Show us the hack work you've found

[Gary_Ash]

Some previous owner had "installed" a heater in the passenger compartment of the 1948 Studebaker M5 pickup I bought in 1998.  There apparently wasn't room for the fan motor to fit, so he used a cold chisel to open three sides of a rectangle in the firewall, then peeled the flap down like a sardine can.  It was the same for the opening for the heater hoses.  I was able to remove the offending heater, fold the flaps back up, and weld things back together.  I enlisted my wife to crouch in the cab and hold a dolly while I hammered from the other side.  She lasted about three blows of the hammer, said it was like being inside a bell.  Being the kind, loving husband that I am, I gave her my aircraft headset to cover her ears and we got far enough to call it good.

 

  

The firewall before and after the repairs .

 

The M5 truck when finished.

[Terry Harper]

1 hour ago, Matt Harwood said:

 

The car was probably destined to just limp on and off a trailer for the rest of its life. 

 

 

Unfortunately it seems that "limp on and limp off a trailer" is about all the exercise so many of these cars get and it seems to be an accelerating trend as prioritizing investment potential replaces traditional collector values such as history, quality, uniqueness, style, technology, quirkiness, being with like minded people or any number of qualities over investment potential. Add to this the soaring cost of restoration - all of which promote penny pinching and yes... unethical if not illegal practices.

 

You cannot sort a car or expect it to remain sorted if it isn't driven on a regular bases and for many, many miles. Mileage doesn't kill a car... neglect, and sitting month after month, year after years does. Add in "hack" repairs to get it on and off the trailer and you have an award winning (i.e. expensive) pile of poo that looks nice. 

Edited September 15, 2022 by Terry Harper (see edit history)

[SC38dls]

Back in the mid sixties we once used a moving strap and duct tape to hold a gas tank up in a 54 rust bucket repainted  54 Buick. My friends father bought for him because it looked so good. He was not a car guy and never checked for rust. There were six of us in the car, my buddy filled it with gas and off we went cruising. We pulled into the local A&W root beer drive  inn, went over a curb, heard a strange noise and parked. Then there was a loud noise, the tank straps broke. Being kids we didn’t want to waste the gas. Someone let us used a wide moving strap and some duct tape. So the three guys devised a plan. We got the strap around the tank, fenders and trunk. Two of us lifted the tank and the other tied up the strap. When  we let go it sagged, so we said tie it tighter. Rick the owner of the car got a couple more guys to help. Six guys in the height of our youth, all football players that had mandatory weight lifting sessions all year, two pulling on each side of the strap. 1,2,3 lift/pull the two rear fenders ripped from the bottom to the top  When we let go of the tank it held but the knot started to slip. Grab the ends and pull tighter! The fender’s ripped to the trunk line. The tank held so we wrapped the knot in duct tape. Rick drove the car that way until the tank was empty. Then we fixed the fenders, first time we ever used duck tape to hold them together and bondo to cover it up. A spray can of somewhat matching green paint and the rust bucket was looking good. We did put new gas straps on it also. 
dave s 

Edited September 15, 2022 by SC38dls (see edit history)

[Rusty_OToole]

2 hours ago, Matt Harwood said:

 

This was a good one, too. Beautiful 1957 Chevy Nomad with factory dual quad engine. It won every single award you could win, including AACA Grand National First. Driven only on and off the trailer. When we got it, I took it for a spin up and down the road and not only did it have far less power than a dual quad engine should have, but there was a weird rumble from the front of the engine.

 

 

 

Turns out the well-known restorer who did the car had a great technique--take it apart, paint everything, and put it back together without really rebuilding or "restoring" anything. Just make it look pretty. The engine he assembled from used parts, so it had mismatched pistons, some kind of circle track cam, and the harmonic balancer (the rumble) was barely hanging on. Instead of a press-fit with a woodruff key, he just sprayed it with Lok-Tite and drilled a hole in the balancer and used a set screw to hold it in place. You could move it around with your fingers:

 

 

We had the engine rebuilt by a reputable shop and it ran like a million bucks after that. Sadly, the guy who bankrolled the restoration wasn't interested in going after the restorer (some kind of church relationship). I don't know if he's still out there spray painting his way to trophies, but if I hadn't driven the car, would anyone have ever known? The car was probably destined to just limp on and off a trailer for the rest of its life. The restorer probably knows his chances of getting caught were slim given how such cars are used. Now it barks and snarls and the new owner loves it.

