Worst/Best Kit Car Bodge
Discussion
I bought a Jago Geep once, good fun, bit tatty but went well. Anyhoo, took the wheels off just to have a look and found that the someone had used imperial studs with metric wheel nuts, and to make up for the difference in size had inserted slithers of tin-can between the two. What a T**T.
Any one else purchased a car with a horrid bodge?
Any one else purchased a car with a horrid bodge?
Actually I don't understand what you are describing. Surely the threads wouldn't match - do you mean that there were strips of tin running round the threads? If so it was probably soft solder wound round which got flattened in use. An old 'get you home' trick to prevent worn threads unwinding themselves.
Best ones I heard were:
1) Exhaust pipe joined to the rear suspension arms
2) Brake lines attached to the prop shaft
These were reported from a company that takes part built cars and finishes them off (just as well, by the sounds of it). There were a couple of others, but these stick in my mind.
Also, steering column mounted up side down (so when you turn left, wheels turn right) - note this is in a centre-drive car (Aeon GT3 - and no, not mine
)
1) Exhaust pipe joined to the rear suspension arms
2) Brake lines attached to the prop shaft
These were reported from a company that takes part built cars and finishes them off (just as well, by the sounds of it). There were a couple of others, but these stick in my mind.
Also, steering column mounted up side down (so when you turn left, wheels turn right) - note this is in a centre-drive car (Aeon GT3 - and no, not mine
)Just remembered a bodge I did when my gearstick extension snapped on the way to a kit car show. I managed to get there in 2nd, and then wandered around the show looking for something to join the broken 12mm diameter bar...
Used a battery clamp (although also had to buy some files to make it the right length).
Used a battery clamp (although also had to buy some files to make it the right length).
Cable ties............
The best multi bodge bit of kit ever
i used one to re attach throttle cable that had split socket end.
It did a great job and got me going
Trouble was couldn't do more than 59mph on M4 as it slipped loose then
Always have cable ties for emergencies
Dib Dib Dib
Scouts honour they are good things
sospan
The best multi bodge bit of kit ever
i used one to re attach throttle cable that had split socket end.
It did a great job and got me going
Trouble was couldn't do more than 59mph on M4 as it slipped loose then
Always have cable ties for emergencies
Dib Dib Dib
Scouts honour they are good things
sospan
When I was a lot younger I did drive a kitcar 3 miles home using a speaker wire as an accelerator cable. Due to it not being long enough it was just through the side of the car, hand operated 
Best (worst?) bodge I've heard of, though not on a kit, was rotted out sills first having papier mache over the larger missing area's, then the sills filled with concrete
Best (worst?) bodge I've heard of, though not on a kit, was rotted out sills first having papier mache over the larger missing area's, then the sills filled with concrete
When at university, (many years ago), spent a fortnight at easter climbing in scotland, got there in a mates old VW camper. Just north of Fort William, late at night, the accelerator cable snaps. Bugger we thought (4 of us in van). Simple solution, tent guy rope, tied to carb in appropriate place, out of engine compartment, down the outside of the van, and in the front passenger window, (wouldn't pull in right direction down other side of van). Trouble is it wasn't long enough to reach the driver, so the revs were controlled for the rest of the trip up by the front seat passenger!
Not a kit car bodge I know, but was entertaining at the time!
Not a kit car bodge I know, but was entertaining at the time!
I've been told of a couple in normal cars - one was when the windscreen wiper motor stopped working in the rain, so they untied their shoe laces, and tied them to the arms and manually moved them (the passenger, of course). The other was when the fuel pump failed, and the only way the engine could get any fuel was by gravity - so they unbolted the tank, and one of the passengers had to drive home with the tank held above his head.
elwe said:
Someone I know bought a part built kit car and then found the front brake caliper seals were missing. But the previous owner had helpfully replaced them with gaffer tape! 
One of my past kits was advertised for 1/10th its value as spares or repairs. I was told despite a new engine it wouldn't run properly for more than a few minutes before overheating and stopping. I got there, walked up towards the back of it and said I'd take it at the asking price, cash, there and then if he'd tow it to my house.
2 hours later, it was on my drive and fixed - One thing I knew that they obviously didn't, it's quite helpful on air cooled engine to have the fan and ducting assembly present.
ran smooth as you like from that day forward. They say always employ someone smarter than yourself.
I say always buy from someone stupider.
jimmystratos said:
I found woodscrews attaching fittings to glassfibre body.
Edited by jimmystratos on Wednesday 18th October 10:29
TVR?
mose kitcar wireing is usually bodged! i removed about 1/2 the loom on my old nova, everything still worked, to this day i still have no idea what all them wires did!!!
on my ginetta the wires for the back speakers and foglights are run from the center console across the carpet near the gearlever and then go under the back seat on their way to the back of the car!?!
As a lad I bought a ‘Special’ the name used before ‘Kitcar’.
The guy had lost interest when he could not get the engine running.
He’d bought all the top spec gear including inlet manifold and twin SU carbs.
The carbs are designed to have the throat pointing up at 45ish angle so when he bolted the manifold on upside down carbs were pointing down with the float chambers on their sides.
He could not work out why it kept flooding when trying to start.
Steve
The guy had lost interest when he could not get the engine running.
He’d bought all the top spec gear including inlet manifold and twin SU carbs.
The carbs are designed to have the throat pointing up at 45ish angle so when he bolted the manifold on upside down carbs were pointing down with the float chambers on their sides.
He could not work out why it kept flooding when trying to start.
Steve
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