Desperate things you did to keep an engine running...

-

Brooks James

VET, CPT, Huey Medevac Pilot
FABO Gold Member
Joined
Dec 12, 2020
Messages
5,477
Reaction score
3,648
Location
Fruitland Park Fl
In college during the summerr I mowed lawns. I had an old,worn out push Mower that was cantankerous and hard to keep running. It really liked .oil. Consumption was so bad the I used JC Whitney's anti-fouling spark plug adapters/extensions. I tried some STP oil treatment (for those of that dont know about STP, it has the consistency of thick honey. It was called "Stay Together Please"
I would have to put it on my Duster manifold to heat it to the point of being able to pour it.) It cut the oil consumption down. As the summer progressed, i added more and more STP. By the the end of the summer I was running pure STP !! It still smoked but it ran !!
 
LOL.......My buddy used gear lube and tape around a hole in the oil filter in a '66 comet.
 
LOL.......My buddy used gear lube and tape around a hole in the oil filter in a '66 comet.
A guy I knew from Ohio who's 292 Ford Y Block was slap worn out. On cold mornings he used a torch on the pan to warm the 90w oil.
 
My automotive teacher told a story of his family maintaining a hospital in Asia.
On Sunday mornings the generator was shut down while the hospital held services, and the maintenance family would replace the worn out rod bearing shells with temporary bamboo, - til next Sunday, when they did it again, cuz they HAD to .
 
Back in college days, I had a buddy that had a nice 68 Olds Cutlass, at that point in time it was about a 6 year old car. He was from the Chicago area and one weekend we drove up there in his car to spend the weekend out on Rush Street. On the drive back South one of the front wheel bearing started going out and screaming. We just kept driving, the louder it got the more we turned the radio up.
We made it back, the driver side front wheel was laid over far enough that the dust shield behind the brake was worn through and the spindle was beyond reuse.
The craziness of youth.
 
I had a Pontiac T 1000 with a 4 speed, for those that dont know it is a Chevy Chevette basically. Anyway the car was ratty and the clutch started slipping, I figured I'd nurse it along for a week or two then get at the clutch. Well the slipping didn't last but 2 days and the car would no longer move, being that I was broke I went to the parts house and just bought the friction disc, I took it apart on a Saturday morning and slid the disc in it and was driving Saturday afternoon. The look on the parts guys face was priceless...": you want just the disc only...?" but yeah half assing it wasn't right but I did what had to be done to get moving again on the cheap...:)
 
Being off a little off. on my own post.......
I hung around a car garage as a kid
I went from oil changes to engine building in a few years. The garage was behind one of the original buy here\pay here car lots. The owner flew me down to The Brooksville airport so i could drive a car home.
They were "bought at auction and driven to the airport." Hmmmmmm, Interesting
About 6 months later, he brought another guy with us.We headed back in the car. It started to overheat. Mind you we near Croom, Fl. People are there because
They are off the grid The car started the "overheating death rattle." The guy WOULD NOT STOP !!! I couldn't understand it. Secretely, I was wishing the engine would blow up ! I knew it was in its last legs when he had it floored and we were going 20mph. Turns out there was 450 lbs of high grade Columbian weed in the the trunk.
 
In the mid 90’s I had a ‘77 Ford pickup with a 351M that had a knock develop while four wheeling it. I’m thinking it was a wrist pin as the oil pressure was still ok. I was in the process of building a 460 for it so I needed to keep it running for just a little bit longer as it was my daily driver. I started putting gear oil in it to quiet it up and it did until it got up to temperature, then you’d hear the knock again. I got the new engine done in three weeks and did the engine swap. The 351M was still running, barely, before doing the swap.
 
Being off a little off. on my own post.......
I hung around a car garage as a kid
I went from oil changes to engine building in a few years. The garage was behind one of the original buy here\pay here car lots. The owner flew me down to The Brooksville airport so i could drive a car home.
They were "bought at auction and driven to the airport." Hmmmmmm, Interesting
About 6 months later, he brought another guy with us.We headed back in the car. It started to overheat. Mind you we near Croom, Fl. People are there because
They are off the grid The car started the "overheating death rattle." The guy WOULD NOT STOP !!! I couldn't understand it. Secretely, I was wishing the engine would blow up ! I knew it was in its last legs when he had it floored and we were going 20mph. Turns out there was 450 lbs of high grade Columbian weed in the the trunk.
Man, Crooms is really cool! And the Caves there in Brooksville are pretty neat too. If You're still out that way, Yer right up the Road!
 
