Paysa/Redneck/Jerry Rigged WTF were they thinking MOD?

[kombreeze]

Ok I know in the past or most recently we've seen or com across some of the most outrageous modifications ever done. Some till this day may even boggle the mind and I was wondering what your experiences were? Here are 2 of mine that I'd like to share.
First one was on my 63 chevy truck and it came with an aftermarket steering wheel. I had been driving the truck already for about 3 months when (god was on my side) all of a sudden when pulling into my drive way my steering seem to have snapped. Pretty much all steering was gone so I had to slam on the brakes and avoid hitting the mail box at the end of the driveway. Honestly I thought I had broken the steering box or something. My first instinct was to check underneath the truck but it was the steering wheel. I pulled off the horn button and turns out the previous owner just tighten the nut as hard as he could and didn't use and adapter that's required. I was furious and who knows how many times I had taken my wife out to local car shows, work, afternoon sunday etc. I tell you god was on my side for letting it happen at home at 10 miles an hour. They guy I bought it from was a mechanic go figure.

The next one was recent and I thought it was funny to see someone modify a seat frame with 2 by 4's. They screwed the two by fours to the cab and used wood screws to bolt the seat to the 2 by fours. The seat bolts never even go through the cab. One good fender bender and my big ass would have flown out with the seat. Did I mention that the seat belts were also screwed into the 2 by 4's. The previous owner needed to lift the seat because he was to short to see over the steering wheel so that was his remedy.

[texascowboy593]

2x4's? Thats scary! Glad you wern't running 70 down the highway when the steering crapped out on you!

The one fix a PO had done that hacked me off was on a 67 GMC. The door and window handles were installed with Industrial Strength Epoxy rather than the little clips used to attach them. When it was time to remove the panels, I couldn't get the handles off! I ended up using tin snips to cut around on the panels. The handles are still on the truck to this day (sold it to a friend...I'll let him figure it out!)

[bobthecop]

Years ago I saw a 64 chevy impala with a V8 the headers were mounted on top of the engine, through the hood and blew on to the windshield. This car was going down the road.

[jimmydean]

You should see my bag install

For the most part, my truck has been solid with nearly zero things done (including routine maintenance). But I have seen some serious head scratchers in my time.

[Shane]

I purchased a parts truck a few years back from a guy who had aspirations of being the next Don Garlits or John Force ... on a budget that is.

1.) He had taken the rear axle brake assembly completely OFF the truck and taken the brake lines off back to the brass junction fitting on the rear axle. To block the ports on the junction fitting, he had screwed some bolts into the holes. To make them "leak proof" he had put clear silicone all over the bolts.

2.) He had made his own steering column & support from a length of black iron water pipe & piece of galvanized fence pipe. Support might be the wrong word. He had welded the pipe to the firewall and then ran the piece of black iron water pipe thru the fence tube ... NO support. Welded the rag joint to one end and the other end straight on to the bottom of the column. It was held to the dash with a piece of metal like HVAC guys use to hang ductwork.

3.) He had cut the dash out and was using a piece of vinyl siding/fencing for a dash ... supported with another piece of galvanized fence pipe.

I bought the truck for the bed, front clip and doors ... nothing else was worth keeping.

[BigSky71]

Ok, I will admit to one of these modifications. I had a 2wd 3/4 '66 Ford pickup in high school that had some rust issues. The left front cab mount was basically disappearing so to lift the cab up I had a friend help me jack up on the cab up and I slipped an approx. 2' long 2x4 in between the frame and cab, waahlaah, fixed cab support and the door closed correctly again. I used the truck to get stuck on the way to keggars and to haul the occasional load of firewood.

Sold it after a few years of abuse, last Ford I owned.

[65-72 chevytoys]

PO used wire ties to keep the plug wires from burning on the manifold and to attach the throttle cable to the carb linkage and a piece of aluminum foil in the fuse block. Those arefixed now along with the angle iron for a trans mount, but the original manual trans cross member is still in the truck and hacked with a torch for clearance for the shift rod linakge. Nothing is attached to that crossmember so I left it in place.