 

 

Did the restorer charge for rebuilding the engine? Or was it the owner's choice? Maybe that is why he did not sue. Lots of times mechanics do a hit or miss job because the owner insists on it and won't pay for a good job then goes around blaming the mechanic for doing inadequate work.

[edinmass]

13 minutes ago, Rusty_OToole said:

Did the restorer charge for rebuilding the engine? Or was it the owner's choice? Maybe that is why he did not sue. Lots of times mechanics do a hit or miss job because the owner insists on it and won't pay for a good job then goes around blaming the mechanic for doing inadequate work.

 

Any restorer that works to a price quote IS doing hack work. I do this for a living and still my time estimates for 80 percent of the stuff I’m doing are two to three times longer than I think they will be. Part of  it is me getting old, the other are outside suppliers and vendors. 

Edited September 15, 2022 by edinmass (see edit history)

[Restorer32]

18 hours ago, Brass is Best said:

Had a 1929 Cadillac Dual Cowl in the shop for a repaint. It had been hit in the right rear fender area, destroying the raised trim area around the fender and causing a 3 inch or so deep dent. Not to worry. A previous "restorer" had bolted in a 6" piece of wood 2 x 4, carved the trim in the wood then slathered everything with bondo. To his credit he did use a piece of pressure treated 2 x 4.

 

[TTR]

I could fill an encyclopedia or two with all I’ve encountered.

[coachJC]

With a distributer added to a Model T engine the excess to the oil filler hole is partially cover but not impossible to use. But a prior owner hand ground an orange plastic plug to fill in the hole, so in order to add oil to the engine he drilled and tapped a hole on the opposite side and added some black pipe wired it to the steering column to hold it upright for a place to add the oil. You can also see in the first pic that there is no seam from the hood shelf to the fender,  my guess is that same owner did not like the seam so he bonded the entire front fender seam on both sides of the car so it does not show a gap including along the apron.

Edited September 15, 2022 by coachJC (see edit history)

[drhach]

It seems nobody here wants to admit that at one time, they were "that guy" too. I think every complaint here should be followed by a confession. 

[John_S_in_Penna]

6 hours ago, edinmass said:

Besides the car, we also interview the owner. Difficult owners are worse than cobbled up cars. We simply don't have time to hold hands of people that "don't get it." 

Ed, please be sure to help newcomers to the 

pre-war hobby, too.  Someone may have just

gotten his first early car and needs your advice.

If newcomers are rejected because they ask too

many questions and don't at first realize the expense,

the hobby won't last.  I was in that category when

I got my pre-war car.

 

Sure, a wealthy man with 20 Pierces and 50 years'

experience is a good client, but others would like

to enjoy it too.

[JV Puleo]

I will freely admit I've done some things I am not proud of. In my defense, I'll add that they were done very early in my old car adventure, when I was in my early 20s, or at the behest of my employer. I was just the employee. (Though none of my hack work was wild as some of those above.) It was the main reason I quit...I liked the boss but I felt that I'd rather be his friend than continually frustrated. I'll also add that a lot of the advice I got from "old timers" and from "advanced collectors" was rubbish. This was all in the days before the internet so there was little or no way to connect with truly knowledgeable  people and, when you are new to something and lacking experience, there is no way to vet the information offered.

 

However...My first brass car was a 1910 Model R REO. I took the engine to a highly recommended "pro", the recommendation coming from the owner of a restoration shop that was working on the body of a very nice Fredrick R. Wood 1921 Silver Ghost roadster that belonged to a friend. The gentleman I went to did do some of the work competently but I was appalled that he spot welded the lobes of the camshaft to the shaft itself. The REO used a cam with separate lobes, a fairly common early way of making them. They were keyed and locked in place with taper pins. With the lobes welded to the shaft it was impossible to get the center bearing out so even though it was worn, I couldn't replace it without making a new camshaft. It was this experience that convinced me that if I wanted work done right, I'd have to learn how to do it myself.