My '66 Ranchero that I had just put a 351W into, on the way up Cajon Pass in SoCal I see a fine mist on my windshield. Not a cloud in the sky :eek:. Pulled into the truck scale, open the hood and find the seam on my radiator has developed a crack some 2" long. Gas station 5 miles up the road in goes a can of Alum-A-Seal and with the silicone seal I had in my tool box covered the visible crack plus a few inches on either side. Got me the 50 miles across the Mojave to home. When I looked at it there the silicone was completely cured already :lol:. A friend of mine used 2 6 packs of cheap beer in cans to get his Baja Bug 70 miles across the desert after losing the generator/fan drive belt :lol:. Poked a couple tiny holes in the cans and placed one on each side where they dripped on the cylinder heads :lol:
 
I live 40 min from there, in Leesburg
Cool Man! I'm in Thonotosassa, probably moving to Zephyrhills as soon as I sell this place...we should meet up sometime. It would be an Honor. A Friend of mines Father Flew Hueys In Country too. He wrote a book titled " Mavrick" he has been passed for some time now
 
Sisters Corolla 1.8 motor oil pump went out on a trip back from Skiing in Big Bear, zero oil pressure. We kept putting oil in it and it kept running. I think we had about 8 qts in there when we limped into home base.

Sheared the 6 CV joint allen bolts on a VW bus right at the top of the Cajon pass. Pulled 3 from the other side and put them on the empty side. Babied it into Victorville on 3 bolts a side and found some at a Napa. Made it to Vegas... Return trip was another story. My Dad said they used to put bananas in worn out manual transmissions right before they sold 'em. Made them quiet again. Pantyhose can make you a water pump belt in the middle of the desert too. There was a US fighter pilot in WW2 whos Mustang was overheating, He pumped the primer pump knob to cause a cooler richened mixture and made it home. He wore his palm down to the bones pushing that priming knob.
 
Cool Man! I'm in Thonotosassa, probably moving to Zephyrhills as soon as I sell this place...we should meet up sometime. It would be an Honor. A Friend of mines Father Flew Hueys In Country too. He wrote a book titled " Mavrick" he has been passed for some time now
Sounds good
 
I had a 79 Mazda GLC that I bought real cheap in 1985. It needed a "Rod bearing" I was 15 or 16 didn't really know what I was doing but I went to the foreign car parts house and ordered a standard size rod bearing and threw it in and the thing started and ran. I drove it around on back roads, it was a 4 speed, and with 4 people in it I kid you not I had to downshift to first to get it to go up any hill. I traded it plus 200 dollars for a 71 Pontiac tempest T 37 with a 350 becuase having a V8 was just that much better of an idea... a guy I knew who knew who had the GLC told me a few months later that the engine blew on the mazda...I was like "did they keep oil in it...?"

You know the whole "isnt my fault" routine...:)
 
I had a Pontiac T 1000 with a 4 speed, for those that dont know it is a Chevy Chevette basically. Anyway the car was ratty and the clutch started slipping, I figured I'd nurse it along for a week or two then get at the clutch. Well the slipping didn't last but 2 days and the car would no longer move, being that I was broke I went to the parts house and just bought the friction disc, I took it apart on a Saturday morning and slid the disc in it and was driving Saturday afternoon. The look on the parts guys face was priceless...": you want just the disc only...?" but yeah half assing it wasn't right but I did what had to be done to get moving again on the cheap...:)
I’ve done the same thing, little sandpaper to freshen up the flywheel and pressure plate.
 
Pitting for friends at a desert buggy race, a driver in a single seat buggy just limping along in front of us with a rear flat tire.
We waved him in, we had nothing better to do at the time. We couldn't use one of the spares we had for our race cars so we threw the quick jack under him and moved a steer tire to the rear and the flat to the front. "That will get you to your next pit! You'll be better off with more traction than steering! Go!" :steering:
 
