What Are Your Best 'Alternative' Repairs

[Isaac Hunt]

I thought I would start a thread to see what  pragmatic or ingenious alternative repairs folks have used over the years.

 

My dad repaired an indicator stalk with Araldite some 40 years ago and it is still functioning all these years later.  The brand new replacement unit is still in the BL Box on the shelf ready to fit when the temporary repair lets go.

 

Last year I observed a CV Gaiter that had been replaced some 18 months earlier had a small 15mm split in it.  Not due to perishing, it looked as though it had had a slice with some road debris.  I cleaned it up with brake cleaner and smeared some black silicone sealent over the split.  My MOT tester commented that it was a nice repair.  With an MOT due a year and 15,000 miles later, I've just been under the car for a 'look see'.  The repair is as good as it was this time last year.   This is the second time i've used the black silicone to repair a damaged CV Gaiter.

 

At the same time last year, I observed the front exhaust hanger had broken off.  I got an exhaust clamp, drilled a hole it in, filed a bolt head down a bit so the head of the bolt sat in the cradle of the clamp and was subsequently sandwiched between the exhaust and the clamp itself.  The bolt passes through the exhaust rubber.  A large washer and two nuts on the end of the bolt completes the 'hanger'  The same repair is a solid now as it was last year.

 

We lost a lower alternator mounting.  Which is basically a spacer (like a 20mm thick washer).  A piece of 10mm copper pipe, cut to length with a washer on each end was fabricated until next time I was down the breakers.  I did get my hands on the correct spacer on a trip to the yard.  This still resides in the bottom of the 'spares box' because the copper pipe and two washer 'spacer' is still in situ some 45000 miles later.

 

Back on the Araldite, an ABS sensor ring had come off a CV joint due to corrosion,  A dremel was used to clean the CV joint and the sensor ring was glued on with Araladite.  Worked a treat and still does some 8 years later.

 

A pin hole in a metal power steering pipe was repaired with Araldite.  The repair was still good when the car left us and I'm pretty confident it would have still been ok when the car was scrapped.

[Guest Hooli]

The primary chain tensioner blade kept popping free on my Bonnie, rather than replace the screw bit that was worn I've slipped a thin brass rod into the 'join' to stop it popping out. Done about 20k like that & it might stay the same for the next rebuild, depending on funds as there are important bits to fix.

[tooSavvy]

The Savv had a 'model specific' rear wiper assy.

 

When the (seaweed would be unkind) blade split @ 6 month old I scored Poondies blades and slotted the rubber bit (shortened 1/2) in... 4 blades a poond

 

* in 9 years ownership I used 3!!

 

 

TS

[Ghosty]

'Alternative' repairs? 

 

Doing a proper job.

[FakeConcern]

The air con compressor on my V70 T5 was not engaging and I found a fix on the internet using a zip tie to space out the clutch. It was still working when I sold it several years later.

[Isaac Hunt]

I had an 'advisory' one year that the orange indicator bulbs were loosing their colour, and they were, the coating was flaking off.

 

So some amber glass paint and they were given a dipping, been ok for so long, forgot about that little fix.  

[Shep Shepherd]

I had an 'advisory' one year that the orange indicator bulbs were loosing their colour, and they were, the coating was flaking off.

 

So some amber glass paint and they were given a dipping, been ok for so long, forgot about that little fix.  

 

I've been doing that for years. Works a treat 

[twosmoke300]

581 bulbs are less than a quid you tight gits .

[Jimbob McGregor]

As a student I cut the elastic out of my boxer shorts to execute a temporary repair for the broken carb return spring on my 2cv...on the hard shoulder of the M5 southbound while between Bristol and Newton Abbot in a lashing storm with HGVs thundering past mere inches away.

 

It got me to work on time and lasted a few days until the new one arrived. Slightly 'insecure' feeling during my petrol station shift though!

[dollywobbler]

The alternator mounting bolt snapped on my 2CV. I fixed this by putting the alternator in the boot. Had enough juice to get to my destination.

 

The alternator seized on my Mk1 BX. I cut the belt off (only tool I had was a knife) and had enough juice to get to my destination. That was about 50 miles IIRC.

[KruJoe]

This thread would be improved by the addition of pictures.

 

 

Here's a fix* of mine - I bust a spout off this 214 rad when fitting an alternator, repaired by feeding a second-hand shraeder valve in though the top hose hole, and into position. The fix outlasted the car, and the radiator lived on in one of Mr_B's projects!

