Les Henson Posted October 26, 2005 Share Posted October 26, 2005 As it says - what's the worst bodge you have come across? Things held on with bits of string instead of bolts. Welding that isn't actually welded to anything, thin wires when it should be a thick cable? I have a real peach to post in a day or two, but what's the worst you have experienced? Les. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BogMonster Posted October 26, 2005 Share Posted October 26, 2005 2 candidates from me: 1) Series wipers with no motor fitted - a strip cut out of an inner tube and tied to the wiper arm on the outside (!) provided the "return" and the "upward wipe" was operated by a bit of string going along the windscreen and in the drivers window... 2) Lightweight suspension lift: jam a set of 90 or 110 (not sure which) COIL SPRINGS in between the leaf spring and the chassis (and this one is still getting around like this because I saw it a few weeks ago!) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gelf Posted October 26, 2005 Share Posted October 26, 2005 i suppose tying my fuel filter to the brake pipe that runs across the bulk head with string.... instead of bolting to the bulk head. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hybrid_From_Hell Posted October 26, 2005 Share Posted October 26, 2005 Several I can recall..... 8mm studding and nylocs holding on a NATO Hitch Leather cut and fitted to a V8 Mains that had knocked itself out...matey said only done 500 miles, got this knocking there now...opened it up and could not belive what I saw ! ENTIRE exhaust built out of flexible pipe (badly) SATs recut, and so badly canvas showed..... Battery held in by bungy cord and my favourite.......... Being asked to weld up a rear cross member on a series that had failed the MOT - he had rivetted it on FFS.... Nige Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Les Henson Posted October 26, 2005 Author Share Posted October 26, 2005 he had rivetted it on FFS.... Another 8274 owner then Les. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hybrid_From_Hell Posted October 26, 2005 Share Posted October 26, 2005 Behave yourself....your get banned by a Mod or 3 (Tonk LR90 White 90) Nige Superglue would have been enough tho come to think of it Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hillbilly Raider Posted October 26, 2005 Share Posted October 26, 2005 Wot no mention of rabbit droppings Mr HFH? my you are being good! By the way just watched your new prog on Men and Motors. "All the Gear but no Idea" great title who thought of that one?? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hybrid_From_Hell Posted October 26, 2005 Share Posted October 26, 2005 Huh.... Bit rich from a "Tescos Tombraider Offroader" Giving Tonk of bit a time off from the abuse then ? The old Nimbus 2000 chucked you off and given you the hump then ? You haven't time for all this jollity, its monday yer know......... Nige Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hillbilly Raider Posted October 26, 2005 Share Posted October 26, 2005 TESCOS TOMBRAIDER OFFROADER!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! You wait ! i have friends in high places dont ya know?? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hybrid_From_Hell Posted October 26, 2005 Share Posted October 26, 2005 Sorry Mandy, didn't mean to insult you Meant "Waitrose Tombraider Offroader" Nige Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
minivin Posted October 26, 2005 Share Posted October 26, 2005 Sorry Mandy, didn't mean to insult youMeant "Waitrose Tombraider Offroader" Nige nah, she spends most of her time in Asda looking for the cheap offers, and the shopping as well Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Troddenmasses Posted October 26, 2005 Share Posted October 26, 2005 On a series 3, the rear tub was so badly corroded that it was held on with bailer twine and gravity. On the same vehicle, one of the brake calipers was leaking so badly that brake pressure was lost - so crimped the flexi pipe with a pair of mole grips Again on the same vehicle, there were holes in the passenger footwells large enough to lose shoes through - used silo to glue a piece of rubber matting over the hole. On my series 3, following a gearbox change so I didn't have a seatbox in there - I desperately needed to go out, so put an upturned a bucket onto the fuel tank, and sat on that. Was like the flintstones car. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Turbocharger Posted October 26, 2005 Share Posted October 26, 2005 On a series 3, the rear tub was so badly corroded that it was held on with bailer twine and gravity.On the same vehicle, one of the brake calipers was leaking so badly that brake pressure was lost - so crimped the flexi pipe with a pair of mole grips Again on the same vehicle, there were holes in the passenger footwells large enough to lose shoes through - used silo to glue a piece of rubber matting over the hole. M'lud, Mr Masses has presented information which is clearly factually incorrect. As everyone knows a Series 3 doesn't have calipers. Even if the brake cylinder was found to be leaking and the facts above are largely accurate, his testimony cannot be accepted here. (Problem was, the bailer twine was doing most of the work in sharp corners... the bulkhead outriggers were gone too ) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hillbilly Raider Posted October 26, 2005 Share Posted October 26, 2005 nah, she spends most of her time in Asda looking for the cheap offers, and the shopping as well FOMBSL!!!!!!!!!!! SHAMPOO ANYONE? (Nige told me to say that!) Anyway its not Asdas/Waitrose/Tescos, or even M&S..... Its a certain shop in London ! (i wish) And as i said earlier, have booked a crash course so so be raring to go on Monday!! Now stop hijacking this thread !! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ROGUE TROOPER Posted October 26, 2005 Share Posted October 26, 2005 This has got to be one of the best... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
