Removed the generator pulley nut on a 69 bus with the loop of an
old-fashioned bicycle lock, tied the motor and transmission back into a
59 renault dauphine with coathangers and drove on, manufactured the
complex upper diesel vanagon hose from galvanized home depot pipe
fittings when it blew, and used a discarded tennis shoe as an oil
sponge when the breather split on my 90 vanagon on the way back from
NYC.

A teaspoon of grits (uncooked) will stop a radiator leak in a pinch.
Tried it on a tractor once and it worked, I think it would be last
resort on a vanagon though.

Jim

On Mar 10, 2004, at 2:14 PM, don spence wrote:

> As travel season is approaching and there has already been a fair bit
> of discussion re: what spare parts to carry I'd like to invite one and
> all to contribute to a " you fixed it with what?!" list.
> Who knows, tales of other's creative fixes may get one of us out of a
> jam.
>
> For example, a friend and his family (wife, two young girls) were
> heading up a remote highway in northern Alberta for a Christmas visit
> with grandma in a Hyundai. Thirty miles from nowhere, -20 C, the fan
> belt pops.  No spare. No tools. What to do?
> For some unknown reason, the wife, whom I have never known to wear a
> dress, was carrying a pair of pantyhose in her luggage. Yup, stretched
> and tied the panty hose around the pulleys and limped slowly into the
> next settlement.  I've also heard of it being done with duct tape
> (don't leave home without it). I have wrapped up burst rad hoses
> successfully with Gaffer tape. (better than duct tape-used in the film
> biz)
>
> Anybody else made emergency repairs with "available" materials?
>