@PereBear is repairing the straight six engine of a 2000 Jeep Cherokee in the driveway. I purchased one new in '91 and drove it until about August of '05, so I get why he might like it. I also drove a '70 Hornet with essentially the same engine during college. Anyway, one of the pistons was scored, and he needed to replace it. Lacking a shop press, we managed to use a 6" vise mounted to a plank, a workmate bench, various bolts, rods, and planks, and a “breaker bar” which was a bit of C-channel that was part of a robot from at least five years ago. It’s probably not the jankiest thing I’ve ever done, but it’s on the short list.
So anyway, what are some of the [in]glorious hacks you’ve witnessed (or better, been part of), whether in or out of FRC?
Yes, also noticing the door handles. Those aren’t AMC.
Certainly the smoothest. I cringe to think how many times I hit the starter while the engine was running on my Cherokee. And the number of times when I’d find that I’d forgotten to put the oil cap back, but it was still sitting pretty on top of the valve cover, several hundred miles later.
And it was on the passenger side to encourage safe vehicle exiting when parked by the curb. Dick Teague was known for his “unique” AMC designs (Pacer, Gremlin, etc.).
For me, this “award” has to be using JB weld to epoxy the cooling fan assembly out of a 2011 Dodge Journey into the fan shroud of my 1995 Ford Ranger (4.0 V6 OHV) as part of an mechanical to electric fan conversion… and then reusing a sawed-off mounting ear of the fan assembly (with a metal reinforced bolt hole) as a replacement keyring hanger for my FOB at work! Best part with the latter is that I have another usable ear leftover in case I break the first one (just unglue it from the old ear, glue it to the new ear). And if the fan ever blows in the ranger, any aftermarket Dodge Journey fan with a removal motor (or another OE one from a junk yard) will drop in, making for easier replacement fan sourcing if I’m on the road!
Yep. My other truck besides the ranger in my last post is a 1984 F150 with a 300 six. Very efficient and torquey, especially for the era. Also used in a lot of industrial applications too (irrigation pumps, generators, wood chippers, dump trucks, and supposedly UPS trucks for a while!)
