Worst bodge you have seen

[blank]

ChemicalChaos said:

AvonRise said:

eltax91 said:

Am I seeing this wrong? Isn't that just tie wraps to replace the anti squeal metal springs that often sit across the two pads? Doesn't look to me like it inhibits braking force nor would I say it was dangerous.

I wouldn't do it, mind, I'd buy the correct springs or just live with the movement/ squeal.

Looks like they're the only thing holding the pads in the callipers.

The entire caliper/carrier is missing from the top of that bracket, the cable ties are the only thing holding the pads in, and nothing will be clamping the pad on the outside face of the disc to equalize the pressure from the inside piston

It looks very odd, as there is a piston there.

Anyone know what car it's from?

[chris1roll]

blank said:

It looks very odd, as there is a piston there.

Anyone know what car it's from?

I've looked at it several times, and I still can't work out where what obviously should be there, would fix to!

[Cerberaherts]

chris1roll said:

I've looked at it several times, and I still can't work out where what obviously should be there, would fix to!

It should have "wedge" clips, as seen below circled in red, on the left, like this:

[Hrimfaxi]

I don't know if this would be the "worst" bodge, but was certainly an emergency one with what we had at the time!

London to Brighton Mini Run 2013, exhaust fell off just outside Brighton on the way home - sounded like the world ended inside.

This got me home to Bromley - held up with cable ties, electric tape and a radio key thing. I fully expected it to fall off again on the way, but it held. Although my little Cooper sounded like a tank.

Makes me laugh everytime I think about it.

[dabofoppo]

blank said:

It looks very odd, as there is a piston there.

Anyone know what car it's from?

Looks like its from a 106/saxo probably.
Worst bodge I have ever seen was on my clio 172 (still have it) where the engine mount was perished and instead of replacing it the place I bought it from had cut up an exhaust rubber and wedged it in to reduce the movement.

[Mr2Mike]

eltax91 said:

Am I seeing this wrong? Isn't that just tie wraps to replace the anti squeal metal springs that often sit across the two pads? Doesn't look to me like it inhibits braking force nor would I say it was dangerous.

A hard stop could easily get things hot enough to melt a cable tie, and then you'd have nothing holding the pads in. Seems like a particularly stupid bodge to me.

Cerberaherts said:

Ferrari 360. Came in with a rattle from the suspension. I found a load of waxed paper shoved into the ball joint...

That looks like it was a lined spherical joint, and the lining has simply broken up.

Edited by Mr2Mike on Monday 20th October 22:16

[TooMany2cvs]

dabofoppo said:

Looks like its from a 106/saxo probably.

Or a whole range of vaguely similar. Looks identical to the caliper (Girling?) on our 205, too. TBH, given how crappy those pad retainer bars are - yet they do the job just fine - I don't think it's half as criminal as some have suggested. It's definitely, umm, sub-optimal, though...

[daveofedinburgh]

Viewed a 'rust free' mk2 MX5 once in High Wycombe.

Got down on all fours to have a look at the sills. Clumps of filler about an inch thick, randomly applied seemingly by hand to cover what Im sure were gaping holes in the metal. To be fair, someone had gone to the trouble of spraying a rattlecan over them to achieve that 'concours' finish. I've seen some rough-and-ready MX5s, but this thing looked like it had been at sea for a year or two and got a nasty case of barnacles. Really wish I'd taken afew cheeky pics to post on the OCs as a 'what to really fking avoid'.

Popped the boot open, at this point just for sts and giggles, to discover a couple of inches of water sitting there right around the spare wheel etc.

Didnt bother checking the front suspension tops etc, handed the keys back and walked away, fearing for the next potential buyer. Car looked mint otherwise, paint, roof, leather interior- some poor sod has probably presented it for an MOT since.

The sad thing is, this was a really mild bodge compared to most mentioned here.

[AvonRise]

daveofedinburgh said:

Popped the boot open, at this point just for sts and giggles, to discover a couple of inches of water sitting there right around the spare wheel etc.

'They all do that, sir'

Mine did (mk1), anyway, on a few occasions of really heavy rain.

Surprisingly, my active sub survived being under water for a few days and still worked a couple of years later.

[pingu393]

Two that spring to mind from my college days are both mates' Minis. One was a brake disc conversion where he didn't fit a bias valve, so the back wheels would always lock up. The other was a roll cage. It was a used roll cage and he jacked the car on one corner to make it fit .

