Ghetto car "mods"

[the_yellow_dart]

What is the worst thing you've ever done to a car to make it workable? i.e. I don't have the money to fix it right, so out comes the duct tape. Worst for me wasn't my car, but I helped my buddy do it... He had a '96 Cavalier. The front section on the frames of the J-bodies are extremely weak. If you hit anything in the front, the whole front of the car will come back and the door will buckle the quarter panel the next time you open it (seen this a few times!). This was not what happened to him, however. This was even worse - 2 people got in a fight beside his car while the door was open, and one of them got pushed in to the inside of the door, pushing it forward and bending the mount / frame. So, his quarter panel was all buckled at the back edge, and it scraped the door and made awful noises whenever the door was opened and closed. He didn't care about the car anymore, but wanted the awful noises to stop. We took an old pair of hedge trimmers to the sheet metal. They worked surprisingly well, and we were able to cut off the offending folded over edge of the quarter panel. It didn't look very good when we were done, but then again it didn't look good to begin with, all folded in. He actually drove it like that for about 6 months before getting rear ended by an ambulance(!!!) and getting pushed into a Jeep. Finally the insurance company gave up and said the cumulative damage was a total. Poor, poor Crapalier.

[daves87rs]

I helped duct tape a friends 95 Neon rear facia back to the car...boy, did it look pretty bad...his hood rusted bad too...he had a bunch of cords holding it down..

[Teh Ricer Civic!]

Clotheshanger as an antenna - yeah it works superglued rear view mirror back on

[Flybrian]

Duct-taped my lower air baffle after I ran over a cardboard box flung from a pickup.

[quantum110]

Hmmm... The only thing I think I've done ghetto was when the resonator broke of my sisters intake tube on her Altima. The hole is the same size a C battery, added a hose clamp and called it done. Still got to get around to making a plug out of something else. Edited October 7, 2005 by quantum110

[mightymouse]

I cut the roof off a 73 Impala $100 bucket, then slit a black garden hose and stuck it on the sharp edges. I thought it would be fun to have a convertible. Mr exhaust got sawzalled too. Sawzalls rule.

[capriceman]

o bad question for me i could go on and one and on but the few that were kind of not that bad was one time i was ridding in my buddys 95 white camaro with a 350 put in it the carb gasket slipede and held the throttle wid open so after we did a ebrake spin (on harper if you detroiters know) since when the engine is shut off the brakes dont work so well. we used a#2 pencil to hold the carb at 1/4 throttle so he could at least shift untill we got some tools. then we foil taped a transmission coolant line so the craptastic tempo could get home. then after my bro called me up and said he was broke down i came out with duck tape and a socket set. what happened is that is (ye ha scab company) ford work van radiator line fell off and the line got caught in the fan was ripped to shreds. so wemade a quick tube with duct tape and took off the fan but about 1/2 way back to the shop his front pass. brake line blew and he had to drive on some guys lawn to avoid hitt ing me so then we took sockets and a socket wrench to crimp the lines fill the brake resivor with yes a 6 pack of lablatts beer and some moldy gatorade we found on the ground, bleed them and it held for about 76 miles wit the abs and brake light on the whole tim so then we were broke down 1 mile from the shop so we just towed it with fan belts from his truck. they were tied from his bumper to my caprices hitch. i got shop with some E brake stops and O throw it in park. then my uncles truck on the way to the property to hunt his trans switched to 4x4 whil traveling 65 mph i thought that wasnt posible but then since the front spin faster that the back if you did not no that about 4x4 trucks and we start spinning in to a ditch. we get out and the front driver side awle was snaped and it wouldnt go to 2wd so we actullad used a 30-30 spare gun barell and let it fall out. thats it for now il have to think of more good ones later. so do you think im a redneck? lol :alcoholic:

[Teh Ricer Civic!]

Uhhh wow caprice...

[Sixty8panther]

I posted this earlier this year: BTW: - '68 Camaro Alternator is chained to the inner fender as the bracket is all effed up. At 6000+ rpm it would throw the belt and this has been the only workable solution. Since the car redlines at 7000 and routinely gets to see that kind of RPM I had to find some kind of solution. - '79 Caddy: "Custom" generic antena off of a Mitsubishi Sigma.... rear view mirror super glued on & driver's seat will get the duct tape treatment if I find white tape since the white leather is torn up. I will not hae the money to reupholster it for a while. - '86 Caddy: duct tape on some weather stripping that needs replacement. - '84 Datsun: a part of the driver's seat is sewn-up all half assed by yours truly where it was ripped. Upper part of the grille is twisty-tied on since the clips are broken off and it usedto rattle.

[ShadowDog]

A section of the exhaust pipe between an end connection and the muffler rotted out in my wifes' ol' 91 Civic. It bent and would rattle annoyingly. Until I could weld a section of pipe in, I used a coat hanger to support the pipe up and prevent an exhaust leak. I replaced the broken pipe and my wife was complaining of another rattling noise in the exhaust soon afterward. I kept looking for another leak but everything was solid. After a week of her complaining and me being unable to find anything loose, I finally realized what the problem was; I'd left the coat hanger on the body and it was resting against the top of the exhaust pipe. :rolleyes: The bolts holding the rubber endcaps on the steel bumper of my ol' Escort were rusted and loose. A little (whole lot) of epoxy worked wonders. Hmm, strangely enough, I fixed most everything else properly, or with replacement parts. Oops, forgot about fixing the cracked-and-hanging valance of another Escort with tie-wire normally used for suspended ceiling. Actually, tie-wire is the best thing to carry in the emergency kit. A lower-bolt on the hood release mechanism in my 95 Monte Carlo rusted through and it bent upward, lifting the hood about two inches. A little tie-wire to hold it down did the trick until I could replace the bolt. Edited October 8, 2005 by ShadowDog