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In college, a roommate would fix his exhaust pipe each spring and fall with a soup can. Lasted about 2k miles.
John
This roomate is still alive and everything?
I had a house in a college district and one fine June morning the day after graduation day, I found two kids in a car across the street from my house. The boy also had thought that a soup can or similar would fix the rotted out end of the downpipe. Graduated and dead, all in 24 hours.
Hey, I resemble that remark! And I’ll have you know that it lasted more than two years. Campbell’s, it seems, makes stronger exhaust systems than General Motors’ OEM supplier.
The “powered by Pringles” seems to be a Wrangler.
The moustache gives like 5HP over a stock induction. Just noticed it has 2 cans, the original flavor (5HP) and a cream n’onion one (10HP). Total 15HP
I think I’ve seen it long time ago.
Its definitely an AMC 4.0L I6, its difficult to tell if its a Wrangler though. It could also be a Cherokee or base model Grand Cherokee.
I concluded Wrangler because the hood curve is similar and there are some parts that resemble hinges there.
Like you, I thought XJ too.
In a forced induction application, what psi are those Pringles cans rated to?
Depends if you can keep them dry or not.
The bottle of single malt Scotch was likely worth as much as the car.
I own an scooter and the 150cc air cooled engines can sometimes puke a little oil when run at high rpms for extended periods of time. So what’s the hot “catch can” idea among my fellow scooter enthusiasts? A beer bottle.
I must admit, when the original radiator overflow bottle on my Spitfire fell off and I ran over it 13 years ago, I replaced it with a similar-sized Nalgene water bottle. Which given that the OEM bottle costs $60 and the Nalgene bottle was $5, is still on the car working just fine. Gets the occasional amused comment at car shows.
I’m surprised the cardboard Pringles can has not caught fire yet, considering its proximity to the engine.
I think the Pringles can is safe from fire. Paper won’t auto ignite until it’s north of 400 degrees Fahrenheit (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Autoignition_temperature).
I too would fix my exhaust (downstream of the cat.) with multiple layers of Natural Light cans. 22oz tall boys were great because they fixed more pipe with one can. The hose clamps were the most expensive part of the whole experiment. The dorm parking lot curbs also worked well as ad hoc jacks. Yielding just enough clearance under my 1987 200SX to quiet the racket coming from the perforated exhaust.
Worst example of college car repairs on the cheap: shorting out fuel pump on that same ’87 200SX was eating 10A fuses, then 15A fuses, then 20A fuses. The culprit was the deteriorated grommets that the wires passed through at the top of the in-tank pump. The cure: 2 tubes of 2 part epoxy and some nylon zip ties. Cut out the grommet. Cut out the bad wire and shorten and solder. Insulate with more epoxy. Hold in place with nylon zip ties and in multiple batches build up the epoxy at the top of the pump until it was 1/4″ thick and sealed everything.
Sold to my room mate for $500. Full disclosure given but not needed b/c he watched and helped me with the fix.
Commence “Remind me not to buy a car off you”, “explode much?” and “you’re insane” comments…
I had a Honda CR-X and a Honda CB900 Custom motorcyle that would occasionally blow the main fuse. My solution was a lightweight paperclip. It generally lasted one year and no harm done. Kept a spare. Always meant to go get a proper fuse but never quite made it to the store.
So…what’s wrong?
I like the missing PCV hose from the valve cover.
It just needs more duct tape. Sheesh, why so critical?
As mentioned above, Campbell’s Soup cans are stronger than GM OEM exhaust parts. I owned a ’71 Le Sabre 4 dr hdtp with a 350 and TH-400 tranny, and that car got repaired (also using the curb for a jack!) with soup cans on the exhaust, and a windshield washer bottle for the windshield washer reservoir, plus a plastic hose from a printing press for the PCV connection and a wad of plasticene to retain the tranny pump return line. The battery clamps rusted, so I just replaced with a bungee cord. It was a beauty by the time I sold it. The soup can trick worked on every vehicle I ever used it on, and did you know that aluminum printing plates make a fine body filler? And barbeque paint is awesome for a new paint job on an old truck?
10-4 on the BBQ grill black paint!
A slathering of Bondo (free from a friend) into the holes and a good tight wrapping with duct tape (also free) will patch the rusty muffler of a 1976 Honda Civic for about 100 miles.
I, too, have used the ol’ Campbells soup can trick on an exhaust repair. My ’71 LTD had a welded-in crossover pipe, which the nimrod at the muffler shop that did my custom dual system installed right underneath the tailshaft extension of the C6 transmission. So when I wanted to drop the trans to replace the leaking torque converter seal, I (finally capitulated, cussed a bit, and then) sawzall’d the crossover out, leaving an inch of pipe protruding from the tee on each side.
Campbell’s soup cans and hose clamps held the severed crossover in there for over a year. Finally fixed it “permanently” with a piece of flexible steel exhaust pipe and two muffler clamps.
I’m all for auto repair parts available at the nearest grocery store (Step 1: buy dinner. Step 2: fix car. Step 3: smile that you are the ultimate recycler)!
One time we had an awful overheat in a cousin’s Civic when the hoses for the heater blew and leaked our coolant out all over the road. After a temporary fix with metal epoxy and a few screws, we raided a local hardware store (no auto supply stores handy…) and came out with rubber feet meant for tubular steel chair legs and some o-rings. We simply plugged up the heater lines with those. They held. A few years later, the car was sold, and as far as I know, the rubber feet are still there…
Good ole Yankee ingenuity!
The liquor bottle as overflow tank is a common rat rod mod.
Have to be careful w/ these home fixes. My bother once went on a trip w/ his recently bought from a Granddad old Ford Del Rey Ghia. This car was deluxe! Problem was, as Granddad got older, it had spent most of its life sitting in the garage (10 year-old car, less than 3000 miles if memmory serves me right). Well, brother takes it out on a trip. Halfway through car starts stalling. Luckily, they find a gas station w/ mechanic. The hose feeding gas to the engine is dried out and dripping. Ok. It’s Saturday. Far away from any good-sized city not to mention any car part store. Bright idea! Adapt a common garden house!
By the time he fets to the next town, luckily for him, not far, smoke is coming from under the hood. You see, it was an ethanol driven car. And the ethanol simply ate through the simple hose. And was dripping on top of the engine. And almost blew up and killed brother!
Solution? Call brother (me) to go pick him up and take him to the little party we were having in a town some miles further down the road (and at a time when there were no cell phones, so getting a phone was another little adventure in and of itself). Me, the good brother, leaves the party and, regretably now admit shouldn’t have, as I was drunk, but those were other more innocent and forgiving times, go and pick him up. Car is abandoned at gas station. On Sunday drop off brother there and go home. Brother gets home on Wednesday having spent a couple of days in a dust-ridden almost village town, waiting for parts.
Ah! Student days! And sometimes I do miss the old very backwards Brazil. (today unless in Amazon region, such adventure would never happen. Stores open on weekends, cell phone service is everywhere. At the latest in a similar hypothetical situation, brother would’ve made it back on Monday. Not Wednesday. But the romance, the story, would’ve been less because of it).