PatK Posted July 26, 2017 Report Share Posted July 26, 2017 Hi Folks, how about having a bodge of the month competition? I'm sure that there are many of you like me that have bought a seemingly good car only to find bodge after bodge. My most recent one which I am entering in the bodge of the month competition is for the bodge on the clutch of my Vitesse. I first noticed a problem with the clutch pedal being about one inch lower than the brake pedal, which meant that the pedal had to hit the floor before the clutch would disengage. Removed the master cylinder and guess what? The operating lever that attaches to the top of the clutch pedal was too short! So having replaced the clutch master cylinder that cured the pedal position problem, BUT this was not the bodge of the month! The pedal still had to go nearly to the floor so the fault most likely would be the slave cylinder. I took it off and all was revealed, as shown. The bottom half of the cylinder was filled with rotted aluminium and the piston was not able to travel more than 2/3rds of it's correct distance, however here is where the bodge comes in. Some ass...le had put a very small socket into the grotty end of the cylinder, connected the push rod to that and the clutch worked after a fashion. Check out the photo, and this is my entry for bodge of the month! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pete Lewis Posted July 26, 2017 Report Share Posted July 26, 2017 Sockets yes seen them in odd places we had a vitesse which just passed its MOT and had a soaked rear brake linning , an Mot really ....yes here it is Hmmmm!! May be the same A 'hole had repaired the wheel, cyl with wrong size seal so to expand it fitted it to the dust boot end and poked the piston in back to front well it leaked and the head gasket had blown out so only running on 4, apart from that it was a really nice car for sale with new MOT. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bordfunker Posted July 26, 2017 Report Share Posted July 26, 2017 I spent some time trying to improve the fit of my headlamp rims at the weekend, as they have always been a bit wonky, so removed the outer covers only to find that the headlamp mounting rims were held in with wood screws! Furthermore, the lights and bowls were only held in by two screws each, rather than the four expected, and none of those matched! I then went on to explore the unintentional intermittent wipers function, which after 15 minutes work with a multimeter I tracked down to an earthing fault. Cue 10 minutes hanging upside down under the dash trying to locate the earth connection, only to find it was a piece of wire twisted around a tag which made occasional contact with the steering column! Makes my efforts look almost professional! Karl Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JohnD Posted July 26, 2017 Report Share Posted July 26, 2017 My least favourite was the bitumen that a DPO had poured, hot, between the rear wheel arches and the wing skin, then smothed, polished and painted, instaed of repairing the rot that was there. Lovely job, almost undetectable, until I was welding underneath. The tar melted, caught fire and I was covered in bits of NAPALM! John Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pete Lewis Posted July 27, 2017 Report Share Posted July 27, 2017 Reminds me of being daft , needed to tack a split in the top of door glass apperture had repaired the Vit6 door and waxed the whole thing ,sitting on the workmate in the workshop and one touch of the mig and frightening flames 7ft high out the glass apperture. It was off like a furnace , nice updraft Then the extiguisher mess to clear up were not always as thoughtfull as we should be Pete Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dougbgt6 Posted July 27, 2017 Report Share Posted July 27, 2017 Having owned my car for 40 years I occasionally have "What idiot did this?!!!" moments, followed by the realisation "Ah, it must have been me " So no, I'm not telling. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Colin Lindsay Posted July 27, 2017 Report Share Posted July 27, 2017 How to fix a leaking or split brake hose.... kink the pipe a short distance away from the leak so you can keep fluid going to the other three brakes and not lose any more.... YIKES! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Qu1ckn1ck Posted July 27, 2017 Report Share Posted July 27, 2017 Many years ago I was degreasing engine internal components in a large tray using petrol sloshed from a can and a paint brush. It was a cold winter's night in the garage so I had one of those electric fan heaters on -. Ever been on the wrong end of a flame thrower ? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pete Lewis Posted July 27, 2017 Report Share Posted July 27, 2017 Way back when I had hair, a mate brought a rover 2000tc quite cheap it pulls when you brake he says, they had I think a dunlop caliper and a disc with a deep relief where it turned into the hub face a siezed piston forces one side and the discs used to break off the hub register, this car had no disc but a nice bit of wood between the pistons to stop the moving one popping out nice !!!! pete Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dougbgt6 Posted July 28, 2017 Report Share Posted July 28, 2017 I remember the outrage we all felt when the government introduced MOTs. How dare they tell us our cars are unsafe! A fellow apprentice took his big Austin for test. It failed, for woodworm. The baulk of timber he had used to replace part of his rotting chassis was itself now rotten. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pete Lewis Posted July 28, 2017 Report Share Posted July 28, 2017 the good old days in our Apprentice school (think ive mentioned before) a Apprentice bought a francis barnet 125 had a wooden piston quiet, but loads of smoke on the old forum (long lost archive) i seem to remember TR5 or 6 bought with with a misfire and found to have no6 piston and conrod removed Pete Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Colin Lindsay Posted July 28, 2017 Report Share Posted July 28, 2017 My TD5 was 5 cylinder and worked very well like that.