I am Mcguyver

[DatUtahGuy]

ur a tow truck driver?

what gave you that silly idea? he probably bakes cakes at the old corner bakery.

[Jparkr]

I have a funny story about throttle cables.

So a few months back James's room mate Will is driving my bronzit to the store to get us food while we work on Will's car.
My cable snapped up the road but its an automatic still, so we just put it in reverse and cruised back to the shop where I took the cable from the hood opening mechanism and rigged up my own cable.
It was going to be temporary but I did a decent enough job where I didn't notice so I drove it for months.

Then New years eve Im driving up to seattle and I take an exit on 'lake city way' where there is a tunnel... with no shoulders... going up hill. I go to accelerate and BOOM foot to the floor, SHIT. Im going up hill, torque converter, PLEASE make it up this. Cars are flying through and dodging me. Im just like Im gonna get hit oh man. But I made it out and into a safe area to pull over and get to work.
At this point I should mention Im going to dinner, Im in a fucking suit.
I get out, take up the suit jacket. roll up the sleeves and pop my trunk. Fuck just really thick copper speaker wire.
I have Nothing to cut it with... I start smashing it into the ground and twisting my foot over it, then I use my keys to finally get a good chunk, about 5 inches long.
Ok I bend the broken part of the hood/throttle cable to 180 degrees. Then I pierce a good chunk of the wire with it. Loop the wire through the pedal assembly and re-pierce. It works! However flooring the pedal = 1/3 throttle but Fuck that. I make my dinner 20 minutes late. Got it home the next day with no problems ether.
Needless to say, It has a New throttle cable in there now. Thanks to James who found this story so entertaining that he bought it for me. hahaha

[James Crivellone]

I have a funny story about throttle cables.

So a few months back James's room mate Will is driving my bronzit to the store to get us food while we work on Will's car.
My cable snapped up the road but its an automatic still, so we just put it in reverse and cruised back to the shop where I took the cable from the hood opening mechanism and rigged up my own cable.
It was going to be temporary but I did a decent enough job where I didn't notice so I drove it for months.

Then New years eve Im driving up to seattle and I take an exit on 'lake city way' where there is a tunnel... with no shoulders... going up hill. I go to accelerate and BOOM foot to the floor, SHIT. Im going up hill, torque converter, PLEASE make it up this. Cars are flying through and dodging me. Im just like Im gonna get hit oh man. But I made it out and into a safe area to pull over and get to work.
At this point I should mention Im going to dinner, Im in a fucking suit.
I get out, take up the suit jacket. roll up the sleeves and pop my trunk. Fuck just really thick copper speaker wire.
I have Nothing to cut it with... I start smashing it into the ground and twisting my foot over it, then I use my keys to finally get a good chunk, about 5 inches long.
Ok I bend the broken part of the hood/throttle cable to 180 degrees. Then I pierce a good chunk of the wire with it. Loop the wire through the pedal assembly and re-pierce. It works! However flooring the pedal = 1/3 throttle but Fuck that. I make my dinner 20 minutes late. Got it home the next day with no problems ether.
Needless to say, It has a New throttle cable in there now. Thanks to James who found this story so entertaining that he bought it for me. hahaha

God damnit lol

[Money$hit]

what gave you that silly idea? he probably bakes cakes at the old corner bakery.

im just askin.

[thornado327i]

I heard of a story of shoe-laces operated wipers in heavy rain, but throttle?? You are a truly worthy E30 owner! "Indeed you are powerful".

I have a story (rather pale compared to yours, but still) about driving home from work:
My shifter assembly broke in a funny way - I could only put the car on third and fourth gear, and with some effort too. Driving in rush hours' traffic with those too gears was not very cool... But i made it. The clutch survived too.

[Naplm00]

Update!

Well new Accel cable is installed

easy job! only pliers required


made my pedal silky smooth

From now on, when i get a new e30, i will replace this part..makes a huge pedal fell difference and is worht the peace of mind

[brandon11130]

Alright heres one for you.

Shortley after I finished my m50 swap in my last e30 I was driving it up 78, seeing what kind of milage I could get on a tank. I was hauling ass, it was around 2am and i was almost halfway to NYC roughly 80 miles from my house/garage. Im moving along and all the sudden I notice the temp gauge creeping upwards. I pull the car over, of course there is nothing around, no exit, and the only one had no services. I had just finished cleaning out my car so my usuall supplies were not in it.

I open the hood on the side of 70 and noice that my radiator had fallen off the rubber pads and the crankshaft was burried a 1/2 inch into the radiator. Since it had fallen off the pad the upper rad hose managed to rub the alternator belt all the way through. So I have a torn upper rad hose, and a DESTROYED radiator.

Heres what I had to work with, 6 zip ties, some cleaning supplies and a claybar, A plastic bag from a cigar I had earlier and randomly I had a 24 case of deer park 12oz water bottles in the trunk.

There is no way im paying for a tow so heres what i do. I take my shoelaces out and tie the radiator to the rad support in multiple locations.
Then i take part of the claybar, roll it into a big ball, and shove it into the hole the crank left in the middle of the radiator.
Then I flatten out the remainder of the claybar into a sheet, wrap it around the upper rad hose, then wrap the plastic bag around that, then pull 6 zip ties tightly around it. Still leaks, but at a much more managable pace.

Then I start pouring 24 12oz water bottles into the rad untill its full. Start it up and launch down 78 as fast as I could to the next gas station, stop fill up all 24 water bottles in the bathroom, then the attendant asks if i need bottles, so i take 4 gallons of used winsheild washer fluid and fill them up too. I continued down 78 stopping ever 20 mins to re fill the rad. I made it all the way home, didnt overhead or anything :) Im quite proud of that night.

