The ghetto rig thread....

apsmith49921

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You've all done it.... you've been 16 trying to get your car on the road. What's the craziest, worst,stupid,moronic.... ghetto rig you've done? This thread is not to judge just poke fun at some of the dumb stuff you did in your teens or early 20s

I'll start... installed some racing seats in a car the I owned (Honda go figure...) and in order to get the car home had to have a seat belt. Purchased some 4 pt harnesses and one side wasnt able to be bolted in without modifications. So to get it home... zip tied it down. Yes zip tied a seat belt in place lol

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PinkieT

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Had an old F-250 that kept shutting off at random times. I ran a hose from the fuel pump to a plastic gas can and it worked great. Turns out a piece of electrical tape that was loose in the bottom of the tank would randomly plug the fuel suction line. Yep, drove it a few weeks with a plastic gas can tied in the engine compartment with a piece of hose shoved in it...
 

Werecow

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I had a 84 S-10 4x4 with the lil 2.8 v6 that I though I was hell on wheels with!! I put a set of 255/60-15 general xp's on it and a set of traction bars (the snubbers never hit the springs but they looked cool!!) Wound up getting a set of red 84 corvette bucket seats for it.. never bolted em in, they just sat in the floor and you had to wear your seatbelt or you would wobble everywhere.. And I put a dual cat back on it with twin tip resonators at the rear bumper and no mufflers!! I thought that thing was hot shit!!
 

RAU03MACH

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When I was younger my dad would not let me drive any thing broken anywhere till I fixed 100 %
And checked all fluids tires you name it
I just got used to it
Just like a oil leak I'm on it
Because it will get worse time
I am glad my father pushed me to do things right
 

MyLittlePony

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Gee, I dunno. I got a story of me trying to drive it with a blown head gasket, because if you had just ONE unexcused tardy, that was an hours detention. I don’t really have any stories of me fixing something stupidly, beyond limping the car home on various occasions.

Oh, wait! I got one, but I wasn’t a young kid. So, after the V8 swap in 2008, I noticed that whenever I drove more than an hour, the car would not start back up hot. You had to wait. And if you drive it too long, it would stall in the middle of a busy highway during rush hour! I thought it might be an issue with the TFI module, so I bought a new one. Same issue. And what sucks is that you can never figure out what works and what doesn’t until you drive such an extended period of time.

So years would go by, and eventually I decided to reinstall my old one, and use thermal grease that they use with computers. I never knew if it worked until I had to drive my daughter 2 and a half hours (ended up being 4) in the literal freaking no where, where there is no cellular coverage for a mother to call AAA for a rescue. ...so rather than risk putting me and my 7yo daughter in danger, I stuck on some fancy metallic blue fins all over the device, which I had from 16 years ago. The kind that are intended to be used on memory sticks for cooling from way back when. ...I was so 1337 back in the day. Anyway, since I know it works, I won’t take it off. It might have just needed that thermal grease, but the only way to know is to test it without the fins, but I’m not doing it.

Most of my early sins though are cosmetic, so Im not sure if that applies. There was the time I attempted to cover yellow cracks in my red leather with lipstick. I also did a decent sewing job on it too.

upload_2020-9-23_21-52-59.jpeg
upload_2020-9-23_21-53-45.jpeg

But when I was 16-17, I was really having a difficult time dealing with all this red in the interior, so I bought a set of these in blue:
http://www.mwspeedshop.com/jamz.htm

I actually liked it and decided to replace it by painting them metallic blue.

upload_2020-9-23_21-21-54.jpeg

Keep in mind, this was right before Fast & The Furious came out, so I was pretty styling, and ahead of the automotive youth trends. I remember my mom being upset with me. Her biggest concern was what if I ever wanted to change it back? I told her that I would just replace them with new ones. ...I ended up just painting everything gunmetal instead.
 
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MustangChris

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Gee, I dunno. I got a story of me trying to drive it with a blown head gasket, because if you had just ONE unexcused tardy, that was an hours detention. I don’t really have any stories of me fixing something stupidly, beyond limping the car home on various occasions.

Oh, wait! I got one, but I wasn’t a young kid. So, after the V8 swap in 2008, I noticed that whenever I drove more than an hour, the car would not start back up hot. You had to wait. And if you drive it too long, it would stall in the middle of a busy highway during rush hour! I thought it might be an issue with the TFI module, so I bought a new one. Same issue. And what sucks is that you can never figure out what works and what doesn’t until you drive such an extended period of time.

So years would go by, and eventually I decided to reinstall my old one, and use thermal grease that they use with computers. I never knew if it worked until I had to drive my daughter 2 and a half hours (ended up being 4) in the literal freaking no where, where there is no cellular coverage for a mother to call AAA for a rescue. ...so rather than risk putting me and my 7yo daughter in danger, I stuck on some fancy metallic blue fins all over the device, which I had from 16 years ago. The kind that are intended to be used on memory sticks for cooling from way back when. ...I was so 1337 back in the day. Anyway, since I know it works, I won’t take it off. It might have just needed that thermal grease, but the only way to know is to test it without the fins, but I’m not doing it.

Most of my early sins though are cosmetic, so Im not sure if that applies. There was the time I attempted to cover yellow cracks in my red leather with lipstick. I also did a decent sewing job on it too.

View attachment 6741
View attachment 6742

But when I was 16-17, I was really having a difficult time dealing with all this red in the interior, so I bought a set of these in blue:
http://www.mwspeedshop.com/jamz.htm

I actually liked it and decided to replace it by painting them metallic blue.