[VeeDubBigBird]

I bought a Golf Colour Concept a few years ago, which unfortunately had been previously owned by a fecking moron (bought as a project to keep me busy), who had decided he would improve the car with additional lights everywhere. nothing was untouched, the screenwash jets, under every seat, the back shelf, even under the car. took many hours and expletives to remove them all and the insanely dodgy wiring (the lights on the back shelf were linked to the goddamn fuel pump.

[omgus]

VeeDubBigBird said:

I bought a Golf Colour Concept a few years ago, which unfortunately had been previously owned by a fecking moron (bought as a project to keep me busy), who had decided he would improve the car with additional lights everywhere. nothing was untouched, the screenwash jets, under every seat, the back shelf, even under the car. took many hours and expletives to remove them all and the insanely dodgy wiring (the lights on the back shelf were linked to the goddamn fuel pump.

My Citroen shed last year had non working LEDs inside. They had been wired in by someone running a cable direct to the battery and wrapping it round the terminals. That got laughed about lots and then removed one night.
The radio was also wired in such a way that it would only work when the lights were on.

[Cerberaherts]

Mr2Mike said:

That looks like it was a lined spherical joint, and the lining has simply broken up.

Edited by Mr2Mike on Monday 20th October 22:16

Nope. It isn't a lined spherical joint. It is a worn rose joint that has had waxed paper wedged in it, an attempt to stop it knocking...

[Bone Rat]

Summer of 1978, 17 years old. Stepfather's pride and joy - a turd brown Jensen Healey. Always known for their tendency to rust a tad. He also liked surfing but often didn't change out of the wetsuit & just drove back from the Gower, "it's cold like out there".

The inevitable happened and jacking it up one day the body starts to flex & twist; big brown plaques of rust drop off. It's not looking good for this piece of the Midlands finest. Rooting round garage we find a collection of printed circuit boards from TVs. "Well, there's aluminium in 'em so they won't rust, easy to drill like". Cue underseal, self tappers and pop rivets and the 'chassis' is done.

He didn't want to compromise on structural integrity so we used Tartan beer cans, meticulously topped, tailed, opened and flattened for anything that needed strength. "Steel you see, none of those thin tins".

Fair do he didn't sell it on like that but kept it & swore it had more feel with the repairs. Eventually sold it for a Lancia Beta MonteCarlo, now that really put the Jensen to shame for rust!

[TonyRPH]

A while back my son bought an A3 1.6.

After a day or two, we noticed it was idling rough, so I took a look under the bonnet.

There was a 2" section of rubber breather pipe missing - and it had been "expertly" replaced with a carefully placed piece of duct tape wound into a pipe shape to join the two (rubber) pieces together.

Needless to say, said tape collapsed when it got hot and turned into a sticky mess.

I fixed it properly by joining the two pieces of rubber hose together with some 15mm copper pipe and jubilee clips.

[AndyTR]

Saw this in Santa Fe last year, nice use of spray foam.

[scubadude]

While applying some sound deadening to the drivers footwell I noticed bunch of excessive non-toyota wiring going behind what should be a blank panel. On removal I discovered a very complex alarm wired into everything including the ignition- I was surprised as the ignition key I had wasn't the type used by the alarm.
Then behind the speaker in the dash I discovered another ignition key duck taped to the old ignition barrel (where the sensor is) so the whole time the van has had a key in it and the alarm disabled... I don't mind since I didn't know it had either :-)

Also my old Carlton dropped its entire exhaust on the M3 just past fleet on the way to Dorset, it was late and dark so I used a selection of cable ties, ali climbing carabiners and Stainless diving clips to lift it into a usable position... probably about £150 worth of hardware to replace £2 worth of rubber donuts.

[JDMDrifter]

So my MX5 failed its MOT yesterday on emissions, now all my mates were convinced it had a decat due to the noise but i thought it was just a back box, mot tester confirmed there was no cat.

So got the car home yesterday and jacked it up to have a look at this "De cat" and was greeted with the above.

This has got to be the worst decat ever! A proper cut and bodge, welding done by a chimp clearly.

Needless to say its all coming out and ill be doing a proper job

[peterg1955]

Not so much a bodge in the sense of a poor repair after manufacture but...

while doing some work on a 1970s Davrian we discovered that the 'factory roll cage' tubes went down into the GRP of the dashboard, sill and rear shelf but were just glassed in a couple of inches below the surface, they were not tied into anything

[Calza]

Previous owner wrapped a cut out red bull can round a boost pipe to repair a leak in my old punto, that was amusing?!