 

 

Edited September 17, 2022 by JV Puleo (see edit history)

[JV Puleo]

6 hours ago, edinmass said:

... I do this for a living and still my time estimates for 80 percent of the stuff I’m doing are two to three times longer than I think they will be. Part of  it is me getting old, the other are outside suppliers and vendors. 

I am almost completely incompetent at estimating the time a job will take. It's so rare that when it does happen I find myself looking for someone to tell!

[Bhigdog]

If you have recently taken apart whatever you are working on, double your estimate. If you have not taken it apart before, triple it. If someone else has taken it apart and/or worked on it before you, quadtruple it and hope you don't lose your shirt on the job..............Bob

[edinmass]

Here was last week’s project……..fixing a Model JN Duesenberg oil leak. Got to do it twice. Such is the way of the gasket gods. No one is immune……..it’s just not letting others see it. As to doing hack work when I was young? Nope……did my best with the tools, time, and money I had. That said, most everything was much better after I had my hands on it. I did use shortcuts to fix a block once…….due to poverty, not from trying to avoid a correct repair. Last I knew, it was still holding 40 years later.

Edited September 15, 2022 by edinmass (see edit history)

[28 Chrysler]

Red wires are for everything above the frame and black wires for the bottom side. 16 gauge will be fine .

Fuse the ignition switch everything else will be just fine.

[zipdang]

An example of how to gain power for a radio. This was under the dash on the 1959 Fiat Granluce I'm working on.

[joe_padavano]

14 minutes ago, zipdang said:

An example of how to gain power for a radio. This was under the dash on the 1959 Fiat Granluce I'm working on.

Can't say that's a lot worse than most of the Scotch-lok installations I've seen... 😉

[3macboys]

1 hour ago, zipdang said:

An example of how to gain power for a radio. This was under the dash on the 1959 Fiat Granluce I'm working on.

Hey, it's a safety pin so it must be safe!

[3macboys]

I will admit to the tomato juice can fix on the exhaust pipe of a 1977 Chev window van in the mid 80's - 12 mpg city or hwy and despite the duct tape on the inside of the top of the windshield to stop the water leak my girlfriend of the time still married me....30 yrs later she still complains about that van

[rocketraider]

😳 I was about to ask if that power tap was in fact a safety pin.

 

Have mercy.

[TexRiv_63]

21 hours ago, drhach said:

It seems nobody here wants to admit that at one time, they were "that guy" too. I think every complaint here should be followed by a confession. 

I am totally willing to admit my guilt doing many sketchy things in the old days. Especially regarding my rust repair bodywork! With age comes wisdom - in some cases.

[28 Chrysler]

Flipping cars for auctions. rust holes fixed by:

step 1 grinding the surrounding paint.

Step 2 spreading  body filler on a piece of masking paper and pressing it on.

Step 3 Lightly sand, prime & paint

[The 55er]

Restoring rusty trunk areas for resale on an early-fifties Mopar by balling up pieces of aluminum foil and sticking them in the rust holes. Finish it off by liberally glueing a piece if green indoor-outdoor carpeting on top of everything. "The trunk's already been repaired." Oh well, it was a green car anyway and hopefully no one will notice.

[Bhigdog]

Here's the back side of the dash from my 55 Century, as removed, and after God knows how many "mechanics" cut/spliced/tinkered and otherwise fixed something that wasn't working...........Bob

[rocketraider]

19 hours ago, 28 Chrysler said:

Red wires are for everything above the frame and black wires for the bottom side. 16 gauge will be fine .

Fuse the ignition switch everything else will be just fine.

 

54 minutes ago, Bhigdog said:

Here's the back side of the dash from my 55 Century, as removed, and after God knows how many "mechanics" cut/spliced/tinkered and otherwise fixed something that wasn't working...........Bob

Mmm... ah got fahn me a hot wahr...

[Bhigdog]

1 hour ago, Bhigdog said:

Here's the back side of the dash from my 55 Century, as removed, and after God knows how many "mechanics" cut/spliced/tinkered and otherwise fixed something that wasn't working...........Bob

After making the new harness. Everything worked and no smoke............Bob

[Professor]

Some previous owner of my 1936 Chrysler Airstream C8 installed oversized exhaust valves and undersized intake valves.  The oversized exhaust valves hung over the seat so far that they were exposed to combustion without the benefit of a heat sink, allowing them to crack and fall apart.  The car had wiring so hacked that it looked like a rats nest and was definitely not safe.  