Even though i've only been messing around with cars for a year and 4 months, there are a couple stories. The main one is-
I was going to a cruise night in the duster and I had just re-re-rebuilt the holley 1920 to make it to this show. The bowl was so warped that I had to use silicone, cork, and more silicone to keep it from leaking. totally wrong-but it held fuel.
I got it together about an hour before the event and It drove there flawlessly. On the way back, it died in an intersection and it started running rough and popping. oh well, I made it home and went to bed.
The next day was an annual 9/11 car show and I just decided on a whim to go. Less than a quarter mile away from my house so no problem-- I thought. On the way there it was barely running at all and any throttle it would pop and die. It took like 15-20 minutes to get to the show. I parked, barely, and then just enjoyed and remembered and didn't think about it.
Then it was time to go. I went to start it and it just cranked and cranked and cranked. Went out, adjusted the idle mix screws, messed with the Accel. pump cam, then tried again. After like 50 pumps it started and ran TERRIBLE. just popping and dying every ten feet. got out again, (it already had to have the choke wired halfway closed to run right in the first place) and I just shut the choke all the way and tied it off.
Turned the idle screw all the way out until it almost fell out of the carb and tried again. It still wouldn't run under 2000 rpm but I was able to double-feet it and take the back way home to keep it going.
As it turns out; the holley 1920 foam fuel bowl sheds the foam off of it when it gets old and sits in varnish for 40 years and it clogs all the oraphaces in the carburetor.
That was the last time the slant ran. at that cruise night I found out that the organizer had the 318 and trans I have now. went and bought it that week and swapped it.
 
Apologies in advance for length.
If it ain't broke . . .

Started a fishing trip to Twin Lakes-Robinson Creek 11 miles W'ly from Bridgeport, Ca. from SoCal in '87 Class C Minnie Winnie Chevy chassis w/ 350, smog equipped with Thorley Headers.

Spent night about 1/2 way at rest stop on 395 and up early before the 2 boys woke. A beautiful morning when my love hate relationship hit not far from the CalTrans yard N'ly of Mammoth the view from the rear window.

Motor died going up the grade with no warning. Wife and kids in back with kids not yet stirring. As I have had issues before, I pull engine cover off suspecting no spark. The boys wake and the wife gets them cereal as I tell 'em of view of Mammoth Mountain out the back. I cussed a little as an offset box wrench is only option as I know to pull the #7 plug easiest one. Crank the Winnie over and it fires up fine running on 7 of 8 naturally. I decided to replace the Ignition Module suspected since I had a new one and cover was off. Told Wife we'd have breakfast in Bridgeport.

I figure for sure The Module was the culprit but started thinking of potential fuel issues on the way to breakfast. After eating I hit the parts store-Napa and bought a fuel filter and pump as pump probably original and some trips have been through long stretches of nothing.

Hit the best campsite in the campground on Robinson Creek 2nd furthest upstream where they surely put in a few nets of stocked Rainbows and the site is a beauty. Kids are on fish quickly, weather is great and it's still relatively early Saturday morning.

I figure I'll change the in carb fuel filter as a precaution/maintenance measure. Finally the fun part . . . Having never worked on this beast-fuel filter I find a small end wrench that I get about 1/8 turn blindly, scraping arm snaked through from the cab. As the kids fish somewhere upstream the cussing starts . . . I get about 1 1/2 turns and now it seems tighter. I step out the back cussing with a slightly shredded right arm and smoke.

Back inside I look at the fuel line and see the hard line twisted into a pretzel. I can cuss probably better than anyone and it's getting serious. Back outside I get an old broken worn 4" piece of hacksaw blade and back in to start cutting. I can get less than 1/2" stroke continuing to shred my arm . . . the cussing picks up and the wife is starting to show concern. Back outside to smoke and now get an ice cold Lite, I cuss the blade, my stupidity and my bloody arm . . . The wife asks if I want a steak knife. "No, I don't want a steak knife."

Back to work cutting, cussing and bleeding I look and am over halfway through. Back outside for a beer and smoke . . . Reluctantly going back inside I ask for the steak Knife, never had seen it but this thing is mean . . . with a handle I cut the rest easily and had to laugh and have a victory beer . . . thank you now Ex-Wife.

Now Saturday afternoon I start towards the lake/nearest marina hoping for fuel hose 2'-3', inline filter, and clamps though might have some old clamps in one of my toolboxes . . . I meet the Camp Host and stop to yak. I'm informed the Marina has no parts so I tell the host I'll walk the 11 miles to Bridgeport in the morning . . . The host offers me a ride as he needs to pick up his mail and Napa is closed on Sunday.

Back at camp I cut the hard line at the pump and installed the hose, filter and washed up . . . Had a few beers, dinner, and a good nights sleep and went home Sunday 7 hours, 375 mlies, 7MPG at guessing $ 2,50 a gallon 15 years or so ago.

The cut piece of hard line still resides in place in that tangled mess as removal would be work.

Story to be continued regarding fuel pump . . . Not broke.
 
-
Back
Top