[RayMK]

I once owned a Ginetta G26 which the previous owner had converted to Ford (Cologne) V6 power with automatic transmission, just to prove that it was possible - they are normally Pinto powered and manual.  The ECU controlled, fuel injected engine had a bit of loom which was mated* to the standard Cortina MK3/Ginetta loom.  The resulting electrical warfare gave it a flat battery overnight and damaged a new battery which I put on, thinking it was a just knackered battery problem.  To quell the overnight quarrelling and improve convenience in the morning, I permanently wired in a jump lead from the battery to the car's interior where I fitted a beefy isolation switch, then had another jump lead running back to the original battery lead.  All connections were made properly (no crocodile clamps) and all junctions covered with self amalgamating tape.  The mod made the car useable as a daily.  To cure the sagging front suspension which objected to propping up a lump of V6 and autobox, I fitted coil spring rubber spacer thingies, as often used at the rear by caravaners.  That also worked surprisingly well.  

 

I used JB Weld to fill large areas of corrosion on the mating face of the cylinder head (alloy) on my Skoda Rapid after the head gasket failed.  It worked without further attention for 30,000 miles and presumably continued to do so after I sold it.

 

Not repairs, but I seem to have a thing about radiators.  My current Stellar's failed when road debris punctured it.  It now runs happily with a Ford Capri rad and some B&Q brackets. My wife parked my previous Stellar in a ditch and damaged the rad. I fitted a Volvo 66 rad which I had lying around in the garage. Problem solved.  My 1961 Reliant Regal MKVI burst its radiator in 2005 due to a problem with the cap.  Repair was expensive and replacement unobtainable, so I fitted a Ford 100e rad and its been fine since.  Metal tubes from cast off domestic vacuum cleaners come in handy when bodging together radiator pipes using bits of hose saved from previous cars. 

[trigger]

Probably more of a bodge than a alternative repair but a several years back my arsehole neighbour asked if i could repair the wing on his A4, so i cut the rust out, pot riveted a baked bean can to fill the hole, a bit of filler and same paint and came out like new!, amazingly it's lasted another 3 years before he scrapped the car and it still looked perfect even then. He paid me £100 for doing it too.

 

 

 

 

[pompei]

^   ^   ^   ^   

 

Brilliant!

[Jimbob McGregor]

Once used a chopped section of shaft from an abandoned, wrecked umprella to bypass the heater matrix on my 205d when it dumped its coolant in the footwells late on a wet, windy flooded Christmas Eve just as I got into it to drive to Exmoor for Christmas with gf family.

 

The same day one of my housemates (students then) hydraulic locked his great 106 1.5d trying to get out through the floods.

[Tamworthbay]

I bought a Sierra as a donor for a kit car, someone had inventingly used plastic milk bottles instead of sills and chassis rails. One even had the label on with a date so I could tell it had got through three 'MOTs' like that.

[Richard]

I had an 'advisory' one year that the orange indicator bulbs were loosing their colour, and they were, the coating was flaking off.

 

So some amber glass paint and they were given a dipping, been ok for so long, forgot about that little fix.  

 

 

I've been doing that for years. Works a treat 

 

 

581 bulbs are less than a quid you tight gits .

 

When the coating starts to peel off amber repeater bulbs I peel the rest off and use them as sidelight bulbs.

[tooSavvy]

Skoda 130LSE 'Acc cable' upgraded to tandem brake cable...

 

100% thicker but still OK in sleeve

 

'snot' at pedal end, pulled through to back by tying nylon thread to pedal end of old one, and an electrical connector on carb end to keep it well fixed.

 

*less than dealer - oh surprise

 

 

TS

[Kiltox]

Probably more of a bodge than a alternative repair but a several years back my arsehole neighbour asked if i could repair the wing on his A4, so i cut the rust out, pot riveted a baked bean can to fill the hole, a bit of filler and same paint and came out like new!, amazingly it's lasted another 3 years before he scrapped the car and it still looked perfect even then. He paid me £100 for doing it too.

 

20120730_115309.jpg

 

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20120731_135129.jpg

 

20120801_194900.jpg

Wow - that is amazing!!

[Richard]

Skoda 130LSE 'Acc cable' upgraded to tandem brake cable...

 

100% thicker but still OK in sleeve

 

'snot' at pedal end, pulled through to back by tying nylon thread to pedal end of old one, and an electrical connector on carb end to keep it well fixed.

 

*less than dealer - oh surprise

 

 

TS

 

I paid a king's ransom for a genuine Renault throttle cable a few years ago and was given a kit to make my own one up. It didn't work.