[Longhorn Man]

The PO of my last truck (the Dope Smokin old man... many of you remember his crazy antics) had wanted a custom (by custom, i mean fugly) headliner in there, so he made the fugly headliner, and drove the screws through the top of the cab with his drill.... yes, THROUGH the top of the cab.
He admited to me to doing a brake job while intoxicated, couldn't figure out the self adjusters... so he left them out.
Screwdriver that was on top of the dash was what you used to start it with, He installed a push button in the radio knob hole for the starter when he first got the truck, but never got around to hooking it up.... in the 5 years he drove it.
When the aftermarket AMP guage died, (which cut off the power to the whole truck) he just twisted the 2 wires together and stuffed them under the carpet. (no, i didn't forget to mention tape... there WAS NONE!!!)
Dimmer switch went out, so he hung a 3 position toggle under the dash for the head lights. When I say hung... I ment, the switch was dangling from the wires.
When he installed the engine, the cross member was in the TH400 position, and he didn't feel like moving it, so he got a piece of flat stock, 1/8 inch or so thick, and bolted it to the cross member, and then bolted the TH350 to it.... 6 or so inches forward.
When he did that, the engine was sitting at an angle.. instead of redrilling the holes on his flat stock, he just went and modified the shifter bracket... by extending it almost 1 1/2 inches... so it would reach the tranny.

I'm sure there is plenty more... but it's been a few years since i had to deal with the Dope Smokin Old man's crazy fixes.


Like the 22 guage speaker wire to the HEI coil.
yeah... almost forgot that one.

[68K20 x Drill]

Originally Posted by Longhorn Man

The PO of my last truck (the Dope Smokin old man... many of you remember his crazy antics) had wanted a custom (by custom, i mean fugly) headliner in there, so he made the fugly headliner, and drove the screws through the top of the cab with his drill.... yes, THROUGH the top of the cab.

I just talked with a guy who had Toyota do that to his new car installing an overhead TV screen.

Me, I went to back up the company F@rd work truck, and the tire hit the fender. When I looked underneath , the front to back rod was missing its bushing. i jammed the wheel forward against a curb, and had another guy help me tie some red n black rope very tight in the gap where the bushing had lived. It worked fine all day. I probably could have left it like that, but I put a new part in the next day.

Coming up the Grapevine out of LA there was a lot of paving and smoke. I was criusing happily in my friends TPI swapped '66 El Camino, towing home his new Model T and some spares. I was marveling at the intensity of smoke just before the tranny started to slip, and I coasted into the last middle of nowhere gas station going up the grade. 10:30PM, not many tools, and no parts for miles. If it weren't for the construction smoke, I would have noticed long before that the crank pulley had cut a hole in the trans cooler line. I felt like I was done, and sat at Denny for awhile. I kept thinking there was an entire car on the trailer, I had to be able to do something. after a good search through the pile, there isn't much tube on a T, the brakes are all pushrods and leather. Oil pickup tube on the spare engine, out comes the hacksaw! I found a hose with 1 1/2" of extra on the car somewhereto use as a coupler. No spare hose clamps anywhere. Baling wire twisted tight did the trick. Next I bought all the ATF at the gas station for $6 a quart or so, and it was just enough. The bit of model T Ford probably still rides with that car.

[skchevota]

lets see so much hacking so few words..uuummmm Oh, I have an old moterhome its like a 1975 with a 440 and only 17k on it, runs great, however it had a few leaks in the roof over the years that had supposidly been fixed. on the 1200mi trip to get the beast home it started to rain, and also on the inside... we drove for 3days with pots on the floor catching water. Come to find out the PO had just kept gooping sealer over the old sealer and it was stickin up like 2" off thr roof, cracked in the center and damming up water up agenst the roof vent so it just poured in. I would like to say I fixed it right but I cant. Yes I did scape off all the sealant and re seal it right, but the roof a/c was leaning probebly due to rot, so I havent got to pulling the inner roof down yet so I just liffted it from the out side and slid a piece of base board under the corner so it would sit level and the bath door would open on the inside with out hitting it...Its been 3 years now and every season I say I got to fix that when camping season is over. Oh well no leaks .. and I 86ed the green shagg . BTW its called the eddy wagon because it looks like cousin eddys moterhome from Chrismas Vacation!!!

[cst70rocket]

Went to Miami,OK one day to test drive a '71 short wide Cheyenne, got there, truck looked good from the road. Closer look, it had a visor on the front and was bondoed to the body, to cover up the huge rust issue. Truck was nearly a convertible! Well, I drove it, and the first time I hit the brakes, it went to the floor, and I said hey man this thing ain't got any brakes. The guy said crap, I guess that didn't work. I limped it back to his house, and looked under it. He told me he had blown the drivers front brake hose off the day before, and to fix it, he wrapped saran wrap about 20 times around the hose, and put a mini-clamp on both ends of it. He was asking $4200 for this rolling deathtrap! Needless to say, it stayed in Miami,Ok.

[bobthecop]

After reading these it's no wonder buying trucks on-line can be so dangerous, buyer beware and always plan on fixing a lot of stuff. I had a buddy who put a 396 9n a 62 bonneville and when the motormounts would not fit he just set the motor in and welded it in place, that motor will never come out. But then I am afraid to look at my son's 69, he loves duct tape and bailing wire.