 

I try to remember that at some point, it was likely that the owner or owners of my car just wanted to keep it on the road the least expensive way possible.  Thinking like this makes the hack jobs a bit more palatable.

 

Joe

[chistech]

I can’t remember ever hacking something and letting it out the door. My dad wouldn’t tolerate any type of hacking in our work from our butchering of animals to our repair of the buildings, vehicles, processing equipment, etc. I thought at the time my dad was a jerk (or worse) for being such a hard ass on us kids but today, I thank him every day for it. I do remember one temporary hack I performed a the dirt bike track when my son raced motor cross. My son and his friend Josh, who he competed against both rode KTM 85’s, a water cooled bike. Josh was going to have to forfeit the second go because his cylinder had a crack down the side in one of the four chambers and was leaking water profusely. I had an idea for a temporary hack and his dad let me pull the head to try. I ended up carving a piece of broomstick to the shape of the chamber but slightly oversize. With a hammer I drove the piece of broomstick down the side of the cylinder then cut off the top even with the cylinder top. Put the head back on and filled it up with water. Started the bike, it leaked some of course but not like before, let it come to temperature, then shut it off. My theory was the broomstick would swell enough to seal the leak. He and my son ended up racing the full twenty lap second moto and the hack, while leaking again at the end of the race, held up long enough to keep enough coolant in the bike for the entire moto. 
       Now, when talking hacks I’ve seen, I mainly deal with wood bodied cars and EVERYBODY thinks they’re a carpenter. I’m sure they looked at the wood and thought, “how hard can it be”. I wouldn’t even be able to start listing what I’ve encountered. I think many have forgotten that our collector cars were just cars to people when they were originally purchased, just every day needed machines. They hauled the family, groceries, and everything else on a daily basis. For many, those cars were a huge investment for the owners and many times, the needed repairs were carried out by owners who didn’t know much or could afford to send them to a reputable garage. They probably got lots of advice from “pros”, fathers, uncles, guys at work, etc., that wasn’t even close to being correct as even these forums are occasionally blessed by the same sort of pros. Many of our cars were hacked, sometimes multiple times, by multiple owners, simply to keep them on the road. Things like state safety inspections came about because of all those hacks years back.

[TexRiv_63]

19 hours ago, Bhigdog said:

After making the new harness. Everything worked and no smoke............Bob

Looks like you saved about 10 lbs. of weight with the new harness!

[NewOldWood]

This might be a little diffferent than some of the electrical buggery shown so far, and admittedly a type of repair that many just are not equipped to pull off properly, but in my world this is difficult to forgive. And what it should have looked like. I have seen quite a bit worse, this is just one that I have a picture of.

[Bhigdog]

42 minutes ago, NewOldWood said:

This might be a little diffferent than some of the electrical buggery shown so far, and admittedly a type of repair that many just are not equipped to pull off properly, but in my world this is difficult to forgive. And what it should have looked like. I have seen quite a bit worse, this is just one that I have a picture of.

Nice joinery. Ash?...............Bob

[NewOldWood]

5 minutes ago, Bhigdog said:

Nice joinery. Ash?...............Bob

Yes. With the exception of Ford, which used Hard Maple, every other car body I've seen has been Ash.

[J.H.Boland]

On 9/16/2022 at 2:39 PM, The 55er said:

Restoring rusty trunk areas for resale on an early-fifties Mopar by balling up pieces of aluminum foil and sticking them in the rust holes. Finish it off by liberally glueing a piece if green indoor-outdoor carpeting on top of everything. "The trunk's already been repaired." Oh well, it was a green car anyway and hopefully no one will notice.

I used to work next door to a small body shop. The proprietor told me about a "customer" who came in wanting a quote on replacing the rusted out trunk floor. He nearly had a fit when told the cost and said he'd only pay $25. The body man agreed and a week later the car came in. A large piece of cardboard that had previously wrapped a new hood was used to form the floor. It was mudded in place with bondo and covered with spatter paint. The guy was impressed and paid the $25.

