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Post your worst electrical Hack discoveries

72 Satellite

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Quoting my own recent post, to see if anyone else has encountered this level of nonsense while troubleshooting or upgrading their electrical. In summary, my Starter relay was hidden 6" from my front tire, under a rubber cover/shield.

The good news is I found the Starter Relay.
The bad news is I found the Starter Relay!

Started tracing and documenting the circuitry. At first, things were going fairly well, as correct color and gauge wires were following the path from the engine side bulkhead, to there intended destinations. However, as I dug deeper and started peeling back the layers of the onion, things got weird and bad real fast. I couldn't find the origin of the 12 gauge red wire that was landed on the Ignition terminal of the Starter Solenoid. Understand that the previous owner relocated the battery to the trunk, and re-routed the leads coming from the Ignition Box (Passenger Side Fender), along with all of the leads that would terminate at the firewall, through the Drivers Side wheel-well, then back into the engine compartment directly below the Power Brake Booster. Looking in the wheel-well, everything was neatly wrapped in black flex-split wire conduit, and snugly in place. I needed to track down the red Ignition lead from the starter solenoid, so began the removal of the wire covering and tape. I expected to see a splice here and there, since things were re-routed, but the more covering i removed, the more splices I began to see. I still couldn't find the solenoid lead, and the only thing left I hadn't looked at, was a square rubber patch that almost looked factory (to these untrained eyes), located right where the wires left the wheel-well area, and re-entered the engine compartment. I know some of you probably know what comes next, I certainly didn't! Suffice it to say, I'm always amazed at the lengths some people will go to. They had to spend 3 times as long doing it incorrectly vs doing it right.

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Hooking up a temperature gauge as your oil pressure gauge has to count, Right? :poke: @kiwigtx
F09A6E68-89D1-4440-84DE-6E9ECCD7792A.png

Excellent ingenuity Roger, but I will have none of that nonsense. A friend in northern New Hampshire is sending me one. :) :bananadance:
 
Hooking up a temperature gauge as your oil pressure gauge has to count, Right? :poke: @kiwigtx View attachment 1104906
Excellent ingenuity Roger, but I will have none of that nonsense. A friend in northern New Hampshire is sending me one. :) :bananadance:
It's a great "get out jail card" to play in a pinch. :lol:

(I hope that apostrophe was appropriate) :D

and Tom.....:lowdown::lowdown::lowdown::lowdown::lowdown::lowdown::lowdown::lowdown::lowdown::lowdown::lowdown::lowdown::lowdown::lowdown: You da Man !!!!:thankyou:
 
Quoting my own recent post, to see if anyone else has encountered this level of nonsense while troubleshooting or upgrading their electrical. In summary, my Starter relay was hidden 6" from my front tire, under a rubber cover/shield.
Man, I could show some real electrical fu**ery if you want.....some of the **** I see on jobs would make your hair stand up straight. :lol:
 
Because it had Arkansas roots I always liked the one about using a .22 for a fuse replacement and when it overheated, shot himself in an unfortunate area. However I think it was an embellished tale.
 
Because it had Arkansas roots I always liked the one about using a .22 for a fuse replacement and when it overheated, shot himself in an unfortunate area. However I think it was an embellished tale.
I know in the recent decades, people used the foil from a cigarette packet as a temporary fuse in cars.

Also.....this actually happened. About 35 years ago, a friend of mine toured through USA on a car hunting trip. He was at a show one day and met a guy with a really cool first gen Corvette. They went for a blast down the road, and the engine cut out. My friend, being an Engineer, took a look and decided the spark had gone. Removed the distributor cap and found the centre contact had disintegrated.

He pulled a ball-point pen out of his pocket, broke it open and removed the spring. Installed it carefully in the distributor cap, and fired up the engine. It worked, and the car ran as good as it would have done with a new cap.
 
I've seen some scary hack jobs, but one of the most memorable really wasn't that bad, it was what the kid did without teller the buyer (me) that made it bad.
Years back, I bought a '71 Valiant (4dr) off a kid. Car ran GREAT, 318 under the hood, but had some stupid 'kid stuff' done to it. Car was cheap enough not to worry about it.
For whatever reason, I owned the car for a couple of weeks before driving it at night. I was on my way home when the sun started to set, so I turned the lights on. As it got darker (and darker in the car), I started to notice an 'orange glow' from under the entire dash. I didn't see smoke, car was running fine......then the orange glow started to FLICKER. First thought was FIRE!!
I got the car stopped, expected the worse.......and realized the kid had wired friggin CHRISTMAS LIGHTS into the dash lights circuit. All orange bulbs that were designed to blink once warmed up.
'Bout crapped my pants and I had a few choice words for the kid.
 