[dave2953]

When I bought my 68 it had a battery drain that the PO apparently didn't feel like tracing, so he just put giant alligator clips on the ends of the battery cables. It also had different cylinder heads on it. One was a 307 head and the other a 283 power pack. Also, when one of the "10" badges wouldn't stay on the fender, he ran sheet metal screws through the "1" and the "0" to keep it in place. My dad always told me growing up that if you do something half-a$$ed, you'll have to do it twice.

[kombreeze]

You guys have got some good ones or should I say bad ones. WOW Longhorn, CSTrocket and dave2953 had me be blowin snot bubbles. Don't drink while reading these messages. How many stories are there out there. Fellas keepin them coming and thanks for the replys.

[bryanw1968]

The PO of my '68 did, or didn't do something that still to this day I tell stories about. When I went to pick it up he said, "watch the temp, I think there might be a problem"......"might". Uh, o.k.

So I gave the guy his money and cautiously drove away. After about 10 minutes of driving I could smell it was getting hot. Very hot. It stalled attemping to pull into a gas station. I noticed that there were 2 plastic jugs with water in them in the bed. I poured those in the radiator once it started to cool down and then continued to fill the radiator as it was empty. I finally got home and discovered a small hole in the back of the waterpump where water had apparently been leaking for YEARS. There was a rust streak all the way down the front of the engine. Also, I notice that the vavle covers looked gold. I figured, wow, gold edelbrock covers. NO, they had turned gold from overheating everyday for years.

Anyway, I eneded up calling the PO and asking him about it. Aparently he would fill up the jugs, drive to work overheating on the way. By the time it was time to go home he'd fill the radiator back up. Good grief, how much is a water pump at autozone anyway, $19????????????

[67ChevyRedneck]

I'm guilty of performing some "Paysa/Redneck/Jerry Rigged WTF were they thinking" mods, and nope, I ain't gonna list them

One thing that drives me nuts about my 67 is the previous owner hacked the shiznit out of the wiring harness. Especially the taillight wiring

[ghetto_superman]

My Pops and I picked up a '69 long fleet for parts back in the day, and We're still not sure what the PO was trying to accomplish here, but he had railroad spikes to somehow hold the rear coil springs to the t-arm. Looking back, I think the only way that MIGHT have worked was to jam the sharp end under edge of the spring retainer and hammer the spike in.. But if it had the retainers, then there would be no point in doing this 'mod'. In any case, when we parted the truck out, you could jack the frame up by the bumper and the axle/t-arms stayed on the ground while the frame and springs all came completely apart...

[magsnubby]

The PO of my '71 Cheyenne decided it needed some overhead speakers. He picked up a couple of cheap swap meet speakers and mounted them to the headliner. Along with four way to long sheet metal screws. So along with a bent fender i had to weld up four holes in the top of the truck.

My nephew picked up a '58 Chevy stepside cheap. Good running stright six and three on the tree. It never stopped for crap. A few months later he put a small block in it then brought it to my house so we could put a Camero rearend under it. When we pulled the rear tire off the brake drum fell off. We found out why it had lousy brakes. The PO had pulled the rear brakes (on both sides) and plugged the wheel cylinders.

[jeffspower]

When I bought the '68 back in '83, the dealer let me have it "cheap" because it would throw you in the ditch by just touching the brakes. Someone had done a front brake job and put the long shoes on one side & the short shoes on the other. The rear end kinda looked like one in an old '50s Chevy passenger car, but after checking it out- it was an old dropout Mopar with a sure-grip. Hmmm... how could it have 6 bolt wheels? Mopar never had 6 bolt wheels- custom axles? Yeah, custom all right. They cut the wheel flanges off & welded the Chevy flanges to the Mopar axle shafts! The driveshaft was Chevy front part with Mopar rear part- spliced in the middle with heavy wall pipe! Crazy thing was nothing vibrated & the wheels ran true.

The next one here isn't really a crazy fix- but just plain unbelievable. But true. I had a guy pull up to my shop years ago in a mid- 80's Ford Country Squire wagon. He said it needed a new outer tie rod end. I asked, have you already checked it out, or how did you find out it was bad? He replied- "oh, some city workers across town flagged me over & told me it was dragging on the ground, so I drove it over here so you could fix it". I told him that was impossible, unless you chained it on or something. Nope, it WAS dragging on the ground! I got in and made a 90` turn into my shop with it no problem. That wheel just tracked right along like a shopping cart caster

[kombreeze]

I didn't consider complete neglect of ones vehicles. I've got some duzy's there. I use to be a shop manager for PepBoys Hmm.....How a customer coming in for new shocks and the mechanic removing the old ones go to lunch, come back, take the car out the bay and forget to install the new ones....We got sued for the driver ended up in a canal after he lost control.

