Best bodge

[polinsteve]

Originally Posted by Rp61973

I owned a 1966 VW Beetle around 34 years ago. The sills had been repaired with what can only be called a blend of polyester filler, chicken wire, baked bean tins and carboard from what appeared to be a Kelloggs Cornflakes pack...

What an appalling bodge! I used old oil cans, usually Duckhams, with copious amounts of thick underseal. In my defence, it was the days of a proper chassis.

[polinsteve]

Originally Posted by macafee2

Not car related.
Many years ago I worked in a telephone exchange. An engineer came to me to say the wires on some tags were the wrong wire and could I help him trace the wire from the other end. The reason for this was at one end was a pink and grey wire and the other end was blue and yellow. We traced the wires to find the pink and grey had been connected to the blue and yellow. When I asked the engineer that carried out the work why, his reply was "I ran out of pink and grey"

If we had not replaced with the correct wire every time the circuit was checked at one end, the end that was blue and yellow people would have traced the wire from the far end. The colours meant something.

I seem to recall my dad telling me that a leather belt had been used instead of a big end shell or bearing but my mind could be playing tricks on me

macafee2

This brings back many memories. Back in the early 70's I installed the old Strowger telephone exchanges. Your post brought back memories of the noise of the selectors and the unmistakeable smell of warm electrics. Also the less pleasant memories of adjusting thousands of sets of wipers. It was also the time of the stopgap crossbar which I worked on and the early electronic (TXE2?) which I didn't have the opportunity to experience.

[Number 6]

When I was on the tools many many years ago. We had an A35 come in with a bad knock from the engine, Upon removing the sump we found that the crank had broken. The Bodge was the owner had drilled the webs on the crank and tried to put screws in to hold it together. The worse part was he had used WOOD Screws

[COLVERT]

A dodge rather than a bodge.

Many many years ago when oil was like glue in the winter the father of a friend used to light a small fire under the sump of his engine so the oil was runny enough to spin the engine over.--( By hand and starting handle.----)

[clf]

That is still done in russia apparently. Messy if you have an undertray I would imagine lol

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[stevestrat]

Not my bike but a mate bought a Suzuki GS550. He went to do a job on it and discovered a huge carbuncle on the wiring harness. Unwrapped the tape around it and discovered the majority of the bike had been rewired with ordinary household cable . . . . all of it brown

[mbrenn]

There used to be a great Aussie website “Bush Mechanic”. A real eye opener. More of a survivalist mechanic when stuck hundreds of miles out in the bush.

[vitesse]

Originally Posted by clf

That is still done in russia apparently. Messy if you have an undertray I would imagine lol

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Not just Russia, used the same method myself when my Saab V4 didn't want to start one cold morning in the Swedish mountains, had the battery inside but it hardly turned the engine over. Our thermometer only went down to minus 30C so could have been colder. Old tin can and meths under the sump for two hours (no undertray) worked wonders but I still had to allow the engine to idle for a good while before the gearbox responded.

Regards

[Robson Rover Repair]

This was one I experienced after purchasing a rover 45 from a local owner, who also worked as a parts sales man and did his own repairs.

I'd bought the car as a backup and had never been underneath it.......

Robson Rover Repair on Instagram - Best bodge

[SCP440]

I bought a 3 litre Capri in the early 80's. It was about 4 years old and appeared in good condition.

After I had owned it for a couple of weeks I decided it was a good idea to give it an oil change. I undid the sump plug and even though I had warmed it up by running it for 10 mins the oil that came out was like treacle. Yes it was 20w50 but still seemed overly thick.

New oil went in together with a new filter, when I started it the oil pressure was noticeably lower and once warmed up dropped off to the point it barely showed on the gauge but the light was out.

A mate told me about some oil thickener that might work and after a couple of cans it was back up to where it was before.

Eventually I decided to strip the engine and found the bearing were all badly worn so after a full rebuild it was in perfect health.