The term "ghetto-rig" is thrown around a lot...

[renob123]

...but this one takes the cake for me, and I didn't even to do my trademark hitting with a hammer/swearing at it:)

 

About 20 miles into my drive from Port Angeles to Portland this Sunday, this alternator bolt broke.

 

 

I think it actually broke sometime before, but hitting a bump made the alt fall out of its spot. Fortunately, the belt was still in there when I stopped. I managed to pry the broken part of the bolt out and replace it with an intake manifold bolt. Those bolts are only threaded at the end, and they're too long. Here's my fix. Don't worry, the Loctite was for something else.

 

 

I made it to the Schuck's in Sequim and managed to push through all the Depends undergarments, Geritol, and bumper stickers expressing opinions on cats (Sequim is pretty much a 20,000 person retirement community) and found a set of bolts that were the right specs. I swapped out my awesome roadside fix after taking a picture and installed a new bolt.

 

Anyone have a good roadside fix pic that can beat this? This is a personal best, but I've seen way better on the internet.

 

Jacob

Edited June 8, 2010 by renob123
Pics fixed?

[bheinen74]

your pics arent working for me.

way back, my dads old 76 audi 100ls broke a motor mount when exiting a lumber yard, where the road dips, and it went full open throttle across the road by the time he switched off the key.

park the car, and determine what had happened....scratch head, but yeah motor mount...so walk back to the lumber yard and buy some chain (think dog chain tie out stuff) and a few nuts and bolts. go back to car, use jack to jack up the motor from where it was hanging, and put a bolt thru end of chain and another bolt to the shock mount area.....drove it home 65 miles. thats just one i had to share.

 

ive got many, could go on and on. another was the time when i was about 4 years old, and a song came on the AM radio in the '58 chev. I was rapping out to it, beating my hands on the metal dash up front like i was playing the drums. the wire inside the glovebox for the light somehow was routed where i pinched it and it shorted out, causing the whole car to smoke and fuse blew.....somehow that wire is tied into the circuit, anyhow, my dad walked out into the nearby pasture, found some old bailing wire, and somehow hotwired the car with bailing wire to stay running to drive back home.

 

another time......ah shucks somebody else.

 

 

Thanks pics now work...edit.

Edited June 8, 2010 by bheinen74

[renob123]

your pics arent working for me.

way back, my dads old 76 audi 100ls broke a motor mount when exiting a lumber yard, where the road dips, and it went full open throttle across the road by the time he switched off the key.

park the car, and determine what had happened....scratch head, but yeah motor mount...so walk back to the lumber yard and buy some chain (think dog chain tie out stuff) and a few nuts and bolts. go back to car, use jack to jack up the motor from where it was hanging, and put a bolt thru end of chain and another bolt to the shock mount area.....drove it home 65 miles. thats just one i had to share.

 

ive got many, could go on and on. another was the time when i was about 4 years old, and a song came on the AM radio in the '58 chev. I was rapping out to it, beating my hands on the metal dash up front like i was playing the drums. the wire inside the glovebox for the light somehow was routed where i pinched it and it shorted out, causing the whole car to smoke and fuse blew.....somehow that wire is tied into the circuit, anyhow, my dad walked out into the nearby pasture, found some old bailing wire, and somehow hotwired the car with bailing wire to stay running to drive back home.

 

another time......ah shucks somebody else.

 

I fixed the pics. That was my first time using Picasa.

 

Too bad the motor mount fix didn't occur after the advent of digital cameras.

 

Jacob

[jboymechanic]

I was with my dad in his rusted out '78 Ford Bronco when the belt for the water pump broke. He had a bag of those plastic zip ties (the big ones) in the glove box, so we zipped about 4 of them together around the crank pulley to the water pump pulley. We drove it the last half hour home and the zip ties were still together when we popped the hood in the drive way.

 

We also had another beater '72 Pontiac Gran Ville in which the air blend door actuator went to hell in. We replaced the vacuum operated mechanism with the throttle cable and handle of an old push lawn mower, just mounted it under the dash.

 

Finally, one day when plowing heavy snow, the rear drive shaft of my grandpa's '72 power wagon (again rusted to ************) twisted in half. We cut the outside shell off an old muffler and wrapped it around the break and welded it onto the shaft. He drove it like that for the rest of the winter!