I've lost count on how many people broght their cars in for brake inspections and turn down service. State law prohibits and makes the shop liable for allowing such a car to get back on the road. 20 plus times the highway patrol had to come out to insure the customer wouldn't operate their vehicles on the road in such conditions. Metal to Metal grinded down the whole pad. One guy was missing a pad in one of his calipers....WTF how that happen?

Most popular my 63 also had a 454 big block with literly no Passanger side motor mount. The idiot mechanic I bought it from welded to the frame....Ya welded it. Exhaust laid over the frame.

I did this thogh by accident....
Mistaken antiseze for Locktight on a starter bolts. I was still in my teens durring that time I only thought with the lil head.

[GREASEMONKEY72]

well those are all some entertaining stories and ive had my share and one that i can think of at the moment is one night while me and a buddy were out cruzing me in my truck and my friend in his 99 cougar and while i was right in the middle of racing a civic another friend of mine calls me so i finish the race and answer the phone and he tells me he needs me to come over to his house and tune his carb for him on his 73 mustang 351clevand and his reason for that is when he steps on it it wont downshift and him and his brother think its not getting enough fuel well we went to his house and i look under the hood to find that the tranny linkage is laying on the intake and i tell him what it is and we proceede to try and fix it, the nut or something had fallin off and we couldnt find it well, he doesnt have anything to really fix it with not even bailing wire so what did i do to fix it???......i tied it in place with some electrical wire and we went on our way and it shifted and ran like its suposed to and as far as i know its still on the car holding it in place right this very second...dumb kids eh????...hahahaha...atlest im honest

[airdale94]

Originally Posted by kombreeze

One guy was missing a pad in one of his calipers....WTF how that happen?

Years ago I worked at Montgomery Wards and a cust. brought his car in for a front brake job. It was a foreign job with solid rotors. I pulled his wheels and had a look. Where is the rotor? It must be there somewhere the wheel was bolted to something. He had ate his whole surface away then put a block of wood in between the caliper to keep the piston from popping out.

[jott_06]

when i bought my 86 camaro the p.o had just recently replaced the 5 speed with a turbo 350 but the turbo 350 doesnt have a place to bolt the torque arm so he left it unhooked and the first time he tried to drive it the rear end twisted to much and broke a universal joint. So when i went to get it my stepdad and i put a u-joint in it and chained the torque arm to the tranny crossmember to keep the rear end from rotating up and breaking another u-joint. I ended up leaving the chain on there for a whole summer before i bought the B&M conversion kit to run the turbo 350 in a 3rd generation camaro.

[gouldie]

for some reason jerry rigging lasts, going against every thing you believe. i do it when i need to and fix it as soon as i can. one of my most recent ones is my idle air control valve stopped working on my 01 mustang. to fix it i used a zip tie and a peice of a mcdonalds napkin to hold the throttle open at about 800 rpm. i then drove for 4 hours to my aunts because they didnt have the part i needed in stock. i fixed it the next day.

as for on my truck this isn't something real bad but it make me say wtf? i was taking out the speakers in the doors and as i take it out a coil of speaker wire follows. it was just sitting in the door panel not really doing anything.

[TP from Cntl PA]

I have acouple, but they were done on a quality POS Datsun King Cab pickup

Light switch didn't work..............Had a house 110V switch from a kitchen remodel in the tool box.........A few wires/butt connectors later, a drywall screw, and the switch we had lights+ a nice switch drywall screwed to the dash

Frame was totally shot.........It was the neighbor kids who ran it out the lane to our farm daily, and back home(Nothing on a public road, heck the truck would never pass inspection anyhow). One day he lost the fuel tank hangers going over a water course in the lane............Some tech-screws and roof flashing got him rolling again.

Another thing. His mother and father got a divorce, so he lives with his just his mother.........One day his lawn tractor quit and he came over to and got my brother so they could get it over to our farm shop to work on it. My brother said, since we only have to go acouple hundred yards, just hook a tow rope from the datsun to the tractor and we'll tow it over instead of loading it up on the truck................They got the heavy tow rope, got a clevis and put it on the truck bumper, put the other end on the tow hook on front of the tractor............He pulled ahead really slow to tighten it up, and when it got tight he went to take off..........Pulled the bumper in two We pulled the tractor home with our ATV, then he backed the truck against a tree to straighten the bumper, and I welded it back up.

Oh man, is there some good storys associated with that old POS datsun