[mzbk2l]

Thought it would be interesting to post a custom idea or solution to an automotive problem that you came up with that either saved a ton of time over the "accepted" way of doing something, or else let you do something that "couldn't be done". Share your ingenuity with the rest of us.

I got the idea for this thread from a solution Greg Reid just posted (thanks, Greg) for looking for a leak in a rear windshield: spray a foamy-type cleaner on the outside of the window, and blow compressed air around the glass from the inside. Wherever the foam blows away, there's the leak. I had never heard that method before, but it's cheap, easy, and makes a lot of sense. What other great ideas are out there?

Here's the one I'm most proud of: I was selling a 2000 Dodge Ram Sport, and when the new owner had his mechanic inspect it, he found that the rear axle seals were leaking. No problem, I'll fix that in an hour.... Well, as soon as I pulled the axles, I heard the nice metallic clatter of broken positraction clutch plates falling into the differential. Sh*t!!!!

Dodge doesn't sell the clutch packs alone, only in an assembled carrier ($600), and that doesn't come with a ring gear, so I'd need to change the old one over. They don't sell ring gear bolts separately, only with a new ring and pinion set ($500, IIRC), so I was looking at over a grand in parts to do it through Mopar.

The local driveline shop sells the clutch packs for $60, but they tell me there's no way to install them with the carrier in the truck. Bring it to them and they can have me out the door for about $1,000. Damn, I'm trying to sell this thing, not invest in it! So, I bought the clutch packs from them and said I'd do it myself. I looked online, and in the service manuals, and everything I found said you can't install the new clutch packs with the carrier in the truck. So.....

I came up with my own method:
1) I set the clutch packs and spider gears in place in the carrier.
2) I cut a piece of 1/2-13 all thread about 6" long (or whatever was the longest length I could slide into the carrier with it still in the rear end), then threaded two nuts all the way to the center of the all thread. I placed a pair of 2" washers outboard of each nut and simply turned the nuts outward. The washers compressed the clutch packs enough that I could
3) Install the pinion gears and pin, and I was back in business.

I came up with my own solution to a problem that my driveline shop, my Chrysler dealer, the internet, and the service manual said couldn't be solved. Saved myself $950, too!

Anybody else got a good one?

[Half-Inch Stud]

Great posi-stuffin solution.

My good one: DIY for least expense and decent results. Except Body work.

[Greg Reid]

Well, my only one is really dependent on how it comes out and the jury is still in deliberation. I bought a roof on ebay and had the guy cut out the donor parts to repair mine. Hard to match the radii of the various edge pieces over the rain gutter and such. So far I have welded them in place without setting the headliner on fire.

[Half-Inch Stud]

"""So far I have welded them in place without setting the headliner on fire."""
That is sooooo funny.

[cjawood]

I got a 1974 Oldsmobile omega and a 1969 400 doner motor from a 69 catilina.
The city made me get rid of the car (new city law about wrecked cars in town)so I took the motor and the wrecking yard got the rest. Well when installing the motor in the olds I found the motor mounts where about 7" off so I had to make my own mounts after 2 trys and about 5 days later and alot of welding, I got them made. Then when I went to put in exaust I found that the steering box and the starter where right under the drivers exaust manifold. So I welded up some funny looking 2.5 in all stainless steel exaust system with a funky reducer,short elbow, 3 45s and flanges (exausting) ....So wile sharing with people at work they would make fun of me saying the mounts would break and the motor would spin under the hood,The exaust would brake ext. ext. mabey they are just jealous?
Well everything is working out so far so good...I will be installing the rest of the exaust today. I cant wait to hear it run. I am so exited...!

[mzbk2l]

Sounds like that one would have been expensive to have someone else tackle!

[george kujanski]

Last summer my son (who lives in Iowa) was visiting one of his friends who lives in S. Wisconsin, for the weekend & had his 2000 WS6. While there, the PS shaft broke internally in the PS pump and the pulley was walking in and out of the pump as it ran (serpentine belt). So off they go the a local autozone place and got a pump & I told them to get a pulley removal tool also.

So they go ahead to pull the pulley from the old pump but claim the tool doesn't work. Then they try to support the pulley on some bricks and hammer the old shaft out.

Well, it's a composite pulley and it shattered. No pulley to be had; dealer item. The boy also did not renew his 100 mi. free tow, AAA membership. I tell him to bring the pieces home and he gets a ride back to my house.

I assemble the pieces and form a metal disk and bolt it to the reassembled pulley to hold it together. We go back to Wisconsin and put the makeshift pump and pulley back on the TA at about midnight, and he drives it back to our house, about 60 miles.

Next day he finds the only local dealer with a pulley, changes it using the tool properly, and drives back to Iowa, missing 1/2 day of work.

