What is the most ghetto thing you've found done to your car? - Page 6 - Third Generation F-Body Message Boards

Joiner · 10-06-2009, 10:56 AM

The idiots at a local used tire store tried to jack my car up in the front under the radiator support, pushed my radiator up onto my fan, I had to bust away the fan guard so I could drive it home, pull the radiator out, smash the **** out of the support with a sledge hammer, put it all back together, and, on my low budget, use clothesline to hold the upper radiator hose away from the fan with the old AC compressor mount. Took out the old R12 because it has T-tops. Just this weekend (on my low budget) I had to take different sized pieces of exhaust pipe and use all my might to clamp them down together and make an exhaust run out the back because the car was too loud (the exhaust had been cut off right above the rear axle and the front support had finally broke and the exhaust was bouncing up and down from the rumble of the engine, making a very annoying rattle). At the end of the exhaust I clamped a cheap exhaust tip on and used a coat hanger to hold it all up in the back. No more rattle, and I've seen coat hangers out live the exhaust pipe. There was a guy at college that made an exhaust out of a fence post for his S10.

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Maverick H1L · 10-06-2009, 01:05 PM

Now I've heard everything. I have some bad stories as well:

My 87 was in 2/3 primer when I bought it. Everything from the doors back, the driver's door, the hood, the CRAPPILY installed 90-92 Z28 rear spoiler (damn thing is still crooked even though I have tried to enlarge the holes to realign it), and the sagging aftermarket rear bumper cover (Pop's Firebird Parts in Alabama, anyone? Same story with my also sagging front bumper cover). CHMSL was deleted with fiberglass, but thankfully I don't NEED it to pass inspection (but have one anyways along with factory spoiler). Don't even know what happened to the front end as, like I said before, the front bumper was replaced, the driver's fender is a GM replacement (still has the tag) and the pass fender came from an 88 Formula (as verified by the VIN sticker on the inside). The rear is a complete mess. Most of the pass side quarter has been replaced and has a nice Bondo line around it. There is a crack between the replacement piece and the lower part down by the ground behind the rear wheel because PO couldn't install EITHER properly. Both pieces of the quarter have been TACK welded (probably with an arc welder, I'd guess) to the rear tail panel. Water gets in the spare well because there is like 20 holes drilled in that area, but thankfully drains out the bottom also because of said holes. The hatch motor was disconnected because the housing was cracked and the gear nut stripped, and the nylon guides STILL need to be replaced (so I have to hold it with one hand and close the hatch with the other... those freaking things are expensive for being cheap pieces of nylon!). About 75% of the rubber on the car, INCLUDING my suspension bushings and weatherstripping, still needs to be replaced. The vacuum lines were junk, ALL 4 non-factory sized (195/65/15 front and 235/60/15 rear with RWL AND traction grade B of all things!) tires were junk, the front 2 not hardly holding air and the rears not much better off, even though I have my idiot neighbor and his roofers to thank for the rears. I have aftermarket American Racing rims (one is bent, BTW, but is being replaced soon as I FINALLY found a reasonably priced replacement on eBay), but only got 3 center caps. The only reason I have a pair now is because one fell off

.

But, that's not the worst thing. My anemic little 2.8 ALSO had a trailer hitch at one point! Proof? The rear bumper has been notched to fit the hitch, and the trailer harness was still attached to the 2 OUTER BRAKE LIGHTS when I removed it. PO didn't even connect up the turn signals!

Let's see, for the engine: I already mentioned the vacuum lines being bad. The ECM had a permanent code 54, and was a cheapo AutoZone reman unit. The engine overheated CONSTANTLY because the PO had knocked off or removed 3/4 of the air dam, leaving me with a tiny 2" strip of the center piece bolted to the lower radiator support. The 2.8 was supposedly rebuilt 10K before I bought it at 196K, but there was so much crap in the lifter valley from his lack of changing the oil that it looked like it had never been rebuilt. There was a ton of grease covering EVERYTHING. The ailing 700R4 was missing the dust cover, and still is, even though it's not in the car any more. The crossover pipe was broke in HALF exactly 1/2" before the center union, and put together with crappy weld and some sort of exhaust filler. The catalytic converter was removed, the transmission hanger removed, and the intermediate pipe's flange was CUT off, and a test pipe flared and WELDED into place at both ends. Removing that SOB took me 2 days (didn't have anything other than a hack saw to cut it off and still don't) to pass inspection! Not to mention that the gap between the STOCK intermediate pipe and the 2.5" in/out Flowmaster 80 series muffler was filled in with WELD. Not only that, but the dual 2.5" tail pipes were WELDED to the muffler CROOKED, the driver's side hanging lower than the pass side, and BOTH were upside down, coming down and out of the muffler and pointing straight back out the back of the car instead of straight and down, and both were WELDED to 3" by 18" chrome tailpipes that were rusted and no longer shiny where there wasn't rust.

Electrical wasn't too bad. Radio was patched in using the twist and tape method, since the aftermarket that was obviously there was ripped out after being directly spliced to the harness. There was some sort of amp system in the car at one point (not like I have now)... The rear carpet is notched to allow wiring to pass through (still using the notch for the RCA cable), and there was a heavy red wire grounded under the driver's rear seat. And the left turn signal wire (IN the steering column, nonetheless), the light blue one for the front, was shorted to the steering shaft. Left turn? TURN/B/U fuse blows. 4-ways? STOP HAZ fuse blows. Good thing I fixed that wire before I had the car inspected (even though I broke the column bowl to get to it and later replaced the column). Don't know just HOW that wire broke or got cut, (I think it was cut) but it was. Oh, and you know the foam surround around the speaker cones? Most of it was gone in the subwoofers of the Pioneer 6x9s in the rear, and on the pass side midrange, the surround was made of nail polish!

