Bush Mechanic Fixes

[Moto]

In the late seventies in outback Queensland a truck threw a rock and put a hole about the size of two matchheads in the radiator in my HT Holden.
Pulled the radiator out in about ten minutes and found an Orchy bottle on the side of the road.Set fire to it and dripped the molten plastic into and around the hole.Was going again in half an hour.Try that on a modern car !

[GMC]

Reminds me of one of my brothers, back in the  early 80’s he had a Buick with a 445 (455?)
It used to use a lot of oil but it was being blown out of the breather in the rocker cover.
Obviously it had too much blowby but it still ran okay.
His bush fix was to weld a tube into the rocker cover and attach a piece of garden hose that led into a coke bottle.
Every 50 miles or so he would simply tip the oil back into the motor.
Put up with that for about a year or so until he finally pulled the motor down to find a huge chunk missing from one piston.
Still can’t believe how so much alloy got out past the valves without damaging them.
I ended up welding the piston up for him which he turned down and recut the ring grooves and refitted it.

[philthy]

A few years ago I was checking stock waters on the station,45degrees middle of summer 50ks from home nobody knew where I was broke a fanbelt on the landcruiser.Tried everything but couldnt get the waterpump to turn,until I noticed the little rubber strap that holds the toolkit up against the rear of the cab,Stretched it around,fitted perfectly,drove home,strap was still perfect.Necessity is the mother of all inventions!   

[Matador107]

20 years ago heading up past Kempsey and the crappy box trailer I had scored from someone finally snapped the welded join in the axle,dead centre in the middle of the ''axle''. Happened to have spare chain and d links which we used to tie down our Yammy's with.
The floor was 12 mm ply,punched 4 holes  through with a cold chisel and lump hammer,inserted chain through each hole around the axle and also around the angle iron which was part of the support to hold the floor in place.Lucky I had a hacksaw to cut the chain.

Did this on both sides and finished up with independant suspension,adjustable camber etc. Tested it at 40 kph and eventually back to 100 clicks,all good. Welded and boxed the join a few days later,all good for a few more years.

Saw this set up using steel rope under tension on a logging trailer some years ago,it had a lot of articulated travel over uneven ground and holes,nearly like long travel suspension I suppose.

[chrisdespo]

Back in the late seventies my family was heading to kyneton from qld in a Fiat 124 S these have a  bit of a front end drama with the mounting bolts some time the top broke of the mounts bolts a bit loose probably, the left side of the front end moved back luckily they  had a tie down in the boot the front end was put back in place and the tie down located just so and tightened with a lump of wood for a lever and driven the next 6 hundred or so miles to my wedding, if they hadn't got there i was going to call it off ........Bloody tie down straps..
I also have seen a Cr125 first model with a hole in the piston no parts on hand so the good old Areldite 24 hr type was used to fill the hole wit a bit of alloy and baked in the oven then sanded worked fine after rejetting was done got through the whole weekend.

[Nathan S]

Vic to Qld in a 1970s Fiat! That redefines "bravery" for me!

Ratchet tie-downs are super useful: substitute engine mounts, short-distance LSDs (lock the spinning wheel and force drive to the other wheel - usually tells you when you're on solid ground by breaking the tie down, but if it gets you out of the bog...), bonnet hold-down catch etc etc.

I once used a cut-down length of jack handle as a replacement for a broken strut insert in the rally car.

Hose clamping an old open-end spanner to both sides of a broken/cracked exhaust pipe is far more effective at holding it in place than any other temporary repair.

Desperation is the real mother of invention. We just call it nesseccity to be polite.

[Matador107]

1974.Broken engine mount, passenger side in a HG holden panel van automtic 202, in the carpark of the Elizabeth hospital South Aust. Whilst I was inside getting grit out of my eye ( wrestling with my mates the night before in a caravan park,I lost). They decided that rather than jack up the engine just put it in drive after loosening all the bolts, rev motor and it lifted up,remove bolts and broken mount replace with new mount insert bolts. Tighten up after shutting down motor.

They then amused themselves trying to chat up the poor nurses passing by.  Job done. It was the seventies remember.

[rocketfrog]

Coming home from a weekend of bush riding our busted up old mazda broke down due to the fuel pump packing in (electric fuel pump). scoured the trailer and boot for bits to make a fix and came up with a 4 litre plastic oil bottle and windscreen washer hose. We used a bicycle pump and a spare tube valve stem forced into a hole cut in the oil bottle lid to pressurise the bottle and pump the fuel out thru the windscreen washer tube to the carb. A couple of pumps every quarter hour or so and we were in business again. Soap in cracked Diff housing + super glue smeared liberally over the repair = permanent repair, still holding strong years after the initial patch up offered to us by fellow Endeavour Bash crew. great post keep them coming.

[Matador107]

WAKA STATION. 1973. Just near the border of South Aust,Queensland and NSW. Known as Cameron's corner,I had a blocked fuel pump pickup pipe from the fuel tank in my HR panel van(2 wheel drive,but that didn't stop us idiots from being out there). Easy fix remove the top of the stromberg carbies (twin carbs on an X2 manifold with X2 headers) drain some fuel into a container from jerry can,get a mate to sit on the top of mudguard,bonnet up, and drive back to local sheep station while topping up carbs straight into float bowls .

Get back and pressurise fuel tank with comp air,blow out rubbish,all good. We then proceeded onto further mischief,had a sore neck though from hanging out the drivers door.!!

[Bitten]

Does a couple of strips of packing tape attached to windscreen wipers and the you pull now I pull approach count as a bush fix

The wiper motor on an old commodore gave out during a Sydney thunderstorm and I was late for a meeting so a work mate and I we managed to get from Sydney's northern suburbs into Alexandria on time with this approach albeit a little wet!!

[crash n bern]

Was replacing an alternator in a 74 Cadillac somewhere in the Arizona desert and split my elbow open on a bolt and used super glue to stitch myself back together.

[Kenneth S (222)]

This is an excellent thread! Great stories. Late 70s after a late race meeting finish on a Sunday night coming back from Cessnock to Sydney and a trailer axle snapped one side. Wired a 14mm T-bar in as a replacement, shifted the load a bit to the other side, it was a bit wobbly but we made it back to Sydney.