View attachment 6740

Keep in mind, this was right before Fast & The Furious came out, so I was pretty styling, and ahead of the automotive youth trends. I remember my mom being upset with me. Her biggest concern was what if I ever wanted to change it back? I told her that I would just replace them with new ones. ...I ended up just painting everything gunmetal instead.

I'd sell my left nut to see a picture of your home made heat sync. lol!
 

MustangChris

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LMAO....you say that to a woman!!

Aw geeze. I didn't know that. lol.

We should have "chromosomes" listed under our profiles so i can double check that kind of thing before talking about people's heat syncs and stuff...

Her's could say "Two-X" and your's could say "One-X, One-Y" and mine could say "One too many" :D
 

MyLittlePony

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I'd sell my left nut to see a picture of your home made heat sync. lol!

I won’t be able to take a pic till later this week. Cars been in the shop for TWO MONTHS!!! I know the reason, but I think I’m supposed to NOT know, as it’s sort of a surprise that will get its own dedicated thread later. My husband has our 8yo daughter convinced that my car is being painted blue (it got a respray last December, so very unlikely.) But for me, the running gag is that he got me a shogun kit, and THATS being sprayed blue. I don’t even know if they even still make that. But we both have similar sick senses of humor. So no one here needs to worry. It’s just sad that a shop can completely restore a damaged body and paint in 4 weeks, but take 8 for, well... ...one specialized piece. It must’ve been VERY bad.

But I’ll get pics when I can. I honestly remember trying to back last year when I did it (wow, it’s really been a full year). But that the CAI blocked the view. It’s not really home made though. It’s just something I picked up at Frys Electronics back when people were souping up CPU boxes with LEDs and cold cathodes, with giant windows on the side to show off all the pretty bits. ...and how much dust that gets in there.

Her's could say "Two-X" and your's could say "One-X, One-Y" and mine could say "One too many" :D

upload_2020-9-26_13-29-9.jpeg
 

MyLittlePony

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upload_2020-9-26_13-38-59.jpeg

This is what I used. Only one apparently. One package includes 2 heat sinks and two spreaders. I think I used the spreaders from both packages and didn’t ever want to throw away the pretty heat sinks (I had forgotten what they were called, so thank you)
 

Werecow

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View attachment 6802

This is what I used. Only one apparently. One package includes 2 heat sinks and two spreaders. I think I used the spreaders from both packages and didn’t ever want to throw away the pretty heat sinks (I had forgotten what they were called, so thank you)

Looks like someone needs to cough up a nut!!
 

MustangChris

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Looks like someone needs to cough up a nut!!

bd7bb80bcc4623ef3e9c6124381ce361.jpg
 

PinkieT

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Grey market Mercedes was stuck on I35 in the middle of Nowheresville, Texas with steam coming out of the hood. I pulled over to see if I could help. It was a split upper radiator hose. Luckily, it split just behind a hose clamp. The driver had no idea what to do. I grabbed my hunting knife, cut off the bad end, and put the hose back on the radiator. It was now too short and the fan was going to hit it. I grabbed some wire and wired that sucker up out of the way. I had a 44 oz. Big Gulp I had just bought, and between that and what the dude had in his car we replaced enough fluid to get him to the next exit.
 

joe65

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good story MacGyver! i like it!

the 1st vehicle my Dad let me drive on a regular basis was a 1970 K5 Blazer. It had the 350 in it, automatic. Anyways my dad had me doing routine
maintenance on the thing for learning. I don't remember the exact reason, but i was doing something and had to take the mechanically driven fuel pump off and it had a rod that that was driven by the cam or crank, who knows which now, but the rod hung between the 2 so when i pulled the pump out the rod fell out. I couldn't figure out how to get the thing to stay in while i tried to hold the pump in place and start the bolts. I tried for who knows how long when my Dad came out and watched what i was doing, took the rod from me put some heavy grease on it and stuck it in the slot and it held in place while I put the pump back on. Who knows if i would have ever gotten that thing back together back then if he hadn't checked on me.
 
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MustangChris

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good story MacGyver! i like it!

the 1st vehicle my Dad let me drive on a regular basis was a 1970 K5 Blazer. It had the 350 in it, automatic. Anyways my dad had me doing routine
maintenance on the thing for learning. I don't remember the exact reason, but i was doing something and had to take the mechanically driven fuel pump off and it had a rod that that was driven by the cam or crank, who knows which now, but the rod hung between the 2 so when i pulled the pump out the rod fell out. I couldn't figure out how to get the thing to stay in while i tried to hold the pump in place and start the bolts. I tried for who knows how long when my Dad came out and watched what i was doing, took the rod from me put some heavy grease on it and stuck it in the slot and it held in place while I put the pump back on. Who knows if i would have ever gotten that thing back together back then if he hadn't checked on me.


Dads.... what would we do without them?

Thinking about it, I think the mechanical pumps were driven off the cam. A dollop of grease wouldn't cause any issue over time, I wouldn't think. Good idea, Dad!
 

PinkieT

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Yep. We threw some nice goopy STP on the rod to keep it up in the big block Mopars I worked on when putting on a new fuel pump.
 

evilcw311

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Had an 89 Probe GT when in high school. Smoked the alternator a few times due to my amps.

One had it happen on my way to my open house for college in Indy and had to stop at 4 service stations to throw it on a quick charger just to get enough charge to make it to the next station and so on and so on.

Why would I do this?? Cause you have to get under the car, pull a power steering line, the oil filter, the intake tubing and air box and have a second set of hands to get it out. So once I was done with open house we had the fun part of doing this in a parking lot in the snow.


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