73Corvette

I know...this isn't a Corvette story, but I would like to hear the ones you guys have. I know some of you have "bubba'd" your vettes and I would like to hear about it.

Several years ago my wife and I worked at a juvenile boys ranch in east Texas...called Teen Challenge. We had an 75 chevy 1/2 ton truck we used for ranch chores...hauling firewood, feeding hay, etc...
We had extremely limited resources, but every now and then someone would donate a junker to us.....we would strip it, sell parts and use what we could to fix or build some contraption. Kept the boys busy and was teaching them to use tools and how to at least tear things apart.. which actually comes pretty naturally to most boys.
Well, we wound up taking the rear axle out of a 3/4 ton truck that had the small drums so we could make it into a "dually" the boys thought that was cool, and we added a flat bed.....but, she was running kinda crappy. We had a couple of other engines laying around so we took them all apart and picked out the best looking, least worn parts and built a motor. We had a GM tech that would come out and donate time to help with some projects and he'd say....."YOU can't do that...." I'd say " YOU gonna buy us NEW parts?" you know how that went.... we had like two pistons from one motor, two from another, and the rest were the ones that were originally in that block, pick out the best looking rings, cleaned it up...got it all buttoned up....and fired it up...that was nearly 25 years ago and as far as I know its STILL running. Probably the MOST bubba fix I have ever done.

I would love to see the face of the poor guy that takes that motor apart and tries to find parts for it......

jim-81

Cool! what a great use for old beat up cars. Getting kids into cars is good stuff. Every chance I can, I try to get one of my buys out into the garage with me.

Jim

LAddams

Great story! bet some of those kids still love fixing cars!

I got a long history of no budget bubba fixing. Pays to be resourceful when you have no cash and need to get a car back on the road!

scottyp99

I don't really consider that a "Bubba" story, you took a buncha old engines, and made a good one out of 'em. Sounds like good, old-fashioned ingenuity to me. Let me tell ya about Bubba......One time, years and years ago, on a '72 Buick Skylark, back before anybody really wore seatbelts, my tailpipe fell off. I had nothing to hold it up, and I ended up cutting out the seatbelt and using that to hold up the tailpipe. Drove it around for several months like that........Hah!! Top that!!!


Keep the shiny side up!
Scott

flyeri

I couldn't stop rain water from getting in a car somewhere around the windshield. It would run down the seam between the forward floorboard and side wall. Finally drilled a hole in the floorboard in the corner for the water to run out. I made a little shield to cover the seam and the carpet never got wet again.

Sully1882

I got a Bubba for ya! About 20 years ago, small town SE Oklahoma Between Poteau and Wilburton... I was in a buddy's 78 Chevy Silverado, 305 with a three speed and we were driving to see some girls. Radiator hose blew, duct taped the hose back together and urinated into the radiator, had plenty bc we were drinking miller high life Ponies, to get down the road and out of BFE. We made it and laughed for ages about that. How's that for bubba?

Sully

c3man

OK, not me, but my high school buddy . The gas pedal breaks off of his 69 Firebird, so he fishes the cable out, ties it to a metal chair leg from a school chair and sticks it between the bucket seat and console. Drove that car the rest of the year with a hand throttle! Funniest damned thing I ever saw.

CheriG22

Was vacationing in Pensacola, driving up this steep bridge in an old Toyota Luv pick up truck when the muffler broke in half. Sounded like the thing was going to blow up, scared the crap out of me. Boyfriend pulls into the first gas station we saw. No money so the bubba attendant grabs a root beer can out of the trash, cuts out the bottom and top. Used wire to hold the two ends of the muffler together. Didn't charge us, but we bought him another root beer.

Cheri

KTKelly

My story:


66 VW Beetle I had back in 70 drops a valve, makes a hole in a piston.

1. Slide a used tire under the engine.

2. Unbolt engine, pull it backwards, let it drop onto the old tire.

3. Lift up car and push it off to the side.

4. Go to junkyard and buy a used cylinder head and piston.

5. Heat wrist pin in kitchen ove, run out to car and slap the "new" piston on.

6. Pull rings off old piston and put them on the "new" one.

7. Use big screwdriver as a ring compressor and slide cylinder back into position.

8. Mount "new" cylinder head.

9. Put the intake, sheet metal , etc, etc, back on.

10. Pull car back and lift it up over the engine.

11. Grunt, twist, scream, and finally bolt it back into place.

12. Fire it up and drive away (for 5 more years).


All done in the parking lot at a mall....

LAddams

Hey I pulled my front end wrecked 72 nova straight enough to fit a junkyard radiator in with a come along tied to a tree. Hammered the fan straightish against the curb,stuck in a (junkyard) headlight and drove it back and forth to college for another year!

chevygod

Most of this stuff doesn't strike me as Bubba, as many sound like they know they were doing it less than best method, but emergencies/finances dictated otherwise. Do whatcha gotta do. My car sometimes had to get me thru college that way.

Bubba would say "Look what I did heeyahr! Don't that look good, hmmm?!?" and expect praise for his fyyyyne crastmanship.

boeing46

I read this Bubba story in a non fiction book so don't hold me to it. Author (Ben Hunter) was watching some guys in Tijuana Mexico. The truck wouldn't start. They jacked up the drive side and attached a bare rim. A few guys wrapped a rope around the rim and ran like hell and it started. I guess if it was a wore out motor and a 6 cylinder it just might work. I'll see if I can find the story. Reference is The Baja Feeling.

LAddams

Like the fine craftmanship in my rebuilding my wifes headlight buckets on her subaru last week with epoxy putty?

Busted up the front end sliding on ice. Brought it to the subaru guy,$700 estimate. Dude got into a snowmobile accident that night laid up 6 weeks. Told wife bring it home. Fortunately she picked up every single bit of plastic off the road. $26 in epoxy and bulbs,a few zip ties, almost looks right lol! She is thinking of not going back when the guy gets better!

boeing46

Now this is a BUBBA Click on each picture to see all the bubba's on this truck.
Go to full size image. Click on a point on the truck for unique details.

chonkyapple

That is coool

markids77

Just out of High School driving a $50 1965 Bug to and from work. Mid winter in Massachusetts which means the temp is about 10 degrees oustide. It's 7:00AM and I run out of gas in Lanesboro MA.... it's 10 miles in ANY direction to a gas station. I rummage around in the car and find 4 tins of dry gas... dump them in, fire it up and pop and backfire my way off to work, then to a gas station after work. I truly believe an air cooled VW 4 cylinder might just run on the rental return from a night's beer consumption!

champs65

You might like this:

LAddams

Wow thats nuts!


Dont think I ever told mom the reason her cookie pan vanished was it turned intio a floorboard in my 71 chevelle convertible.....

my 76 ray

I could see myself ending up with the screwdriver imbedded in my eye up to the handle if I tried that. Or maybe I wouldn't be able to see it.

That's something Bubba would do.

HOOAH

Had about a hundred mile treck to get back home one night. Voltage regulator in my Duster went haywire and allowed everything to over-power. All lights in the car blew out. I stopped at a gas station and bought 2 D-cell flashlights and duct taped them to the fenders. I still couldn't see too well but my main concern was others (oncoming traffic) being able to see me. Police officer passed me and didn't even notice my bubbafied lights.