Macgyver moment

[orygonian]

My all time favorite thread to read through is "your favorite Macgyver moment" on advrider.com. I thought it might be fun or even helpful to hear from the Samba folks about their Macgyver moments. Here are a few from the thread above . .....

A match book is the proper thickness to set the points on a VW and the strike strip will 'file' the points contacts - will probably get you home on many other vehicles too.

Driving my old Volvo sedan in pouring rain.... klunk.... and the wipers quit. I investigated and found the wiper motor had broken mounts and there was no roadside repair possible so I disonnected the motor and ran a rope throgh the windows and tied them to the wiper blades and made it home in manual mode.

Removing the pesky kick stand spring. Put kick stand in down position.
Stuff as many coins as you can between the coils of the spring.
Retract kick stand.
The spring will often fall off in your hand.

Reverse procedure for re-assembly.

Anyone want to contribute ?

[Jon Schmid]

[old DKP driver]

The accelerator cable broke on a brand new 1976 Mercury Capri I was driving
from Santa Cruz to San Clemente for a birthday present to my Father.

I ended up pulling it through the passenger window and used my right hand
to pull it as I I drove the 400 miles


Hi Jon & Happy New Year to YA..... Chris
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V.W.owner since 1967

[67rustavenger]

I did the match book trick back in 1981 while on a trip from the S.F. bay area to So Cal. Around 1:30 in the morning the car just quit running. Fortunately at the entrance to a rest stop. We didn't have any points for the car. Called AAA and they delivered a point set to the rest stop. Installed the points by flashlight and set the gap with the match book. The car fired right back up and we were back on the road. I learned this trick from an old friend way back in 1971. I was 11yo at the time.
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I have learned over the years.
Cheap parts are gonna disappoint you.
Buy Once, Cry Once!

There's never enough time to do it right the first time. But there's always enough time to do it thrice.
GFY's Xevin and VW_Jimbo!

[TDCTDI]

When I was 11 my mother lost the keys to her 63 TR-4, so I hotwired it to get us home 100 miles away, then a year later the throttle cable broke & I found a piece of wire on the ground, secured it to the throttle linkage, ran it through the firewall & operated the throttle while she drove.
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Everybody born before 1975 has a story, good, bad, or indifferent, about a VW.


GOFUNDYOURSELF, quit asking everyone to do it for you!


An air cooled VW will make you a hoarder.


Do something, anything, to your project every day, and you will eventually complete it.

[notchback]

I had an '85 Renault Sportwagon for a few years. Back in 1997, I was driving down IH-35 in Austin, Tx and my throttle cable broke. There wasn't any sticking into the passenger compartment to do anything with. Luckily, I had some wire with me. I tied it to what was left of the throttle cable under the hood, ran it thorough the proper hole and then used a pair of vice grips on it to control the throttle. It sure was fun to shift. I had to drive it that way for 2 weeks until the part was shipped into the parts store. Before the days of the www, it was a little harder to get parts for these.
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[cdennisg]

I was 16, it was 1987, in northern Minnesota. I was returning from my very first trip to a VW show in the Minneapolis area (3.5 hr drive) in my 67 beetle. I have no tools, no parts, and very little knowledge.

Throttle cable breaks. Stuck on the side of the road with nothing. But I have a hooded sweatshirt and a pair of Chuck Taylors. I pull the laces from the shoes, the string from the hoodie and I found a chunk of wire along the roadside. I tie it all together and thread it somehow up to the driver's window. I drove @ 150 miles home that way. Dad was impressed.
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nothing

[orygonian]

Another from an anonymous genius

Need to apply epoxy (or other two-part goops) precisely?

Squirt both parts into the corner of a sandwich baggie and twist it up into the corner. (Like a cake frosting bag)

Then roll it around between your fingers to mix thoroughly. Clip the tiniest part of the corner off and squirt it into the smallest of areas with precision.

No more mess, none on your hands. No more screwing with pieces of cardboard and toothpicks!

Works for epoxy, JB Weld, Bondo, and even Rock Hard Water Putty.

[crukab]

One of the memorable road fixes was clamping the throttle cable w/ small vice grips in a '65 Bug @ the pedal to get home. I always carry a pair or 2 of small Vice grips, multi screw driver, wire snips, plyers, allen head set., it fits great in zipper Bank pouch.

Jon Schmid, when I was a kid I rode home w/a friends family, they used ropes to pull the wipers back & forth on a 1968 Pontiac wagon, 8 of us in the freezing rain, my bud's Dad yelling at his wife "Pull Martha, Pull !!"
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Tom

My Pops:
http://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=604100&highlight=
I know you will always be with me, rest in peace with no more pain. 8/13/14.....

