Questionable repairs that you have done, which have lasted a long time..

[djjerme]

I think every one of these I have done at one time or another.

Heck, my buddy is constantly asking me "why?" when he was going through the race car the last few weeks..

Also, if you happen to find yourself at the track, and with a leaking (or obliterated) CV boot - that self sticking Glad wrap and duct tape can survive a full weekend of racing..

[nando]

I've done that. Well, with duct tape. actually glad wrap is a good idea, the duct tape doesn't really stick that well. that was definitely a temporary repair until the new CV boots came, however.

[djjerme]

I was actually surprised it worked as well!

Heck, it could be advertising fodder for Glad..

[exhaust]

I don't have to many on the E30, mostly just undoing the previous owner's.

However my E36 is basically a joke. The whole front end is held on by six mismatched 10mm bolts and a breathtaking amount of zip ties. Considering how often the front end comes off, it's actually pretty convenient and holds up well on the track.

Tape over rust holes in the body, zip tied tie rods, etc. Hot fixes that just never got properly fixed...

[smashervt]

Haven't done much on my e30 but on my e24 almost all of the interior and dash was held on by hot glue. Works great :D

[Johnnyboy101]

As promised.. Actually, now that i look at it i could just clean up the crimp splices with soldered joints and it would look better. The 110v chord is snug and has been working for 12 years, so why change it..

Man I have been having a hell of a time getting my depos hooked up. I don't suppose you have a product number for that cord? I bought a generic power cord today after seeing this thread yesterday but it doesn't match up...

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[Northern]

I'm guilty of the headlight hackjob as well... I used butt connectors and electrical tape to splice in my Depos. I think I had the weird pigtails they come with pushed onto the headlight connector pins, potted in with silicone? Then spliced right into the harness with butt connectors. One by one they would fail, and I'd go back and solder/heatshrink them. I think the last few were redone with actual crimp splices with heatshrink.

When my speedometer connector at the diff crumbled away, I used butt connectors as new female pins. I think that lasted 2 years? had to go up under the back seat before I found clean wire to splice into after I finally replaced everything.

Rust hole in the trunk, filled with spray foam and covered in rocker guard for a winter

Mangled an outer balljoint by beating it out of the housing (first time, to install my old H&R Race springs) cut the tip of the balljoint stud off and threw a nut on with epoxy to run for "a day or two" while I waited for a new outer BJ to show up. Ended up being ~6mo before I actually replaced it. I think I had like negative 1-2 threads of safety...

[nando]

Man I have been having a hell of a time getting my depos hooked up. I don't suppose you have a product number for that cord? I bought a generic power cord today after seeing this thread yesterday but it doesn't match up...

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no lol, it was 12 years ago, I just found them in a bucket of chords at RS. I can pull the end off and take a picture, but I assume you could find something like it at home depot or something.

[Kershaw]

Man I have been having a hell of a time getting my depos hooked up. I don't suppose you have a product number for that cord? I bought a generic power cord today after seeing this thread yesterday but it doesn't match up...

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In a pinch, you can just crimp on the female end of an insulated spade connector and shove them on. If they're not tight enough, just squeeze them with pliers. I actually ran them like this for... 3 years. So that's another questionable repair that lasted a long time.

[Julien]

M50 swapped e30 with a 324td viscous fan kept destroying radiators. I couldn't believe that the NOS m5 mounts were bad.. so I zip tied them. Worked like a charm.


I told this story to a buddy of mine who refused to acknowledge the motor mounts in his truck were bad, so he zip tied his as well instead of replacing them. Everything was fine and dandy until he rear ended someone years later and the motor about fell out. By this point he had completely forgotten about the zip ties. When I heard of the accident I asked him if he'd gotten rid of them before the adjuster came by to look at his truck, he yelled "fuuuuuu, gotta go take care of that asap"

[Kershaw]

How do you zip tie a fan?

[varg]

He zip tied the engine mounts to restrict movement and keep the engine from shifting and pushing the fan into the radiator.

[jeffnhiscars]

I had a Vauxhall station wagon (who even knows what they are) that had split up the door pillars and across the roof. The only thing that kept it from falling apart was 2 steel plates welded to th roof. The axles were offset so the car went down the road sideways and was affectionately known as "the Blue Crab" :)

[dnguyen1963]

I had a Vauxhall station wagon (who even knows what they are) that had split up the door pillars and across the roof. The only thing that kept it from falling apart was 2 steel plates welded to th roof. The axles were offset so the car went down the road sideways and was affectionately known as "the Blue Crab" :)

See...good old GM technology happens in Europe too. I'm surprised that you did not try to zip tie that sucker.

[estoguy]

I have done the wrapping of a CV with rubber and zip ties... definitely worked until I could get them fixed on my last Jetta.

Not sure if questionable is the right term, but I've found ways to save money on certain repairs. My last car was a MKIII Jetta 2.0L and the muffler rotted off. Took it to an exhaust shop and asked if they could just straight pipe it from where it broke (the resonator was still on and intact). The guy said $60 cash and you'll be good to go. Had it done, and the car actually sounded really good, I think I got a couple hp out of it as well.

Did a similar thing with my E30... both muffler and resonator rotted, so I replaced the resonator with an elbow and put a glasspack on the end. I tried a straight pipe at the back, but it sucked - loud, and seemed to rob power. Put it all up myself, found a neat hanger kit and it worked. I was about $100 for the whole thing. Got a post up of it in the exhaust thread, if anyone is interested.