet metal. The clutch worked....except in reverse.
Somehow the car passed state inspection, and I drove directly to a drive-thru window. In line in front of me was a fishing boat with the prop right at hood level. For some reason, he started backing up.....I tried to hit reverse, no good.....hit the horn, nothing. Fortunately, he stopped within inches of the new paint.
I'm the PO that put a Spitfire J-type overdrive into my Midget 1500. But that probably doesn't count here.
The worst PO hacks I've seen are on the Ford F250 I bought last spring. The PO tried to install his own electric trailer brake controller, using whatever wire he had lying around, including lamp cord pulled in half. He hooked his signal wire to the turn signal wire instead of the brake wire, then probably wondered why his trailer brakes cycled on and off when the turn signal flashed. So he "solved" that problem by clipping the one essential wire in the turn signal switch thus disabling turn signals, brake lights, AND his trailer brakes. Duh! There were many equally thoughtful repairs like that on the truck. I'm just about done repairing all the damage. I won't catalog them all here.
My Spitfire's PO put in a modern fuse box with blade fuses, but wired it all with black wire. That's about the only negligent repair on the car, with the rest of the repairs being rather thoughtful, actually, like the SU fuel pump in the trunk.
Scott
The worst PO hacks I've seen are on the Ford F250 I bought last spring. The PO tried to install his own electric trailer brake controller, using whatever wire he had lying around, including lamp cord pulled in half. He hooked his signal wire to the turn signal wire instead of the brake wire, then probably wondered why his trailer brakes cycled on and off when the turn signal flashed. So he "solved" that problem by clipping the one essential wire in the turn signal switch thus disabling turn signals, brake lights, AND his trailer brakes. Duh! There were many equally thoughtful repairs like that on the truck. I'm just about done repairing all the damage. I won't catalog them all here.
My Spitfire's PO put in a modern fuse box with blade fuses, but wired it all with black wire. That's about the only negligent repair on the car, with the rest of the repairs being rather thoughtful, actually, like the SU fuel pump in the trunk.
Scott