I've encountered terrible wiring mostly for aftermarket stereos/speakers in some rides I bought, piss poor connections just using electrical tape that had weathered and fallen off sometimes contacting conductive stuff, and some real interesting connections to the fuse block. One time there was about 10-feet of extra wire looped around stuffed up under the dash - instead of just measuring out what was necessary for the connections.
 
Because it had Arkansas roots I always liked the one about using a .22 for a fuse replacement and when it overheated, shot himself in an unfortunate area. However I think it was an embellished tale.
Good thing it wasn't a hollow point...
 
Quoting my own recent post, to see if anyone else has encountered this level of nonsense while troubleshooting or upgrading their electrical. In summary, my Starter relay was hidden 6" from my front tire, under a rubber cover/shield.

That’s pretty terrifying! :realcrazy:
 
On the Dart I had oh 15-20 years ago, someone in it's past had wired the AMMETER FEED under the dash with that twisted gray wire they use for HANGING PICTURES!!:eek::eek::eek:
They had jammed it into the cabin side of the bulkhead connector, squished it between two nuts and washers on the ammeter terminal to "hold it", and for "safety" they wrapped cheap painter's masking tape around (most of) it!!:eek::eek::eek:

I bought the car not running for $200. Clean body but torn up interior and a /6, the major issue turned out to be carb/fuel stuff. I promptly got it running and drove it un-tagged around the neighborhood a few times before seeing and fixing that wiring. Sold it off not long after for $800. Six-bill profit woohoo! Yeah nobody wanted those back then, not like now.

It's a miracle that thing didn't go up in flames.....
 
That’s pretty terrifying! :realcrazy:

I couldn't believe my eyes when I pulled that piece of rubber off, only to see a corroded Starter Relay with Frankenstein wiring all around it.

Spent $850.00 today on new engine harness, front light harness, MSD 6AL, MSD Coil, Starter Relay etc...

Was almost ready to put my finished Dash in, Hushmat the interior, rebuild the HVAC box, button up the interior, and get ready for Carlisle. This was the last thing I thought I would have to be dealing with. I suppose I should be grateful for finding this out now, and not while I'm cruising on the highway...
 
I wish I would have taken pix of what the engine compartment of my 85 D150 looked like when I first got it. LOTS of past owner interference, I dunno how that thing didn't burn down
 
Not car related, but electrical related. I am an electrician. Back in the late 80's, I came across a lighting circuit which is supposed to be wired ( in this part of the world 230 volts) in 12 AWG and in fact was wired in telephone wire. Which I think for memory is about .025mm squared in diameter. I also have seen a 230 volt wire that was blowing fuses being run to a tin shed. Somebody had hacked a hole in the tin and ran a wire through it. Over years it had worn through and cut down to the copper. Every time the fuse blew, the tin shed livened itself and grounded out to earth. That would have surely killed somebody if I hadent noticed that.
 
Not car related, but electrical related. I am an electrician. Back in the late 80's, I came across a lighting circuit which is supposed to be wired ( in this part of the world 230 volts) in 12 AWG and in fact was wired in telephone wire. Which I think for memory is about .025mm squared in diameter. I also have seen a 230 volt wire that was blowing fuses being run to a tin shed. Somebody had hacked a hole in the tin and ran a wire through it. Over years it had worn through and cut down to the copper. Every time the fuse blew, the tin shed livened itself and grounded out to earth. That would have surely killed somebody if I hadent noticed that.
And people say our Regulations are a crock. :lol:

I went to a job next door to the Quarry I look after last year (not car related) - to see why the Farmer's pump wasn't running. A 3-phase 400V setup, running from his meterbox inside a corrugated iron clad shed barely big enough for me to shimmy through between the now redundant pressure vessel and the box itself. I spot the contactor - no lid or cover....just bare (and rough as) loose wires terminated untidily ....the Farmer (an older Irishman) says you just "poke that black bit in da middle an she goes" :eek:

Sure enough he was right, but the pump didn't start. The wooden pole that the aerial cables from the road were joined to had a rotten crossbar....and the cable tails had blown loose in the wind, chaffed the steel point of entry terminal box up high, and shorted together.
I told the farmer that I would call the Lines Company to disconnect for safety, and get onto a pole replacement outfit straight away. He winged about the price, and said he could get up there with his tractor & bucket and do the job himself. I told him that was not how we do things around here. Long story short, the Linesman turns up (an Indian guy) and the farmer saw red....started cursing the guy for his colour etc....I had to tell him to disappear or there would be no power ever. After sorting the problem, the fuses were pulled, and a new pole was installed the next day.
 
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