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

[boundstaffpress]

When I bought my chevelle, The PO hadn't wanted to invest in new exhaust hangers so he welded the exhaust to the frame. That car would tick and pop something aweful when you got out and it cooled off. Same car, the PO put on cragars, but later took them off, and had his dealer "friend" put the old wheels back on. He used metric lug nuts. The first time I changed a tire, I loosened a nut 1/4 turn, and it slid down the stud. All 20 stripped smooth in the first 1/4 to 1/2 turn. Glad I hadn't done anything crazy yet.

[revn67]

well the guy i bought my truck off of decided to use jb weld on one of the tranny lines....lets just say it only took me to 2 hrs to figure it out when there was a huge puddle of tranny fluid in my driveway......now on my 88 ford tauras winterbeater i performed some redneck bodywork by alittle spray foam insulation and bondo

[Longhorn Man]

here's the shifter piece I was talkin about...
On the photos of the cab of the truck, you can see the two wires twisted together just on the other side of the steering column, and on this side of the column, the 3 way toggle dangling...
Then a sample of the wireing mess he did

[sleepyboy]

clutch rod was a cut off broom handle; cab floor holes fixed with beer cans and pop rivets..

[69TowRig]

How about not one, not two, but three old trailer harness taps on the tailight harness, all of them "strip, twist, and tape" jobs. Some PO welded all of the bumper mounts in the back as well as all the trailer hitch hardware. The alternator wiring was all twisted and taped together, the horn was a doorbell switch screwed to the dash. The rear hatch was held closed by two bumper jacks bolted to the inside bed rail with chain links and hooks on the hatch. Stirrup steps were bolted to the pinch seams on the outer rockers and supported with bolts going through the rockers into the doorjambs. The exhaust "system" consisted of mufflers welded to the original downpipes, running outside the frame rails and dumping next to the doors so you could choke on fumes when the windows were open. The battery tray was held together with bailing wire because it rotted out so bad, and a makeshift coolant overflow tank was screwed directly to the inner fenderwell on the passenger side with a hose long enough to reach the other side of the engine compartment. The passenger side front axle joint was seized in one axis, so a PO removed the front driveshaft (and lost it) to make sure it wouldn't be an issue. The thermostatic choke was missing so an autoparts store choke cable with a bracket and bailing wire served as the choke.

I think that covers most of it.

[oldiron]

Bought this 73 crew cab for the cab only for $100. PO said it runs just fine. Drove it home so I could get the cab off and opened the hood and found this.
Notice the 2X4 with the alt. mounted to it. The 2x4 was secured to the block with a spike nailed into the front bolt holes next to the timing chain cover.
The new light weight adjusting arm for the altenator with liberal use of bailing wire.
The power steering pump also had the same custom mounting system. And the block turned out to be a 283.

[GREASEMONKEY72]

damn there are some stupid and crazy peoples out there aint they

[kombreeze]

Wow old Iron that's unbeleivagle. Can't believe that one but there are some duzies here. A picture says a Thousand words.

[Aarons72s]

Lets see here.

69 lwb trailler. Po cut ubolts off the rear axle, has coils, welded stubs in the sadles then bolted back in. Took off pinion nut and washer and lost them, ho52 axle. Yoke just sits on the pinion. I can pull it off with 1 hand. No panhard bar, I found one for it.

My green and white had junk wheels on it when I bought it. The inner diameter was to small so they used a blow torch to make them bigger. I brought my own wheels cause he wanted to keep those. Rear trailling arm was cracked under the axle saddle. Inner fenders were in the back of the truck because they rubbed the wheels due to his fancy, torched front spring, lowering job. No thermostat. Sockets used as spacers on the water pump, it was to hard to buy new bolts for the water pump. Rebuilt front suspension with center link in backwards, and you could still drive it to! Wheels way out of alignment, adn I mean really out!

On the aries I have. Fuel filter was hanging and the filter is about 5" off the ground when bolted in and about 2 when hanging. Real hard to put the bolt back in.

Dont get me started on trailer harnesses. There are 4 color coded wires how can you mess that up.

I saw a yellow 67, former employers truck, had custom hot rod fuse panel mounted under the carperright under the brake pedal. Just think about it.

AS for my own engineering. Ply wood for floor pans, hay it works. And I usually rivit and glue in rockers and frame supports to. Oh and on another aries the plastic clip that held the accelarator cable to the pedal broke, I used a moulding clip to fix it.

Just think of the jerry rigging on the new cars in 20 or 30 years.