George

[Greg Reid]

George made me think of one. I was replacing the doorhinge bushings on my GTO. Have you ever tried to replace the spring without a spring installation tool? Nearly impossible I believe.
Anyway, I used a brass doorhinge (from a house door). With some creative filing and bending, I got the spring to capture the hinge on each end. Next, I drilled a hole in it for a bolt and nut. I clamped it, along with the spring, in a vise and tightened the vise down until the spring was completely compressed in the jaws of the hinge. I tightened the bolt down completely. I slipped the spring into place in the door and loosened the bolt until the spring expanded into place, then I slid the home made tool out, leaving the spring in place.
Kinda hard to describe properly but if you've ever used a storebought spring installation tool, you'll understand.
Easier to buy one but I needed it (wanted it, really) that day.

[sharkbite]

I found gas prices are way to high, so I cut holes in my floor board and am going Frintstone style

[JohnS66GTO]

When the horn stopped working on my '66 GTO I found the problem was the horn relay. Looked everywhere for a new one, and found that the replacement looks completely different. Originals are like gold because it's a 1 or 2 year part, only on Pontiac A-body.

So... I carefully opened up the relay, removed the burned-out armature wire and re-wound it with some magnet wire I found at Radio Shack. Works like new (for last 2 years) and looks absolutely original. I think I spent about $2 and a few hours including the trip to buy the wire.

John

[Half-Inch Stud]

Greg...good hinge job on the hinge using a hinge.
------------------------------------------------------
Problem: After selling a mint AM/FM mono for $45, Realized I did NOT want monthly Satellite Radio fees, and Couldn't afford/find a DELCO stereo for the 68.

Solution: Went to U-Pull-it and bought 3 70's Delcos Stereo ($15), and was given a 71 Olds Delco Stereo. I modified a Caddy Delco to fit. And boy does it play nice... and sold the Olds Delco for nearly $200.
-----------------------------------------------------
One late 80's Summer, was on the way to Bro's wedding at Penn Sate. 68GTO, 455 AC on, 4 riders. Was time to pass, TH400 kicked-down, 4.10s doing their thing, TH400 Upshifts HARD and Iron Water Pump busts-out. 100miles from home on Route 322 in nowhere land.

Mech fan wobblin. Pullin over, I pop the hood and a garden hose of hot antifreeze is pouring out the pulley backside. I try the throttle, (subconscious hunch) and the water stops gushing out. Nearly no leak at ~2000RPM. So I pop the Radiator Cap to half-turn and keep driving.

Rally Temp gauge steady, no ping, and the notorious 322 hill in Lewisburg upon us. WE made that hill, Lost the PS belt on the way. got to the wedding, reception, then R&R'd to a $15 replacement pump in nice clothes towards the Reception's end, and we drove home in style.

Solution was: we kept drivin. HIS

[Jack Gifford]

Like John's horn relay story above, a couple of weeks ago the horn relay of my '55 Plymouth died. I didn't want to suffer the delay (and $$$?) of acquiring a replacement. I could have used a later relay, except that the original serves as a sort of junction block for the factory wiring. So I removed the cover, found a break in the coil wire, soldered it, and put it back together- zero cost!

[mzbk2l]

Nice electrical fixes; not many people will tackle those!

George, I like that story about bolting the disc to the PS pulley to hold it together. I watched my dad do that with a broken distributor cap one time to get us home.

[Gus_Mahn]

I've had a couple of cars with bad vaccuum choke pull off's. I found that I could bend a nail into a tight u shape and press it onto the choke horn to keep the choke open just the little amount needed to keep the car from flooding while cold until the bi-metal spring gets hot enough to open the choke. Sometimes it takes a few trys to get the right sized nail, but it works great and has saved me from buying carbs on some imported cars where carb parts are not available. It will take a few extra pumps on the gas to get it to start. Once running, you can't tell the differance from OEM in terms of driveability.

[TheMonkey]

I had a guy tell me one time that I would need a rack to do a weld on the bottom of my car.... look what I figured out:

[TheMonkey]

And then the fuse blew out on the power to the welder. I didn't have a fuse, so I plugged it into the power pole!

[Jack Gifford]

I like your sense of humor- but that picture of the guy under the truck is REALLY scary! I suppose he's welding the gas tank?

[TheMonkey]

Yes, prob welding the tank with gas in it.

I can hardly believe how scary these pics are. The guy under the truck gives me the most creeps. I keep thinking he's going to burn his hand or something and jerk back into the board.

[TheMonkey]

Seriously though mzb... your clutch pack installation was ingenious.

[Squidward]

The plastic roller on the regulator crank arm for my 67 bird quarter window broke. Rather than buy a new regulator (roller pin is welded on, not a replaceable part it appears) I used a bolt with a couple of washers, and welded away. I now have a working metal roller that will last longer than the window!