Sven Posted December 27, 2006 Share Posted December 27, 2006 Or, "How I didn't walk miles in 60mph winds on X-mas day". Desperation breeds creative use of items on hand when things go bad. A little background is in order. I just moved out here to NM Saturday. My Christmas present to me was driving the 240z I bought six months ago for the first time. The car eventually fired up (it was damn cold). Man, I forgot how loud those Datsun lifters are... So, I let the car burble away and warm up while I checked out the things that did and did not work. Lights? Check. Turn signals? Uhhh, nope. HV__ ?(no ac) Yep, it sort of blows. Just like new. Wipers? Slow as hell. Just like new. Tach? What's a tach? Fluids are all topped off and I'm ready to test drive. I snicked her in gear and backed out of the rut the Z was parked in without drama. I taxied down the gravel drive and pulled onto the street. This was my first time out with a triple carbed stroker. Every part of me wanted to dump it and make John Force proud. I goosed the throttle a bit and took off sensibly, feeling her out. There was way more power underfoot than I've ever experienced in a 6 cylinder Z. In retrospect, the self control I exercised was amazing. The clutch felt good, but the trans was picky with 2nd gear. I went through the gears without fanfare. They were all there, I guess thats good. I sawed the wheel like on a pace lap, checking just how loosey-goosey the suspension was. No folks, not warming up the tires. Restraint be damned. This car begged me to open her up, and I'm a pushover. I stabbed the brakes, and found out that the Toyota brake upgrade is pretty decent. -The nose dove like a Stuka, gimme some suspension please! I came to a stop, tached her up and gave a light launch (diff mount is shot BTW). The car took off and I was grabbing gears, loving the music of the Mikunis. This car is the fastest thing I've driven without a V8. I fully expect at least mid/low 13 sec 1/4mi. The car effortlessly came up to speed, I let off at about 90, braked and downshifted to ... well, because I wanted to. The car of course took off, and I had an ear to ear grin. I eased off again, coming back down to citizen speeds. I then gave her a little gas to maintain speed. No response. I was idling in 3rd gear. I pulled off, shut her down and opened the hood. Checking the linkage first revealed the main linkage rod going to the throttle linkage shaft had snapped off the ball stud. Frigid temps and old plastic parts are not a good mix. So, now I'm stuck several miles from my house in the cold with a car that runs but goes nowhere (there's gotta be a joke there). My cell phone is charging on the kitchen counter. I look in the car and it is EMPTY. Crappy tapes in the glovebox, precious few odds and ends in the console bin. I size up my materials like a desperate pothead. A plan formulates. Here's what I came up with: I pretty much rule. What you see is two Fram spring clip hose clamps, one lucky bolt and two nuts (the only ones I could find), two wrenches from the Datsun tool kit, and a paper clip. Yes, a paper clip. It ended up being exactly the right length when using the other pivot on the arm. This worked flawlessly, and got me back home first try. I am so damn proud of my Ghetto-fabulous fix, that I don't want to fix it correctly! All in all, I lucked out big time. My brother hadn't even realized I'd left. For the record, the zip ties and worm drive clamps are PO fixes, and will be re-engineered. The engine is filthy from sitting. I need some TLC time with it. Here's the broken part: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ledphoot Posted December 27, 2006 Share Posted December 27, 2006 good job!!! I once drove a 1970 Mach 1 122 miles from a dragstrip home at 3 in the morning after a second place finish ( because my damn throttle cable snapped!!) with multiple woven strands of cassette tape used as a string to pull the throttle under the hood running through the tach hole in the firewall... worst thing was it was a 500hp 4 spd !! I would pull the tape and work the clutch and my girlfriend would change gears... I've also driven 200 miles in the rain with kite string running through both windows and a buddy pulling both ends to make the wipers work to get us home... You can't beat the good old survival instinct...LOL Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Austin240Z Posted December 27, 2006 Share Posted December 27, 2006 Nicely done! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jbk240z Posted December 27, 2006 Share Posted December 27, 2006 That is neat. You put Mcgyver to shame with that one. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gjc5500 Posted December 27, 2006 Share Posted December 27, 2006 Wow. that is an A++ roadside repair. i snapped the throttle cable in the rain in my old honda once. no cell, no string, 3 miles form home. i used a zip tie to jam the throttle open. Very hard to drive when u are stuck at 1/2 throttle. Good job tho Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OlderThanMe Posted December 27, 2006 Share Posted December 27, 2006 BWAHAHA!!! Great quik fix there!!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lazycyril Posted December 27, 2006 Share Posted December 27, 2006 had mine break on me. luckily I was with walking distance of home, not that I wanted to walk... so I dug out a screw driver from handy keyfob tools, set the idle to about 3-4k rpm, clambered in and idled home. Was only about a mile but part was up a steep hill and had to do some clutch slippy. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OlderThanMe Posted December 27, 2006 Share Posted December 27, 2006 This is not a McGyver but... one time I blew a roll pin on a shift rod of my Datsun 4 speed and I got stuck in 3rd gear and the shifter was way loose. I could not select gears at all...I had about 8 miles to drive home in 6 o'clock traffic. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sven Posted December 28, 2006 Author Share Posted December 28, 2006 Ledphoot, you totally trump me! Cassette tape? That's frickin' amazing. OTM, I had to do a similar thing when the 4 speed in my 260z asploded. The only gear left was 3rd or 4th (it's been a long time). Red light starts were fun on the way home. Of course, that led to me scoring a JDM close ratio 5 speed for $225, so things worked out for the better. Man, do I wish I still had that one... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