[724x4a/cchevy]

holy cow oldiron, thats rediculus!!! I guess the worst thing ive done is duct tape instead of electrical tape on my radio wiring.
724x4a/cchevy

[texas69truck]

My PO loved bondo. The gas filler next had a license plate kinda trimed out put on the inside of the cab, held on with duct tape. Then he put about 2 inches of mud in the hole, sanded it down a lil and called it down. Same thing for the cab corners and rockers, they were both tacked on then he just smeared bondo over it. the cab corners had an inch and a half gap between them and the body.

[cameeks]

There was a guy I knew in high school that put a hydraulic system on his car (cant remember what kind of car it was now) and always scraped the gas tank on the ground when he slammed it. Insted of putting in a new tank and adding a skid plat or just repairing it the correct way he patched it up with good old bondo. I didn't miss type, make up, or get it confused with anything else he used bondo filler putty. It was allways leaking and he still didn't change how he played with it. Supprised it didn't go up in

[kombreeze]

I saw a guy yesterday doing some totally stupid.....Was at the car wash yesterday and the guy pulled up to th next stall. i was getting change from the machine to get ready to spray my frame down...The guy saw what I was doing and started using WD40 to clean underneath his truck....Ok well I used the oven cleaner technique that I got off the board and it works great actually looked better greasy....but this guy I dont know why but had a ton of wd 40 to loosen up bolts and pressure wash his 73 it was pretty dirty....who ever told him to use wd40 to clean your frame after running it was dumb because he caught S.O.B on fire.....I smelled smoke all of a sudden and looked over I could tell it was on fire underneath....he scrambled to gett the pressure washer on to stop the fire....I asked what he was doing and he said he was cleaning his exhaust because he couldn't stand the smell of burning oill....I just shook my head and left before he blew something up

[kombreeze]

Worked on the truck today, replaced the carb gasket and took off the 1 inch rise plate. Took off the carb and found gasket sealer along the sides from the plate to the intake (cover leak). I thought OK, but when I looked at the plate I realized that it was upside down and the gasket was serving as a restrictor. I didn't put the plate back on fixed the leaks, and now it's much more responsive, didn't realize it because it still ran like a bat out of hell before.......

[Riveted1]

Originally Posted by kombreeze

I saw a guy yesterday doing some totally stupid.....Was at the car wash yesterday and the guy pulled up to th next stall. i was getting change from the machine to get ready to spray my frame down...The guy saw what I was doing and started using WD40 to clean underneath his truck....Ok well I used the oven cleaner technique that I got off the board and it works great actually looked better greasy....but this guy I dont know why but had a ton of wd 40 to loosen up bolts and pressure wash his 73 it was pretty dirty....who ever told him to use wd40 to clean your frame after running it was dumb because he caught S.O.B on fire.....I smelled smoke all of a sudden and looked over I could tell it was on fire underneath....he scrambled to gett the pressure washer on to stop the fire....I asked what he was doing and he said he was cleaning his exhaust because he couldn't stand the smell of burning oill....I just shook my head and left before he blew something up

Dude I couldn't stop laughing after reading this... "Can't stand the smell of burning oil" LMAO

I haven't started pulling my '67 apart yet, but I can only imagine what the PO did to it....

[special-K]

On one of my work trucks (`71) I took the aluminum trim coil that I use to make trim on houses and made a slip-on rocker cover that I riveted on.I also made a piece for the cab corner.That and a new fender,so I could paint the truck.The rocker and corner were pretty bad when I "wrapped" them.There was rust at the floor/rocker seam,so not real stiff.It held up for about a year before there was a little buckle and the bend at the edge started to split.I just wanted to get paint on it after replacing a crunched fender.It was my only work truck.I drove it a few years like that.

[clemson71guy]

well mines not neraly as bad as some of these on here but the PO of my truck used lamp wiring and eletric tape wirig up everything in the cab, he wraped duct tape around the vents to hold them up, put a plastic bag and alot of bondo in the tail gate post to hold the straps on, and insted of having a insulator or dynamat in it he put cardboard in it. im shure there is more I just cant rember them.

[Bishops Trucks]

Hey Man, I take a slight offence to the title.
Re: Paysa/Redneck/Jerry Rigged WTF were they thinking MOD?
I'm a redneck by birth an upbringin' but I believe in doin' thins tha right way.

[67_C-30]

I bought a '70 GMC a few years ago for parts, but it was a running truck. I glanced it over and when the PO said he'd take $250 and I could drive it home, I didn't hesitate. On the way home I noticed that it had a wicked vibration, but it made it. After I got back and checked it out, it had 3 transmission bolts broke off on the passenger side of the engine. He had 2 C clamps clamping the bellhousing to the block, and had little chains tack welded to the clamps and the frame of the truck I guess so when they vibrated loose, he wouldn't lose the C clamps. It also had 2 coils, one in the original holder that was obviously bad, and the good one just laying behind the carb. I drilled out the bolts and straigtened out the engine when I got it out, but I couldn't believe he had it held together with C clamps.