minivin Posted October 26, 2005 Share Posted October 26, 2005 FOMBSL!!!!!!!!!!!SHAMPOO ANYONE? (Nige told me to say that!) Anyway its not Asdas/Waitrose/Tescos, or even M&S..... Its a certain shop in London ! (i wish) And as i said earlier, have booked a crash course so so be raring to go on Monday!! Now stop hijacking this thread !! shampoo? that went right over my head! ok, I'll get me coat Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GregK Posted October 26, 2005 Share Posted October 26, 2005 Being asked to weld up a rear cross member on a series that had failed the MOT - he had rivetted it on FFS.... I haven't personally seen it but my ex employer that owned a body shop said, that once someone bought a car to be filled and re-sprayed on closer inspection he noticed that some one replaced both front flitches but instead welding they used self tapping screws to hold it all toghever. When he approached the ppl about it ,saying that the car is Not road-worthy and that flitches have to be welded, their reply was that it was ok to do it that way [i.e. screw it toghever] and refused to pay extra money to weld it. Needless to say he refused to do the job. This apparently was back in the 80's. Unbelievable what sort of bodges ppl would do just to save or make few pounds. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest diesel_jim Posted October 27, 2005 Share Posted October 27, 2005 Hmmmm.... worst bodge... I took my Td5 to my main dealers for a servcice. the end. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tonk Posted October 27, 2005 Share Posted October 27, 2005 i've seen 'repair patches' held onto chassis with body filler Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rtbarton Posted October 27, 2005 Share Posted October 27, 2005 ENTIRE exhaust built out of flexible pipe (badly) You used to be able to buy exhausts like this, the flexi bulged out to form the silencers. They were made from stainless steel. Bodges I've seen - Chassis welding - didn't stick to the chassis and there was about half a reel of MIG wire coiled up inside the chassis! Oil cans & filler to repair Rover 2000 cills B Posts tied together with washing line, through the open windows on a Riley !-1/2 litre (Mine - was a running repair after a B post detached itself at the bottom) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ben Reedy Posted October 27, 2005 Share Posted October 27, 2005 Gearbox cross member holes filled with Araldite. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Divster Posted October 27, 2005 Share Posted October 27, 2005 Probably my own temporary bodges: When I was the proud owner of a mark 111 escort , one set of wheel bearings collapsed suddenly. I wasn't in the AA/ RAC at the time so walked to the local garage and purchased some string and some grease. Rebuilt the hub with said items and crawled home 25 miles at 20 mph stopping every three miles to pour water on the hub. Again before I joined the AA/ RAC, the accelorator cable snapped on my first 90. Replaced the cable with a peice of string coming from under the bonnet and in through the drivers window. Drove 40 miles home at minus 2 with the window down using a bodged together hand throttle. I was bloody cold at the end. Now I am quite happy to hand over a sum of money to the recovery firms each year Dave Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
geoffbeaumont Posted October 27, 2005 Share Posted October 27, 2005 Not Land Rover related (other than it's what's keeping me on the road while the Range Rover's dead). The escort I bought recently off a mate has suffered in the past at the hands of less than competent mechanics - about six months back it boiled up on the motorway and blew it's head gasket. Turned out the reason it boiled up was that the cooling fan wasn't cutting in. The garage decided that something in the fuse box or engine management system was fried and wired up a switch on the dashboard for turning the fan on manually. Two other garages and an auto electrician also diagnosed a fried fuse box and said it wasn't economical to repair. Shortly after, the car died due to electrical trouble related to the fan bypass - it had been wired into the low current electrics in the steering column, and had damaged the ignition switch (problems with the lights turned out to be unrelated worn column switches). The bypass also used a cheap toggle switch, nowhere near adequate for the current drawn by the fan, and was wired up with (wait for it...) cheap speaker cable, which was blackened along most of it's length. Absolute miracle it never set fire to the car! Obviously, with several 'experts' blaming it on the fuse box we started looking for faults there - not only could we find nothing wrong, we couldn't even figure out where the relays for the fan were... Eventually it dawned on us that the fan on this car isn't controlled by the engine management system - it's operated by a simple thermal sensor in a cooling pipe right next to the fan. The fault all the experts had missed? The £5 sensor had gone... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ben Reedy Posted October 27, 2005 Share Posted October 27, 2005 Took my (company) A4 to the dealer with a brake warning light. They replaced the battery claiming that every morning the computer checks all the bits & pieces and by the time it gets to the brake the battery is getting tired and it defaults to a warning. I thought this sounded like rubbish especially for a diesel battery and sure enough, next motning I got the warning again. The brake fluid reservoir was dry. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jules Posted October 27, 2005 Share Posted October 27, 2005 I think I best keep out of this as I have done a few in my time. A mate used to work for a car sales place were screeding the rotten footwells was common place Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.
Note: Your post will require moderator approval before it will be visible.