twoeightythreez Posted December 28, 2006 Share Posted December 28, 2006 Same thing happened to me at Carlsbad Speedway (about 40mi north of San Diego Naval Station) I was beating the crap out of the car, which had the junkyard 280zx 5speed I installed 5 months prior. (250k mi) I lined up for my last (slow) 15.2 second run of the day and decided to do another burnout (I had already won the contest, somehow, simply by perservering and doing a 5-minute 1st gear burnout) but this time I wanted to outdo myself. I got the tires hummin' and smokin', and then after 30sec. goosed the gas, brought the RPM's up to 6500 and powershifted into second. Unfortunately, I somehow also place the 3-4 fork down into 4th at the same time. Even a stock, worn L28 has sufficient torque to twist the mighty hell out of stuff in this situation, and the trans case yielded by cracking. The car is still in both gears, though, and the stock clutch starts slipping, and the car is welded to the left drag lane, as if it had a trans brake auto. I push the clutch in, and try to put in in neutral, but the shifer is also stuck, so I resign to letting the track crew push me off (since I have to sit inside and keep the clutch pushed down) Definitely a case of running fine but can't go anywhere. I get to the parking area, and proceed to dissassemble my center console, NO WAY am I paying for a 40-mile tow if I can help it. I find the shifter is stuck because it somehow got wedged between the 1-2 and 3-4 shift rods. Weird. I manage to untangle it, push the 3-4 back up into 'neutral' position, and then with a wrench as a pusher and my fist as a hammer somehow get the 1-2 fork to also go to 'neutral'. Car is now in neutral. Progress. I reinstall the shifter, and somehow it all works again! I remember this every time someone mentions how weak the nissan trans is. Weak, kinda. Unreliable, Hell no. Other than having no 2nd gear (It sheared all the dogs off that respective dog ring) I'm able to drive home! yes, every few miles the trans chews up a bit more metal, but she got me home. Keep in mind there's no oil in this thing (the case of the tranny was cracked!) 40 miles home, then another 20 to the transmission shop, because at the time it was my only car. The kicker? I still have that same transmission. (New case, new syncros, new 2nd gear and new shift forks, but still same tranny!) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OlderThanMe Posted December 28, 2006 Share Posted December 28, 2006 and new roll pins I hope What happened to me was I was sliding out of a neigborhood and jammed into second gear at WOT. The shifter droped completely loose and I got third engaged somehow. Then the gear selector fell out of the selector forks so I was stuck in third. Oh did I mention I topped out the tachometer going into second and left a big black cloud behind me? there was also a small puff of white...I think that is where I made my very slight headgasket leak...30 year old gaskets and head bolts don't like 8000+ RPMS... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MrZ Posted December 29, 2006 Share Posted December 29, 2006 Cool Man!!!!!! Happy Holidays!!!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
=Enigma= Posted December 30, 2006 Share Posted December 30, 2006 Very impresive. Hopefully I'll never have to be this ingenious. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
datsunlover Posted January 1, 2007 Share Posted January 1, 2007 I've got a few McGiver's under my belt.. Had an 85 200sx with a tiny little pair of vice grips holding the distributor cap on cause I broke one of the screws off in the housing, and didn't want to pull the thing out to drill it out.. ALSO on that car, the wires for the sending unit rotted off the top of the tank.. my fix? Duct tape. heh.. both these "fix's" held for about 6 months! The first summer out with my Z, I used those same vice grips to 'pinch' the fuel feed line to the carbs so the float bowls wouldn't go dry. (I was using bits and pieces of the stock FI lines/rubber and it was looped back to a return.) Problem was, there was no restriction so once the bowls filled and closed, the fuel just rushed past. Strange, but after the bowls ran dry, the fuel kept going past to the return. I think I ran for about 2 months with the vice grips on there.. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
twoeightythreez Posted January 3, 2007 Share Posted January 3, 2007 I think my best McGyver was not on a Z, but helping my buddy get a $300 89 grand am running. Someone had started a head gasket replacement, got to putting the head on, and stopped. We finished up torquing the head down but realized half the parts were missing! (I mean, all the Important Stuff like pushrods, rockers, valve cover were there....was just missing a pcv hose, valve cover bolts, air cleaner bolts, and coolant lines) It was dark outside, and we were determined to not leave the car there...so I was able to take some of the overflow hose, and convert it into a PCV hose ,but then the overflow hose was in the way, so I found some air hose, had to strip the outer coating off of it, and push it into the remaining 2" of overflow hose, to make the connection. Rummaged around my car and found some lucky bolts to hold the valve cover on, all is ready to fire up, turn the key and....click. Of course, the only jumpers we have are those cheap gas station ones that are like 14-ga wire and crimped clamps, and they broke off, so here we are with a pocketknife and a rock, cutting, stripping, and re-crimping the connections, then finally, get the car to crank, when it finally started it ran great! (At least it had some gas in it) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
