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I've riveted an aluminium plate over an oblong hole in the AX rear exhaust box. The corrosion was dusted away with the angle grinder, some exhaust putty was smeared well into the hole and onto the plate and several pop-rivets are now holding it in place. With electrolytic corrosion starting as I'm typing this, the life of the bodge can probably be measured in minutes. So what? It was a chance to get the car jacked up, use some power tools and figuratively thumb my nose at the motor factors who hadn't got a box in stock. I've felt a teeny bit dangerous as a stream of sparks spattered into the plastic fuel tank. I've grasped a mug of steaming 20hp tea in my green neoprene gloves, passed the time of day with a neighbour, and inadvertently smeared rust and soot all over my forehead. And I've stretched 20 minutes work into 2 hours. Thank goodness I don't do this for a living.
Edited by Webmaster on 19/04/2008 at 21:09
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split breather pipe on my golf mk1v degreased pipe, large amounts of clear silicone, gaffer tape 4x cable ties, job done.
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Subaru Forester rear wiper - the rubber is split at both ends. The replacement wiper blade I bought doesn't fit, the standard hinge clip is too small for the wiper arm. So I put the new blade on the driver's side of the G-wagon. I threaded out the rubber bit of the old G-wagon one and threaded it on to the Subaru. Job done. Should be good for a couple of years.
Nice post, Hawkeye.
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pvc welded the top connector on my bmw rad as it's £200 for a new one and the current one is perfect except for the aged brittle plastic bit that fell off when i tapped it with my elbow whilst doing another job. if this fails then ill be treading a brass plumbing fixing into the hole and using that to join the rubber hose instead.
chris
Edited by thomp1983 on 19/04/2008 at 20:08
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Classic bodge New Year's Day. Having driven cars for many years with the simple convenience of a low washer fluid warning light (which the Roomie hasn't), I predictably ran out of fluid miles from home. Our hosts had no fluid, but I found a bottle of meths in his garage - added to water provided a ice-resistant solution to drive home in temp ranges of -5 to +1. C.
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Its a while back.
Fitting a black anodised expanded alloy mesh in the grill area of the van - to stop stones coming through and damaging radiator fins. Fed it in from the back and using about 30 loops of black cable wire - tied it to the bumper grill aperture (black unpainted old type `dustbinesque ` plastic) without taking the bumper off. (The plan was cable ties - but impossible to hook them back)
Its not noticeable unless you bend to look at it and has been a great success since fitted. The original grill would have let stones through the size of a golf ball.
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My best was a while back too. The metal tab for the wiring connection on the heated rear window of SWMBO's old mk2 Astra had come adrift from the screen. After repeated failed attempts to re-solder it, I put a teaspoon of Araldite into a tub. I then filed a length of spare copper pipe, directing the filings into the Araldite. After a few minutes, this created a very thick, metal shaving laden paste which my multimeter confirmed was conductive. A dab of this paste onto the tab, and held in place with tape until the Araldite set.
Not only did it work, but it even survived the brick chucked through the back screen by the scumbags who stole the car a year or so later. There was a piece of glass the size of a tea plate hanging securely on the still glued tab and its wire.
Cheers
DP
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Here it is.
tinyurl.com/9no5f4
(image link valid for 1 week)
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Today I am merely contemplating a bodge.
Surprisingly heavy parcel arrived today containing a full set of cosmetically damaged (discoloured) polybushes for the rear of the MX5. So I am laid back with a small tipple wondering about the best way to change them when it warms up a bit.
I suppose the old ones have lasted well, 18+ years, considering the quantity of old engine oil that has been sprayed onto the underside to keep the tinworm at bay.
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No bodge today but the main breather pipe into my dads oil filler was split causing too much air to go into the engine so it idled at 3000rpm. I went to Ford and they wanted £20 for the complete pipe assembly from the injection system. So I went and bought some random cotton pipe the same diameter and fitted, it looks like a real bodge but it now idles at 800-900rpm.
On my old car I bodged the electrics (low ampage circuits only). The worst of the bodge was my temp sender did not work, the problem was the wire had been cut, so I just clipped a crocidle lead onto the sensor which bolted into the engine and then wired into the dash with terminal block and quite a bit of insulation tape. I would never use terminal block on any circuit in a car which actually carried current though as I am not in the habbit of watching my cars melt.
I am older and wiser now and won't bodge anything electrical :).
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I blocked up my radiator grille today with lengths of pipe insulation stuffed in the gaps, hopefully it will warm up more quickly.
Edited by Hamsafar on 03/01/2009 at 16:47
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Not me but watch the second video for a well known and not so well known fix.
www.dakar.com/2009/DAK/presentation/us/r3_11-video...l
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I blocked up my radiator grille today >>
Not a good idea, surely?
I once had a sparking plug fly out (had probably messed up the thread), and fixed it back in place with chewing gum (well chewed, of course). Lasted quite well. Ratttle, that were what bangernomics were like in them days.
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Funny you mention bodging, I replaced a headlight bulb (main/dip) in my wife's Audi yesterday. On the driver's side, had to remove a bit of plastic trunking to gain access to the fitting. i removed the outer plastic cover and revealed the bulb fitting, which was held in place with a wire clip which was tricky to remove. I eventually worked out that it had to be move sideways to release it and then promptly lost the retaining clip into the abyss. No sign of it under the car, so it must be lodged somewhere in the undertray area.
Undeterred but a bit miffed I then replaced the bulb but put a couple of pieces of sellotape across the fitting to (hopefully) hold it in place. So far it seems okay buy I know I've bodged the job and expect to have to get a new clip from the dealers (if they stock such things!). Incidentally, the car is over 8 years old and I've had it from new and this is only the second bulb I've had to replace!
The problem with bodges is they bug you and give you no satisfaction of a job done properly. Grrr...
Pat
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again many years ago
several cars ( opened out a tin can, covered the inside with a layer of (the name escapes me but a well known heat proof paste) and strapped it on with jubilee clips. Passed several MOT's that way.
Rover 2000
various bits such as sills and wheel arches. old oil can, pop rivets, bitumen. again passed several MOT's
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Fitted a towing bracket on the Grand Vit. Only 4 bolts going through the bracket up through the bottom of the chassis into captive bolts. 3 went in fine but not the 4th.
No thread in the captive ! Cut a flap in the side of the chassis with a 1mm angle disc and peeled it open. Held a star washer and new nut in the hole and fed the bolt in...success...tightened it, peeled the flap down, gas welded the cuts and painted it. Cost...less than 50p.
Ted
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leaky corroded core plug ages ago, cured with a few drops of epoxy resin and a 2p coin pressed in to the recess still water tight now
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This was in 2007 though and me being cocky with my GCSE in electronics, although on the same car I latrer bodged a a wiring loom job to the TPS, taught be me by an ex BAE engineer! (a close relative).
As it stands I will not carry any electrical work on my car other than like for like fitting of parts but I am much happier diagnosing an ECU fault than working what is causing a clonking nouse on the suspension but then I do fix computers for a living so car electrics don't scare me one bit. I understand much better how a modern multipoint fuel injection system works than a simple carp setup having said that I have adjusted a few carbs for mates in my much younger days (aka 10 years ago).
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