Best use of gaffa tape?

[wackywacerwill]

That's wonderful!

 

I like that it's been 'topped up' with fresh tape.

 

And that's the problem. It's all too easy in the long run to spend more cash on tape than perform a proper repair, it's just that the tape is always to hand

[jonny69]

I made a temporary fuel line out of gaffer tape. My Webers spat back and set fire to the inner wing, which burned through the fuel line and the piece joining the two carbs together. I was in a bit of a stitch, because not only was I at the worlds most useless builders merchants, I was in Acton, so I was stranded with only the A40 connecting me to the rest of the world so I couldn't even go anywhere by foot. I fashioned a fuel line out of about 10 layers of tape, with the innermost layer inside out. I figured it would get me home, even if I had to make another one halfway. And it did.

 

Didn't Alan McNish's Audi racer finish Le Mans one year, with most of the front end taped together? Not uncommon in the history of endurance racing mind you.

In the really wet one of 2007 Peugeot found out they hadn't waterproofed anything and by the end of the race the car was literally plastered in strips of tape on every join to seal it up. It's quite common to see cars re-assembled with tape by the end of the race, particularly with new wings and wheel arches artfully bodged out of badly torn black and silver tape and bits of broken bodywork. Those guys know how to race, not like F1 where they retire a car when they run out of new nose cones.

[dollywobbler]

Our conservatory roof.

 

A 'temporary' fix after storm damage in April. It's still there.

 

I once got this beautiful 2CV sill rot through an MOT by slapping a load of gaffer tape over it.

 

Helps that sills aren't structural and it was just far enough away from things like seatbelt mountings. Out of sight, out of mind? (the sills did get replaced not long after but my pre-MOT checks including pushing my fingers straight through the sill at that point!)

[cort16]

I've patched a couple of holes in the past with gaffa tape and fibre glass resin and it's like a kwiksave carbon fibre.

[Pillock]

Some chump once cut the back window out of my Beetle to relieve me of my speakers.

I caught them at it and chased them off but I was still left with the back window propped up against the car and no rubber to hold it in, so I went down the motorway to work the next morning with the window taped in.

 

I was too scared to open a window in case the pressure popped the rear screen out at 70mph...

[R9UKE]

Renault Clio owners keeping the makers in business.

 

[forddeliveryboy]

I once got this beautiful 2CV sill rot through an MOT by slapping a load of gaffer tape over it.

 

Helps that sills aren't structural and it was just far enough away from things like seatbelt mountings. Out of sight, out of mind?

 

 

I was half waiting for the 'I mended my structural bits with gaffer tape' post. Of course it had to be a 2cv guy... My good friend was hit by a large Audi a few months ago. He was in a 2cv (mine), travelling along an empty-ish road at the legal(ish) 65mph+. The A8 was driven by a banker's lackey, well lost, who executed a rapid and un-announced U-turn with a powerful V8 coupled to a rapid autobox and impatient right foot. He failed to indicate, didn't check the mirror (or use his neck) and assumed nobody was using the road.

 

Had the car been a lash-up (even just for a few hours, m'lord, till I could be bovver'd) my mate may well have died. As it was, the car was tipped into a roll (swiped hard on the nsr wheel) and remained intact because it was solid. Having rolled several times then slid on its side for a few hundred yards, the police were amazed my mate climbed out with nothing but a slight bruise to his shoulder, from the belt-mount. The car had anything but collapsed.

 

Had you any real knowledge of cars or engineering, fella, you'd understand that a 2cv's body is indeed part of the structure. What an idiotic boast. Gaffer tape is meant for cosmetics, you fool.

[Justin Case]

..... in addition, the SE model has air-conditioning, electric windows and colour-coded door mirrors

 

Ooops! by geoffp5, on Flickr

 

If anyone just happens to have a spare one (cap only, the rest is OK) knocking around at a modest price, (Silica Bronze would be ideal, but any colour would do) I would be prepared to go without the extra shite points for the added beige.

[michiel]

Renault Megaffa by Michiel V, on Flickr

 

Nice work, that huge dent is almost invisible now...

[dollywobbler]

Ok, get off your bleedin' high horse Mr Delivery Boy (with apologies for the delay - I was away at the weekend). I discovered this just before the MOT expired that year. It got me through the test and as soon as I could, it was in for the sills to be replaced - even though this was incredibly localised. The entire sill was not rotten (but I thought it made more sense to replace the lot). Made life easier as I could drive it to my tame welder, who is long way from the MOT station. This is what I did. I'm not saying everyone should gaffer tape up the structure of their car, load up with kiddies and then go speeding down a motorway.

 

If someone drove straight into the side of my 2CV, I'd end up pretty battered. Rust or not. It's not like the structure is made of titanium or kevlar. It's exceedingly thin steel. You could argue that it's irresponsible to drive around in an old car rather than something with airbags and the like. I don't see much difference here. I accepted the dangers and some additional risk in the short term. It wasn't putting anyone else at risk. It wasn't going to make my car suddenly veer off the road and crash.

 

Had my 2CV fallen on its side in a similar manner to your unfortunate pal, I doubt I'd have been any worse off. Funnily enough I do know a bit about cars and sadly I also know what happens to a 2CV when it falls on its side. The sills are bugger all help in that situation anyway as it's the top of the bodyshell and the wings that takes most of the impact.

 

By driving an old car, you're already accepting a greater risk of injury if the worst happens. The consecutive risk comes from the fact that a lot of older cars have rust issues. Where do you draw the line? Do you refuse to be in any car where there's any degree of rust? When do you react to that slight bubbling around the strut turret? As soon as you spot it? Somehow before it's actually visible? I'm willing to bet that an awful lot of the cars on this very forum have some degree of rust.

[AeroNautiCal]

Words superfluous! (With bonus Niva content).