scuba steve Posted January 30, 2008 Share Posted January 30, 2008 My best Macguyver momont was in a 1988 Jeep Cherokee. My buddy and I left early Fri afternoon on a camping trip from Phoenix AZ to northern AZ. 30 miles into our 100 mile trip, my coolant overflow reservoir blew up. I had my canoe on top of the truck, so I could only open the hood about 6 inches, so I had to squeeze in there. Now, on the Jeep Cherokee, the coolant system is only serviceable through the reservoir, and the reservoir is a pressurized part of the system, not just a drip can, so this was a BIG deal. On the side of the road in 105+ dgree heat, I dug through my truck for fixin' stuff. I ended up gutting a mini-mag light, and used it to splice the in-flow and out-flow hoses of the res together. It took about 30 minutes to fill the system through the hose with a dixie cup (the gallon jug wouldn't fit under the hood), and we were on our way! I had to drive 10 minutes with the heater on full blast, then pull over for a half hour to cool the truck down. Did this the rest of the 50 miles to the last small town between us and our camping area. I bought a gallon of anti-freeze and five gallons of water, and we continued. We got 5 miles out of that small town, and an accident had backed up traffic for 15 miles, so we tailgated in the road with everyone else stuck there. We left Phoenix at 2:30 in the afternoon, and ended up at our campsite 100 miles away at 1:30 in the morning. At least we had a cool story and good fishing! :mparty::mparty: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zwilliams Posted January 30, 2008 Share Posted January 30, 2008 I love stories like this! Years ago I was driving home from a job out in the middle of nowhere well about 5 miles from town . My z blew a crack in the coolant line to the AAR and started to steam so I pulled over to investigate the problem . I then searched the car for stuff I could use for repairs . I found a soda can and some zip ties . I than cut the ends off of the can and then cut out a small strip of aluminum . I then wrapped the hose with it and secured it with zip ties as hose clamps. This held long enough to get me to the closest auto parts store . A friend of mine once told me he was driving to a party out side of town in his 80's vw cabrio . He got about 2 miles out of town and ran out of gas . He had no gas but did have a big bottle of bacardi 151 . So he removed the hose from the fuel pump inlet ( carberated ) and rigged the bottle under the hood with the fuel line fed inside . This got him back to town where he bought gas and some more party goods (booze) and procedeed back to the party . Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Six_Shooter Posted January 31, 2008 Share Posted January 31, 2008 LOL, Some interesting stories and fixes. I think my best was making a waterpump/alternator belt out of duct tape, to get me the 5 miles or so down the road to a near by repair shop on my way to School at 7 in the morning. If you have to do this, use 3 "strips" of duct tape, twsited and then braid them. A single strip doesn't work for very long. LOL Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Datsun260Z Posted January 31, 2008 Share Posted January 31, 2008 Nice repair Sven! But cold in New Mexico...now that I have a hard time believing...:-) Tonight, where I live....a lovely -37 C they're predicting... when we have a break down - terrible things happen. And on a related note, the Z I have I bought in Vancouver in the winter of 98 - drove it home to Winnipeg (which would be something like going from LA to perhaps Kansas City...?? distance wise. Anyway. She was losing coolant the whole way and I hit some seriously cold weather....it was terrible. I BS you not, I was wearing if memory serves, long johns, jeans, sweats and I think I had a pair of large pants over that.... the car was in bad shape, just low to no rust. Anyway, no heat on the coast is one thing, a -30 cold snap on the prairies...another story all together. And no insulation under the carpet with a small hole in the floor pan by the pedals. Just terrible. But I made the 2300 KM trip....at one point I new I had to keep moving down the highway or else....easily one of the stupidest things I've ever done.... All in the name of Z I guess. On a happy note, today - yes - TODAY - 9 years later...I milled the head. I am in school (Aerospace training) where I am focusing my efforts on becoming a Machinist.....my instructor has taken a liking to my love affair with the Z and supports my use of the class and the shop for my engine work on my off days....couldn't have been happier I tell ya - today was a landmark day for me and the Z!. Great job - great story! Tim Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
woldson Posted January 31, 2008 Share Posted January 31, 2008 Man i've got many, so here is one. 68vw bug, throttle line broke so I had my friend drive and i sat, stood on the rear bumber giving it throttle going to spalding on the back roads. Half way there a fellow washing his car saw us at a corner and offered to help. We riged up some rope and I was able to control the throttle by standing up though the sun roof pulling on the rope! Bum help me once going through L.A. with throttle and ended up giving him a ride for 500 miles to sacramental, ugh. And so much more, YEA! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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