Does the old nylons trick really work?

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Sun 14 Sep 2008 13:14
Does the old nylons trick really work? - ifithelps
Stopped in a layby to make a phone call the other day.

Guy parked further up approached my car and asked for assistance because his had broken down.

Turns out he was an Englishman living in Holland, travelling back there with his Dutch girlfriend in a tired left hooker Fiat.

Had a quick look and it had certainly lost its fan belt, but didn't appear to have overheated.

Now, I thought about suggesting his girlfriend whip off her tights/stockings and we'd fix it with those.

In the event, I gave him a lift to a garden centre which had a cafe/local knowledge of breakdown services/hotels etc.

My question is can a fan belt be replaced, even temporarily, with stockings or tights?
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Sun 14 Sep 2008 13:48
Does the old nylons trick really work? - Bagpuss
This question brought a wave of nostalgia.

Many years ago I was out with a mate of mine in his Austin 1300 together with 2 ladies. The temperature gauge accelerated into the red zone and the battery warning light came on, indicating something amiss. We stopped, opened the bonnet and tried to look like we knew what we were doing.

Eventually the lack of fan belt dawned on us, fan belts regularly broke back in the dark ages (1981). After much persuasion, one of our female travellers parted company with her stockings (might have been tights, I can't remember). It took us lots of time, damaged knuckles and swearing to get them wrapped around the pulleys. My mate started the engine and the front of the car became enveloped in small pieces of smouldering nylon as our painstaking repair literally went up in smoke before our eyes.

So, no it doesn't work.
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Sun 14 Sep 2008 14:20
Does the old nylons trick really work? - Stuartli
>>literally went up in smoke before our eyes.>>

Yet wiping over the windscreen with half a raw potato if the wipers failed did...:-)

Edited by Stuartli on 14/09/2008 at 14:20

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Sun 14 Sep 2008 14:21
Does the old nylons trick really work? - Pugugly
I'm sure Humph has a tale.
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Sun 14 Sep 2008 14:24
Does the old nylons trick really work? - ifithelps
He might have a tale from the channel tunnel, too.

Think he was due to come back through this weekend.
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Sun 14 Sep 2008 14:38
Does the old nylons trick really work? - Optimist
Always used to work on me. Course I was younger then.

Would probably still work but you just don't see them these days.

Edited by Optimist on 14/09/2008 at 14:42

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Sun 14 Sep 2008 14:53
Does the old nylons trick really work? - none
It might have worked once - for someone !
You'd need a real leggy bird for some of the serpentine belts though. The Transit drive belt is about nine feet in circumference.
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Sun 14 Sep 2008 15:09
Does the old nylons trick really work? - Alby Back
So what makes you guys think I might have specialist knowledge of womens undergarments ???? May have been more au fait a few years back, but can claim little current experience of mid journey removal or indeed the practical mechanical benefits resultant thereof.

;-)

Yes I did come back across the Channel last night. Posted on the tunnel thread and the Alfa thread re this. No major problems in terms of delays although I did have to use a ferry instead.
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Sun 14 Sep 2008 15:57
Does the old nylons trick really work? - Peter D
This question brought a wave of nostalgia.
Did it for me too, but it was more about the girlfriend taking her tight off rather than fixing the car.
However
Years ago just before Ross on Whe on the M50 when the belt broke with a large bang as it belted the undertray of my Datsun 260 Est. Fixed it with my wifes tights just to drive the water pump and as it was Sunday so no service places open I drove cautiously home to Malvern. Regards Peter
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Sun 14 Sep 2008 15:58
Does the old nylons trick really work? - jase1
Wouldn't it just slip anyway?

Nylon is a low-friction material and I thought that the whole point of tights was that they slipped around the leg without chafing.
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Sun 14 Sep 2008 16:09
Does the old nylons trick really work? - Robin Reliant
My cousin tried that a few years ago when his fanbelt broke while holidaying in Scotland and he tried to make a temporary repair with his wife's tights. I forget what car he had at the time, but the tights disintegrated and got tangled in the timing belt with disasterous consequences.
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Sun 14 Sep 2008 16:28
Does the old nylons trick really work? - Lud
In fact a car driven at moderate speed with few interruptions on the open road doesn't need a fan and never did. What it may need though is the water pump. I am casting my mind back and trying to remember whether all cars with engine-driven fans had a water pump driven by the same belt. I think not all.
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Sun 14 Sep 2008 16:55
Does the old nylons trick really work? - Screwloose

The nylons trick did work - but, as always - there are rules.

The knot had to be really neat and the "belt" had to be made slightly small so that it was a seriously tight fit between crank and water pump only. [Although I once did manage to get an XJ6 alternator to charge surprisingly well on August Bank Holiday '76.]

Nearly everything back then had a fixed fan and it was quite possible, on in-line engines, for the windmill effect to drive the waterpump once the speed got up a bit. I recall once driving a York 6-pot diesel all day without a belt. On that one it seemed to work right down to about 20.
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