One time I had a water pump that sprung a leak. The casting was bad and the only thing keeping it from leaking for 10 years was the paint on it. I had no time to fix it so I found a small screw and drove it in with some teflon tape. It worked for the rest of the season. Made a test light with a brake light bulb, some tape and some wire. Jumped the bad drive switch to the trim switch and got home. Now the real fixes come from snowmobiling. I have had to tear down an engine, break the siezed piston out, file the cylinder smooth, use what rings i had left and got home....slow. Used zip ties to stitch the hood together. Used a battery terminal to clamp a wheel on. I even welded a light piece of metal with wire and a battery, that was scarry as I was shocked more than once but the weld held and I was saved. One time I made a battery out of coconuts and turned my radio into a CB radio, then I .....oh thats right that was Gilligans Island.

Damn Mitch, I don't know what to say...but this comes to mind

Yah, shook the car like hell, kept it under 10mph. One of the guys had a police scanner and apparently they were on the way. Ended up replacing the pinion yoke but that was cheaper than another drag racing ticket!

My Uncle Henry (T-hen)- taught me (T-Ron) how to smoke, curse, etc., and was a poor Cajun farmer from central Louisiana. He could make tractor parts, etc. and had years of experience at improvising. After my Aunt Mary passed away, he met a widow lady that had big bucks. He went from a 1950's Ford truck to a 500 series Mercedes (with color coordinated Armani suits, etc.).

When the Mercedes was about a year out of warranty, a power steering line started leaking at the crimp collar. He took it to the dealership and was quoted $330.00, which he could not justify- knowing he could replace the hose for about $50.00. He went into the garage and started looking around. He cut the 'big' end off of a lawn mower engine and used it to compress the crimp- and fixed the leak.

The best part of this story is that he later went back to the dealership and showed this to the service advisor. He then advised they buy some old lawnmowers, and save their customers some money!

Bulldog aka Ronnie (T-Ron)

PS- the T means 'little' in Cajun. And Henry's dog was T-boy, or just T.

We were driving a friends Mustang one night and the fuel pump takes a dump. Well we're about 10 miles from home so we pull the washer hose off of the hood and clamp it on the fuel inlet for the carb. Then we empty the washer bag and siphon some fuel into a gas can(everybody I knew had a gas can in the car ). Fill the washer bag with gas and drive home pushing the washer button every 10-15 seconds to put a little more fuel in the bowl. I think the next day all the washer components were melted from the gas-but we didn't have to walk .

Hmm have to keep the ws washer trick in mind. May add wipers to the boat!

Abbott Drive and Dodge Street bring back some fond memories

On the way to the ramp one morning, the truck quits like it just ran out of gas. I had just filled up the right tank a few miles back though. Turns out the tank switching valve had broke and was drawing from the left tank no matter what position the switck on the dash was in. Problem was the left tank was now empty, and the right was full. I took an ink pen (the kind you could take both ends out and make a good spit ball tube from) and bypassed the valve using the tube to connect the rubber hose from the right tank to the hose to the fuel pump.

I know this cause I was at lunch one day w/ 4 people in the car, and I had a shift kit in a 1983 cordoba that I tweaked.........yep, vinyl top, turbine hub caps & of course a cherry bomb. Anyways, it shifted fo effin hard, (of course I had to tune it to the competition shift for my everyday driver) it would alwyas bark the tires. Well, let's just say there was one of those shift too many - busted a u-joint cap...............went to the hardware store got some duct tape, taped her up, and drove 15 miles home - - -I could go 15 or so, I still had one of the ujont caps....but man it rattled my teeth all the way !

Griff, occasionally, there are still some $$$ races held down there usually on Sat. nights. We'll run about 5 quick races and get the hell outta there to settle up elsewhere!