He came back a week or so later steaming mad. He had thrown his tool box in the trunk and it fell straight through ! The shop owner shrugged his shoulders and walked away, saying "you get what you pay for".

Edited September 17, 2022 by J.H.Boland (see edit history)

[rocketraider]

🙂😀🤭😁😂😆🤣

 

Thanks for the best laugh I've had today!

[chistech]

2 hours ago, NewOldWood said:

Yes. With the exception of Ford, which used Hard Maple, every other car body I've seen has been Ash.

Some of the late 20’s-30’s chevys built in Canada also used maple. I imagine it was in abundance in CN and ash, probably not as much. I find the ash is so much easier on my tooling vs the maple and oak.

[Str8-8-Dave]

This is what greeted me in the driver seat of my 1931 Buick when I first brought it home.  It's really hard to find these Douglas Fir accelerator pedals these days.  I keep it right on my desk where I can keep an eye on it.

 

Wow- what a high quality piece- a wood accelerator pedal.  I wonder if it was marketed in a kit with a Nardi wood steering wheel...

 

So let's see what we can find wrong in this picture...  Note the headlight switch and warmup throttle levers both at near the 6-oclock position on the steering wheel.  

The tube that the throttle control shaft resides in inside the steering column was welded 90 degrees out of correct orientation on the diamond shaped plate that 

attaches the tube to the base of the steering gear.   There's that snazzy accelerator pedal along with 1932 pedals that use rubber pedal pads that 1931 models never

had, the 1932 and later shift lever and look at that- a 1932 hand brake lever that cannot be applied because it can't pass under the 1931 instrument panel.

 

Very nice wiring harness details shown in this picture and the next.  Oh-and there's that nice handbrake that just can't get past the instrument panel.

 

More expert wiring and some of the cobbled accelerator linkage....

 

The new improved version has correct pedals

 

and corrected steering wheel control orientation, correct for 1931 shift lever and even a 1931 handbrake that can be applied

effectively

 

Corrected linkage, wiring and a heat riser system that works

Edited September 17, 2022 by Str8-8-Dave
Arrange pictures, captions (see edit history)

[dodge28]

This is a little different from a hack. I decided to replace a sand pitted windscreen from a 1972  M G B Roadster. The famous dealer from the West Coast advertised an after market made by a famous glass manufacturer in England. It is now manufactured in ( you know where ) Ch'''

The glass is out of shape. The end of the circle is far too out.and is 1/4 inch narrower in width than the original . I broke 3 of them before I compared it with the original and found the problem. All the great ones  put the blame on incorrect installation. Other owners have the same problem. No one is taking responsibility

The car is up for sale. No more Brit. sh...

[dodge28]

This is a little different from a hack. I decided to replace a sand pitted windscreen from a 1972  M G B Roadster. The famous dealer from the West Coast advertised an after market made by a famous glass manufacturer in England. It is now manufactured in ( you know where ) Ch'''

The glass is out of shape. The end of the circle is far too out.and is 1/4 inch narrower in width than the original . I broke 3 of them before I compared it with the original and found the problem. All the great ones  put the blame on incorrect installation. Other owners have the same problem. No one is taking responsibility

The car is up for sale. No more Brit. sh...

[Bhigdog]

3 hours ago, NewOldWood said:

Yes. With the exception of Ford, which used Hard Maple, every other car body I've seen has been Ash.

A few years back i saw Buick woodie that had some of the wood replaced. Whoever did it used poplar. Oy Vey! The joinery was decent but what was the wood worker thinking. Stood out like a sore thumb.............Bob

Edited September 17, 2022 by Bhigdog (see edit history)

[J.H.Boland]

A local farmer near us used to buy cars that were on their last legs and he wasn't beyond using a wooden leg. He was driving home from church in his Sunday best when his '50 Chevy threw a rod near his home. He pulled in the driveway and proceeded to remove the offending rod. The cylinder was filled with a piece of cedar fence post. It gave another six months of service !  His yard was filled with old cars that croaked their last in his care. I remember lifting the hood on the old Chevy and could see the cedar post through the open spark plug hole.

Edited September 17, 2022 by J.H.Boland (see edit history)