In the yard right now:
'51 Dodge 5 window truck
'65 Bug
'66 Singlecab
'82 Rabbit Truck Diesel from CALI
'86 Doublecab W/T
'91 Vanagon carat/wolfsbrg.Tiico
'88 Dodge Ram pickup
'11 Jetta Wagon

[Saylr]

I never made a hang glider out of a backpack,but a short piece of wd-40 straw works good for keeping a nut in a socket on hard to reach starts.

[67rustavenger]

I once heard of a guy running the baja1000 in a baja. After a carb failure. He disconnected the fuel supply line from he carb inlet and inserted a "Bic" stick pen into the fuel supply line. He somehow fastened the "Bic" pen over the center of the top of the carb. Using the pen vent as a fuel metering jet and the carb butterfly's to control the air induction. He managed to make to his next pit stop for a repair.
That's thinking outside of the box for sure.
_________________
I have learned over the years.
Cheap parts are gonna disappoint you.
Buy Once, Cry Once!

There's never enough time to do it right the first time. But there's always enough time to do it thrice.
GFY's Xevin and VW_Jimbo!

[orygonian]

"Saw a guy come down off a mountain in Montana in an old jeep with an enema bag dripping gas into the carb. Didn't ask where he got the bag..."

[Jon Schmid]

Jon Schmid, when I was a kid I rode home w/a friends family, they used ropes to pull the wipers back & forth on a 1968 Pontiac wagon, 8 of us in the freezing rain, my bud's Dad yelling at his wife "Pull Martha, Pull !!" Laughing
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A couple more with my 356 Roadster. One time the throttle cable broke near the accelerator pedal. Since the car had a hand throttle switch my dad used that to get back home, pulling it out and pushing it in. Another time the shifter came off, I forget why. My uncle, who wrenched on the car, told my dad to clamp a vise grip on the shifter stub so he could get it to his shop. Memories...I'm so glad we kept that car.

[sjbartnik]

[Keith]

[eashc]

I've had many accelerator cables break. I just use a rock to keep the butterfly open. Start the car in second gear. Then shift quick. May have to adjust the size of the rock to adjust the speed.

[TDCTDI]

Using paper to remove a pilot bearing if a bearing puller isn't available, I heard of this trick 30 years ago & tried it just to see if it worked & it does, stuff paper into the hole & compress it in using a drift & a hammer & repeat until the paper displaces the bearing. Even though it works, I think you could walk to a neighboring town, in two feet of snow, in less time & expended effort.
_________________
Everybody born before 1975 has a story, good, bad, or indifferent, about a VW.


GOFUNDYOURSELF, quit asking everyone to do it for you!


An air cooled VW will make you a hoarder.


Do something, anything, to your project every day, and you will eventually complete it.

[my59]

Heavy wet snow, drivers side wiper starts spazzing out. The splines on the shaft were worn. We tried shimming with tin foil and when it started again in a few miles simply clamped a set of vice grips on it.
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my59: Well son, my grandfather died before I got to drive it, so does that answer your question?
our79: sunroof bus w/camper interior and 2.0 FI
Other:'12 Jetta, '77 Benz 300D, and a 74 MG Midget.

[[email protected]]

Riding with a roommate in college; he gets pulled over for a cracked windshield. You have 2 weeks to fix the issue on such a ticket, just show the receipt to the clerk at the courthouse and the ticket gets cancelled. Except he couldn't afford a new windshield, and he sure couldn't afford a new windshield and a ticket for not fixing the windshield fast enough. Now this is back in the olden days when one would actually get out of the car and talk to the cop, just don't be an asshat, show a little respect for the guy holding the ticket book, and the handcuffs, and the gun. He asks the cop if a windshield is even required. The cop says no. He goes to the trunk, fetches a tire iron, and smashes the windshield. We scrape all the little windshield bits into the floor of the car. No windshield equals no cracked windshield, problem solved. The cop, I don't think his eyebrows ever came back down, did not write the ticket.

After the end of the semester and a couple of rainstorms later he had enough money to replace the windshield.

[Air-Cooled Head]

Mine came in Wal-Mart.
At the time, I needed H/L buckets for the KG I was working on. At the time, the buckets were over $100/each. (I just looked. These are WAY cheaper, now. )
In Wal-Mart, I see stainless steel mixing bowls, under $2.00 each. I approximated that they were about the same size a H/L buckets.

A little dirllin, shavin, & welding later,,,,

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Everything known to man has been written.
Readers are Leaders!