[67mater]

Where do I start

Every electrical connection that was redone was simply twisted, greased, and taped. This includes the replacement steering wheel harness that was spliced in. Also had the internally regulated alternator running through the external regulator, and spot lamps on the roof bolted through the roof and sinched down so the upper roof dented down against the inner roof. AWesome!!!

The seat belts (6 in all) were either laying behind the seat or just stuffed through. Only one of one side bolted down, and even that was at the cab corner where the floor was stuffed with rags and caulk. On that note, not really a bad fix but I guess no fix at all the rockers are gone and most of the floor has been laid over with cookie sheets. There's a bout a 2" gap between the door and the "floor" so I have mud sprayed up the inside of the door and inside the window.

[Ackattack]

The PO of my truck siliconed the trim on. I'm sure there was more that I've fixed, but it's been too long.

Some things I've done when I was in a bind...but fixed ASAP.

I had to replace the leaf springs in my GMC cause they broke at the center pin. I got new u-bolts....but they were too long. So I put some wood spacers in there and tightened them down real good. I was in college and had to drive my truck. I got new ubolts the next day and fixed it.

Then, just recently I was wheeling in my jeep and the panhard bar bracket broke off the rear axle (jeep grand cherokee) causing it to slide side to side. Well I was in a ORV park and no tow truck would ever be able to get to me...would get stuck in 4 feet. So in order to get my rig out, I used some rachet straps to limit the amount of travel side to side. I made it off the trail. I then tightened them down and drove into town and had the bracket welded back on.

[berencam]

the p.o. of my 69 took yarn and rubber bands to hold the spark wires off the manifolds, he used a different piece of yarn for each wire and in the middle of the yarn was anywhere from 1-4 rubber bands. why where there rubber bands in between the yarn? well he tied it off to the hood supports that are in the middle of the underside of the hood. so you could open the hood without breaking the yarn then when you closed it the rubber bands took up the slack


then i get to work on the linkage and find that they had the entire adjusting sleeve missing and a piece of random metal welded in place.

sometime before i took the truck home they took heavy duty metal tape and taped the muffler closed because it had wide open at some point, so as im driving home i see all these pieces of shiny metal flying out the back of the truck, pull it over to find the muffler blown open and gobs of tape on it lol.




but i'm not free from jerry rigging myself. my windshield wiper motor rusted out completely so before i could get it fixed i just took 2 red rags, wrapped it around a beer can, and shoved it in the hole haha.

[Old Chevy Mech]

The Truck I just bought I found online. Beautiful non-salt truck. Body in great shape, wood bed needs replacing, and the rear wiring harness was beat up pretty bad. Everything else was WTF were they thinking?? Rear brakes...(HO-52) rear hub seals must be unknown where it came from (somewhere in Montana). Both were leaking, driver side had 1/16 lining left, drum was gruved like loggers ruts, but it "worked". Passenger side same except the wheel cylinder was disconnected & plugged. Both sides had the Parking brake stuff all removed.

Rear drive shaft...this was neat...I bought the truck from the PO in Minesota, gave it about 30 minutes of a pretrip inspection, checking for the obvious & not so obvious, took it easy for the first 100 miles feeling her out. She actually stopped really good!
No strange mechanical vibrations, or noises so I kicked it up a notch until I hit 65 for the trip back to CT. About 1500 miles. So after a few stops for a clogged filter & broken alternator bolts, I stopped in Indiana for some bolts (took the ones out of the exhaust manifold to make due) for the alternator. Decided to buy a grease gun at Tractor supply and grease the U-Joints and what do I see? No U-Bolt nuts on the U-Joint! It was tight, had not moved but I could see a little gap. Went inside Tractor Supply bought some fine thread nuts & a file to clean up the U-Bolt threads. Well in order to get the nuts threaded I had to file the thread off a bit and work the nuts down past before they would bite the good threads. That was good, then a serious carberator vacuum leak developed and the truck would not Idle at all! So aside from that pain the old girl made it the whole way home under her own neglected & abused power.

Got her home, and front brakes were down to the rivits, 6 bad wheel bearings, heater control shot, hazzard switch shot, 4 bad ball joints, 1/2 drag link bad, steer box shot, door locks stuck, seat belts cut, fuel hose swollen like a pickle, and other assorted neglected items. But I DO LOVE THIS TRUCK! LOL

[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.