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PatK Posted July 30, 2017 Author Report Share Posted July 30, 2017 Another one for the competition, just starting to overhaul the cooling system, same car as before. Took the thermostat housing ally cover off and it had just about disintegrated with white rust, but I thought that I would check the thermostat. Would you believe it, no thermostat and so much grunge and old silicone around the housing that there is no chance of fitting one, until all this accumulation of crud is removed, and I haven't yet tried to remove the hoses from the intake manifold and smith's heater so there may be another bodge there! Happy days. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Colin Lindsay Posted July 30, 2017 Report Share Posted July 30, 2017 That reminds me.... must buy sink unblocker.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thescrapman Posted August 5, 2017 Report Share Posted August 5, 2017 I have mentioned before the monumental bodge found on a 2000 I owned. Brake master cylinder resealed with silicon bathroom sealant. Quality bodge. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kevin Posted August 14, 2017 Report Share Posted August 14, 2017 Hi Having owned my GT6 Mk3 for 27 years decided the time had come for a full rebuild, the front lip section on the roof was missing but other wised not look to bad and I expected little filler when stripping back but not what I found. The previous owner had taken a ball pein hammer to the first 4" of the roof and collapsed it, they then proceeded to use copious amount of filler to get back to the original profile. Luckily I have a replacement for repair section and lip from Chic Doig its just a matter making the first cut!!!!!! Hope the picture show ok as still trying toward out how to do it!! Kevin Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lincolnsix Posted August 14, 2017 Report Share Posted August 14, 2017 I have just had the front roof section repaired on my GT6 mk3 as it was starting to show cracks and suspect paintwork. It had alternate small metal/filler plates and then just filler, under the filler there was copious amounts of foam to bulk out the cavity. The repairer said he had never seen such a bodge, he used a Mini rear valence as a basis. I have lots of restoration history with the car, except for the respray, I just wish I knew which Cowboy did it. John. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pete Lewis Posted November 21, 2017 Report Share Posted November 21, 2017 Well fixing a local vitesse today Ray and I came across a real mega bodge The rear brakes failed MOT as binding, well removal of the drum showed something had been grinding away at the nave Soon showed up as being the wheel cylinder, which was well mullered, and the lack of handbrake because the old nut shell of trailing shoe upside down, on examination there was none of the sprung horse shoe retainers fitted but for those not too squeemish about safety It was held (well not) in the backplate with a cable tie Invoices from a little while back show show it was replaced by a professional place down south Highly worrying repairs to this appalling standard are being paid for by unsuspecting owners With no more MOT likely these nasty things wont get picked up so thats a good thing. ?......not Pete 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dougbgt6 Posted November 22, 2017 Report Share Posted November 22, 2017 Can I enter my kitchen floor? A third tile now broken due to a bouncing Denby mug! Mug undamaged. Wish I'd fitted Lino. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Colin Lindsay Posted November 22, 2017 Report Share Posted November 22, 2017 Hmmmmm jury's out on whether that's a bodge or just being ham-fisted with mugs... Since buying my house I've found that the drains run about five feet and end in a solid pipe - hence the reason that everytime it rained, they backed up; and the woodburning stove chimney that never drew very well has also been found to be sealed off just inside the wall. That's a solid concrete wall at the end of the pipe! Where on earth did the smoke go????? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pete Lewis Posted November 22, 2017 Report Share Posted November 22, 2017 cough cough !!!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dave.vitesse Posted November 22, 2017 Report Share Posted November 22, 2017 Back in the 1960's you used to see Heralds with the sill covers removed and a length of dexion replacing the side rails. Work in progress I guess. Dave Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bordfunker Posted November 22, 2017 Report Share Posted November 22, 2017 Colin, you were lucky you weren’t gassed. Karl Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Anglefire Posted November 22, 2017 Report Share Posted November 22, 2017 On 30/07/2017 at 7:30 PM, PatK said: Another one for the competition, just starting to overhaul the cooling system, same car as before. Took the thermostat housing ally cover off and it had just about disintegrated with white rust, but I thought that I would check the thermostat. Would you believe it, no thermostat and so much grunge and old silicone around the housing that there is no chance of fitting one, until all this accumulation of crud is removed, and I haven't yet tried to remove the hoses from the intake manifold and smith's heater so there may be another bodge there! Happy days. I took my stat out the other day and there was a little bit of rust - I was concerned about it until I saw this. ? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bordfunker Posted November 25, 2017 Report Share Posted November 25, 2017 I stumbled across this site this evening while looking for information on seat belt reinforcing plates. https://mattersoftesting.blog.gov.uk/category/horror-stories/ Truly terrifying bodges! Karl 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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