Stockings, blue rizla and an egg

[poing]

Blu-Tac, Bic pen.

The Blu-Tac I used to repair the throttle link on my Micra as a student. Driving home with my entire life in the back, throttle cable holder thingy (I'm so technical!) came off and jammed the throttle on full which was an experience. Blu-Tac got me the 250 miles home, then through the MOT a few weeks later and I sold the car with that fix in place. It has a small flaw that it goes soft and falls off when it gets hot.

The Bic pen, inside emptied then snapped in half was used as a temporary rawl plug to let the number plate screws stay in the rusty hole they started in. Thinking about it I should have just used the Blu-Tac....

Edited by poing on Sunday 26th July 22:50

[LayZ]

Had a big screwdriver I used to short out the starter on my Carlton Diplomat, volt drop on the starter circuit made it un cooperative sometimes. Best part of a year like that!

[jas xjr]

Love this thread. I can remember fitting a car stereo, I needed an inline fuse holder. I did not have one or the money to buy one. So I made one out of an ink cartridge from a fountain pen. I also used a nail as a precision screwdriver.
No, I was not brought up in Soviet Russia but money was tight for non essentials. The thing is, those skills, such as they were, have stayed with me.
Quite often I will repair items, successfully that other people would throw away.
Anyway chaps,more stories please

[30v]

Squeezy fairy liquid bottle full of soapy water as an emergency windscreen wash in winter: Open window (whilst moving) and squirt over your side of the windscreen. Must spend the remaining 9 months of the year rolling around the rear footwell.

Carpet samples in said footwell to supplement the carpet in stemming water ingress through rust-holes in the floor.

[jas xjr]

30v said:

Squeezy fairy liquid bottle full of soapy water as an emergency windscreen wash in winter: Open window (whilst moving) and squirt over your side of the windscreen. Must spend the remaining 9 months of the year rolling around the rear footwell.

Carpet samples in said footwell to supplement the carpet in stemming water ingress through rust-holes in the floor.

Haha, used the carpet sample idea. I turned them upside down so they were both the same colour

I think I finally found my thread. Next we will be talking about how we used to reuse cable ties

[Cliftonite]

jas xjr said:

Haha, used the carpet sample idea. I turned them upside down so they were both the same colour

I think I finally found my thread. Next we will be talking about how we used to reuse cable ties

You mean people now don't?

More money than sense!

Edited by Cliftonite on Sunday 26th July 23:51

[battered]

Fag packet to set the points. I don't smoke but fixed a stranger's dead Fiesta like this. God I was a hero. Just off the A1 near Grantham around 1993.

My Dad and his mates once remade a solder joint on a distributor with the fag lighter. The clever bit was that when the joint oxidised and refused to wet out one of them went into the woods and came back with a blob of pine resin to use as flux. That's smart.

[B'stard Child]

LayZ said:

Had a big screwdriver I used to short out the starter on my Carlton Diplomat, volt drop on the starter circuit made it un cooperative sometimes. Best part of a year like that!

Same problem with Senators of same age - relay and some changes to the wiring was the cure

I snapped a throttle cable on a one car years ago and used the manual choke (who remembers those) cable to drive the car 70 miles to get it home (couldn't pull it all the way out but it did the job albeit slowly)

Many years later half a wooden peg jammed in the throttle stop got me home with a rather high tickover that made gearchanges up fun but down easy!!

Edited by B'stard Child on Monday 27th July 09:20

[SirSquidalot]

Some tissue - Used to soak up water in the Carb, had to do this on my carbed 1.3 golf a few years ago when i drowned it down some flooded roads.

[iva cosworth]

Cliftonite said:

You mean people now don't?

More money than sense]

Next door to work is a lamppost repair company.They use big cable ties and I often find unused ones in the street.

I obviously pick them up.

[otherman]

We've got it then, the pistonheads toolkit:

Pair of stockings
Cigarette paper, ideally rizla blue
An Egg
Tie wire from a bread loaf
Stick of chewing gum
A potato
Some condoms or marigold gloves
Vaseline
Emery board
Keyring
Blu tac
Bic pen
Ink cartridge
Fairy liquid bottle (other brands are also available)
Carpet samples
Tissues
Cable ties

[wst]

I feel like it'd be an uncomfortable experience to find a PHer following you down a dark alleyway with that list.

[ATG]

otherman said:

We've got it then, the pistonheads toolkit:

Pair of stockings
Cigarette paper, ideally rizla blue
An Egg
Tie wire from a bread loaf
Stick of chewing gum
A potato
Some condoms or marigold gloves
Vaseline
Emery board
Keyring
Blu tac
Bic pen
Ink cartridge
Fairy liquid bottle (other brands are also available)
Carpet samples
Tissues
Cable ties

Factory standard parts said the TVR owner ...

[SteveSteveson]

otherman said:

We've got it then, the pistonheads toolkit:

Pair of stockings
Cigarette paper, ideally rizla blue
An Egg
Tie wire from a bread loaf
Stick of chewing gum
A potato
Some condoms or marigold gloves
Vaseline
Emery board
Keyring
Blu tac
Bic pen
Ink cartridge
Fairy liquid bottle (other brands are also available)
Carpet samples
Tissues
Cable ties

And a four pack of ale.

[jas xjr]

iva cosworth said:

Cliftonite said:

You mean people now don't?

More money than sense]

Next door to work is a lamppost repair company.They use big cable ties and I often find unused ones in the street.

I obviously pick them up.

And use them as a belt I hope

[Iang84]

Some string to manually move the wipers when the motor packed up my passengers arms were aching by the time we got back and the sawing action didn't do the paint much good but it was knackered anyway it saved us a long wait in the rain for recovery

[dartissimus]

Seeing as we're in the 1970's or 80's,

probably the Book of Common Prayer.......

Failing that a wire coat hanger,

again, not overused these days

[Keep it stiff]

talksthetorque said:

Keyring, the spiral type. To repair the braided earth cable between the Battery and the body on a Sherpa Minibus on the way home from a stag do in Nottingham.
Whilst the engine was still running. ( Altenator wasn't charging the battery so the lights were all slowly dimming - not good on the M1 at 3am)

Plus a spare rear door handle for the Sherpa.

[whirlybird]

Lump of Australian hardwood, to make a piston I think for either a model T or A ford, or an Austin 7 , if the urban myth is to be believed, ( & I Do)

[gforceg]

Yep, wire coat hanger for securing exhaust segments.