[NorfolkNWeigh]

RayMK's jump lead story reminds me that my last Disco had a pair of cheap jump leads as earths, one straight to the starter and one for what was left of the chassis. It also had a very nice non-stick battery tray. These temporary fixes lasted for quite a few years and increasingly lenient MOTs.

[meggersdog]

Broke a gear cable on a Fiat Multipla whilst doing a clutch on my drive.Seeing as there are five different cable sets and there were £250 plus I looked for a way of repairing it.The cable broke right at the end of the thread with maybe 10 mm of smooth rod with the cup on the end.Thought I could cut a thread on the rod and use a tube and cut a thread into that.So went to search for some suitable tube and found something in the remnants of a Meccano set.It was threaded one end with a grub-screw the other.It did screw onto the thread but the other end was slightly too big.I then took the grub-screw out drilled into the rod, squeezed threadlock onto the threaded bar and the grub-screw and screwed everything together.Did the trick but for how long I don't know as I sold the car within a month.

[sierraman]

Christ where do I start... once made the end of a sill out of chicken wire and card, skim of filler over the top. Gave a Fiesta a floor out of a curious mixture of sikaflex and buscuit to lids. There's various other stuff I can't name for legal and contractural reasons.

[Guest Hooli]

Escort/Onion strut top mounts fit Sierras if you wrap them in 1/4" of sellotape. It lasted weeks until I got the right part. It was only in a XR4i, so didn't make it more tail happy when the front wobbled at all....

[worldofceri]

...orange indicator bulbs were loosing their colour ... amber glass paint... 

 

Works a treat 

 

...you tight gits .

 

[twosmoke300]

You guys obviously have a lot more free time than I do

[KruJoe]

I didn't know amber glass paint was a thing, I suspect it's above my pay grade anyway. Yellow modelers enamel worked fine for me back in the day.

[tooSavvy]

I got my 'tame' MOT guys to replace 2xFWB, on the Savv....

 

Savv bearing [dealer part] ££ ... dont't ask!!

 

Chevvy AVEO bearing [yep, no one knows!] £8 !!

 

 

TS

[xkjagnz]

Probably more of a bodge than a alternative repair but a several years back my arsehole neighbour asked if i could repair the wing on his A4, so i cut the rust out, pot riveted a baked bean can to fill the hole, a bit of filler and same paint and came out like new!, amazingly it's lasted another 3 years before he scrapped the car and it still looked perfect even then. He paid me £100 for doing it too.

 

20120730_115309.jpg

 

20120730_164317.jpg

 

20120731_135129.jpg

 

20120801_194900.jpg

Note :- Photos are in reverse order!!!!

[xkjagnz]

I once owned a Ginetta G26 which the previous owner had converted to Ford (Cologne) V6 power with automatic transmission, just to prove that it was possible - they are normally Pinto powered and manual.  The ECU controlled, fuel injected engine had a bit of loom which was mated* to the standard Cortina MK3/Ginetta loom.  The resulting electrical warfare gave it a flat battery overnight and damaged a new battery which I put on, thinking it was a just knackered battery problem.  To quell the overnight quarrelling and improve convenience in the morning, I permanently wired in a jump lead from the battery to the car's interior where I fitted a beefy isolation switch, then had another jump lead running back to the original battery lead.  All connections were made properly (no crocodile clamps) and all junctions covered with self amalgamating tape.  The mod made the car useable as a daily.  To cure the sagging front suspension which objected to propping up a lump of V6 and autobox, I fitted coil spring rubber spacer thingies, as often used at the rear by caravaners.  That also worked surprisingly well.  

 

I used JB Weld to fill large areas of corrosion on the mating face of the cylinder head (alloy) on my Skoda Rapid after the head gasket failed.  It worked without further attention for 30,000 miles and presumably continued to do so after I sold it.

 

Not repairs, but I seem to have a thing about radiators.  My current Stellar's failed when road debris punctured it.  It now runs happily with a Ford Capri rad and some B&Q brackets. My wife parked my previous Stellar in a ditch and damaged the rad. I fitted a Volvo 66 rad which I had lying around in the garage. Problem solved.  My 1961 Reliant Regal MKVI burst its radiator in 2005 due to a problem with the cap.  Repair was expensive and replacement unobtainable, so I fitted a Ford 100e rad and its been fine since.  Metal tubes from cast off domestic vacuum cleaners come in handy when bodging together radiator pipes using bits of hose saved from previous cars. 

I also owned a G26, I reckon it is the very embodiment of Autoshite, mine was light blue and truly terrible. Pinto engine shite, used to measure consumption in miles per propshaft not mpg