Post your most ingenious hack

[fahrvegnugen at cox.net (David Utley)]

Two come to mind, neither one particularly brilliant, but both were on the road...

1) Driving from OKC to Colorado Springs on vacation, first trip by myself, the short hose from the w/pump to the heater bypass pipe decided to get a pin hole leak...  I was 50 miles from destination, so I limped it there, topping off water every 10 miles or so?  Once I got there and had some sunlight again, I figrued out I could repair it with Duct Tape, a Red & Green Favorite.  It held for another 6 months before I changed all the hoses on the car...

2)  Drove from OKC to Monterey, CA., to see off my then fiance' to the Presidio of Monterey.  We hung out for a week before we had to say goodbye.  I packed up my stuff, waived goodbye, and tried to start the car.  No go.  Plenty of cranking, not enough 'chuffing'.  Okay, wip-out the Bentley and begin work.  I was upset for leaving my girl, and I couldn't think straight!  I banged my head all day, no luck.  I was out of money, so I slept in the car that night.  This is in January near San Francisco, a completely different kind of cold I had not experienced before!  Next day, no idea what to do, but I do get it started, so I go to the local FLAPS and call my good friend who is a 'dub mechanic...  He surmised it was the fuel pump that was killing the F/P relay, the pump was loud.  So, I commence rigging up some wire directly from the battery to the fuel pump with a fuse mounted on the console with which to connect/disconnect.  It worked fine, and looked like bruised ass...

Again, neither was brilliant, but both got me out of major hot water...  I may think of others as this thread carries on...

'83 GTI, Daily Driver...
'87 16V, parts car
'82 pickup, 2.0 16V, collecting dust...