[blunttech]

ur a tow truck driver?

wow youre quick. you never cease to amaze me

[Miasma]

Haha great story.

[nickpdx]

Alright heres one for you.

Shortley after I finished my m50 swap in my last e30 I was driving it up 78, seeing what kind of milage I could get on a tank. I was hauling ass, it was around 2am and i was almost halfway to NYC roughly 80 miles from my house/garage. Im moving along and all the sudden I notice the temp gauge creeping upwards. I pull the car over, of course there is nothing around, no exit, and the only one had no services. I had just finished cleaning out my car so my usuall supplies were not in it.

I open the hood on the side of 70 and noice that my radiator had fallen off the rubber pads and the crankshaft was burried a 1/2 inch into the radiator. Since it had fallen off the pad the upper rad hose managed to rub the alternator belt all the way through. So I have a torn upper rad hose, and a DESTROYED radiator.

Heres what I had to work with, 6 zip ties, some cleaning supplies and a claybar, A plastic bag from a cigar I had earlier and randomly I had a 24 case of deer park 12oz water bottles in the trunk.

There is no way im paying for a tow so heres what i do. I take my shoelaces out and tie the radiator to the rad support in multiple locations.
Then i take part of the claybar, roll it into a big ball, and shove it into the hole the crank left in the middle of the radiator.
Then I flatten out the remainder of the claybar into a sheet, wrap it around the upper rad hose, then wrap the plastic bag around that, then pull 6 zip ties tightly around it. Still leaks, but at a much more managable pace.

Then I start pouring 24 12oz water bottles into the rad untill its full. Start it up and launch down 78 as fast as I could to the next gas station, stop fill up all 24 water bottles in the bathroom, then the attendant asks if i need bottles, so i take 4 gallons of used winsheild washer fluid and fill them up too. I continued down 78 stopping ever 20 mins to re fill the rad. I made it all the way home, didnt overhead or anything :) Im quite proud of that night.

That is ingenuity! haha :D

[george graves]

wtf? We are here for you, when you drive your car into a fucking ditch..

How is it that every tow truck driver I ever speak to claims they are that one guy that saves little old lady's? Why is that?

I bet you guys almost loose money on calls like that. The real money is in impound fees and tow charges for the city.

And, before you ask - No, I've never had my car towed or impounded.

But I did have some ass hat try and hook up my car before I ran out and stopped him. - I was living at a beach apartment that required a parking pass. Just after he lifted the FRONT wheels of my RWD e21 I confronted him, took his flash light, drug him by the collor, and show him my parking pass displayed on the dash.

Honestly, my UPS driver has done more training than any tow truck driver ever has. So don't bull shit me.

[318isbmw]

Epic, not sure how I missed this thread. Had mine snap 3 hours from home in portland. If you pull the cable out of the sheeth, 14 gauge wire I believe it was slides right through. Crimp both ends and it fits just like stock, works great as a fix to get where you need to go.

[downernsp]

Well on the way to work today my accelrator cable snapped, huge bummer.

It snapped in the car/truck lane of the NJ turnpike northbound next to exit 14 for Newark... super huge bummer.

NJ TPK is a restricted roadway so you need to use NJTPK approved tows..like 80 bucks just for the hookup and pile it on for mileage..its rape.

After about 20 min of fiddling, i got fed up.

Took 2 bootlaces from my camping gear stillinthe back seat and tied them togeather, then tied this to the throttle body armature, rolled down the window and started the car, got out and checked where about 1500-2000 RPM was with the TB opened, shut the car off and themn pulled the TB with the bootlaces to the window, rolled up the window on the lace so that the TB was stuck open, the hood closing opened it up a little more.

Started the car and drove off. kinda scary. but its a 5 speed so not all that bad.


Drove over to the nearest strauss/pepboys...they had NO cables of any sort. I figured they would at least a have a accel cable for a old beetle i could cut down...nada

Noticed a Lowes int he same parking lot and headed over.

Got 3 feet of 1/16 arcraft cable..they were out of cable knarps (brass stops with screw in them) so i got some aluminum ferrules and some nuts.

Slipped the cable into the old houseing and it was too large, ripped out the old cable housing and removed the plastic liner, then re assembled with the aricraft cable...sucess!

Crimped the ferrules on with a pair of pliers using the nuts like a washer or stop.

Carefully drove to work and ordered a new assemble for $20 bucks.



Super ghetto moped/vw style fix that worked in a pinch.

saved me some major bread



Share your crazy stories! :nice:





PS if you accel cable is justa little stiff like mine was, REPLACE THE CABLE!!!!

I would of just shot the car hahaha out od anger (then cryed later hahaha) not very patiant eventhough I know my way around E30's hat off to you.

[Snoopy]

I was riding my nighthawk when the accel cable snapped, so I rolled it into a state park. went back a few days later, unable to get a cable by then, and it had a sticker saying they would tow it. I had no way to get it back home, but my friends house was about a mile away, so I.... god.. used my teeth to pull the accel cable and drive it to my friends house where I could keep it for a week or two. that was a fucking adrenaline rush, and it got me a few weird looks from passing cars, Im sure I looked like a nut.. maybe I am.

[Justin B]

My cable just broke yesterday on the way home from work in heavy but fast commute traffic. Fortunately, I was moving at about 40mph so I had enough speed to move over into the slow lane and onto the shoulder. I did the same thing, untied my shoes and hand throttled it the rest of the way home! hahah