The interior was a complete mess. Most of the panels had the screws tightened so tight that they went completely through the mounting holes (not to mention about half of the screws were missing, especially in the kick panels and the upper rear panel). I didn't have most of the large plastic screws and nuts in the rear (and the replacements aren't all that great). The headliner was redone, but it is held in place with screws in several places that are covered by snapped-on buttons (no kidding!). The car was FULL of trash when I bought it, 2-3 BAGS worth! It took me 3 months to get all of the trash (cig ash and butts and damn beer pull-tabs included) out of the car. The rear glove box was falling apart and has not been replaced (don't think it's going to be, either... I like the idea of sticking something USEFUL in there). The front seat belt covers (between the buckles and the floor on the receivers) were cracked and broken and have been removed. ALL of the seatbelt guides were gone... I still don't have the ones in the headliner and the ones in the headrests won't stay in place. The map pocket hangs open. The pass side door was the worst. The inner lock rod (with the black/red lever on the inside) was stuck behind the door panel. The door wouldn't lock for a month until I decided to get in there and loosen things up. The ignition lock would turn WITHOUT the key. Even after I lubed it, I could still remove the key with the car running (but I couldn't turn it from LOCK without the key). It looked like some dog ate the driver's rear seat, both the upper and lower parts, but especially the lower half, which I removed the cover from it was so bad (have been replaced now). And yes, the dash pad is cracked, and I only have 1 grill because the remaining tabs broke off of the driver's side grill.

Gotta cover the brakes: The rears needed to be redone about 10K before I rebuilt them. The fronts were another fine example of the guy's mechanical ability. The pass side was held on with the guide pins, but WASHERS were used to space the caliper from the wheel. The driver's side was bound up altogether. I wondered why the car pulled when I drove it home. Good news was that the parking brake still worked until the pass side cable bound up on me a couple of years ago.

Most of the above has been fixed, with the exception of the suspension bushings, the weatherstripping, and the body work (short of cash for that right now). I have rigged up some of the electrical work, but it is well covered with tape and not going to move or brush against any other wiring (inside the interior wiring harness which is wrapped with tape, and the important stuff was done right), and I know I still have to fix the IAT sensor harness. I would love to find that SOB and knock him flat before I take $400 of what I paid for the car back! I think he's dead now, though, and I'm sure he was laughing the whole way between the bank and the grave...

Joiner · 10-06-2009, 01:48 PM

Oh, I forgot to mention. It wasn't a third gen, but someone out at college made a lift kit out of wood. Haha, it's not just the f body people using wood out there.

transam85dudeman · 10-10-2009, 10:31 PM

poor old guy being dead. at least he got a laugh.i think back and wonder, wow im surprised, my car wasnt ghettoish.. But for 400 bucks, good deal. violence is never the answer. except when im ready to kick some a holes. i like that idea with the rear glovebox, and your usable items. hmm i wonder?

Donald87FB · 10-10-2009, 10:47 PM

my stereo, someone hooked it up to the running lights. and the hood/hatch is held up with a complementary 2x4!! lets see.... my over spill was a 2ltr pepsi bottle.

Donald87FB · 10-10-2009, 11:03 PM

o yea, and the PO also told me about the hitch that was welded on the back so some OLD LADY!!!!!!!, could pull her cow feed to her cows.......... how she got someone to do that...... i have no idea.

by the way its off.....

and the PO had a little trophy when he got the car, a shoe was weged in the driveshaft. it was like glass on top, brown/balck glass. he didint find it untill about 6 months of driving the car. odd.... very odd...

novafirebirdguy · 10-11-2009, 01:08 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Maverick H1L

Now I've heard everything. I have some bad stories as well:

My 87 was in 2/3 primer when I bought it. Everything from the doors back, the driver's door, the hood, the CRAPPILY installed 90-92 Z28 rear spoiler (damn thing is still crooked even though I have tried to enlarge the holes to realign it), and the sagging aftermarket rear bumper cover (Pop's Firebird Parts in Alabama, anyone? Same story with my also sagging front bumper cover). CHMSL was deleted with fiberglass, but thankfully I don't NEED it to pass inspection (but have one anyways along with factory spoiler). Don't even know what happened to the front end as, like I said before, the front bumper was replaced, the driver's fender is a GM replacement (still has the tag) and the pass fender came from an 88 Formula (as verified by the VIN sticker on the inside). The rear is a complete mess. Most of the pass side quarter has been replaced and has a nice Bondo line around it. There is a crack between the replacement piece and the lower part down by the ground behind the rear wheel because PO couldn't install EITHER properly. Both pieces of the quarter have been TACK welded (probably with an arc welder, I'd guess) to the rear tail panel. Water gets in the spare well because there is like 20 holes drilled in that area, but thankfully drains out the bottom also because of said holes. The hatch motor was disconnected because the housing was cracked and the gear nut stripped, and the nylon guides STILL need to be replaced (so I have to hold it with one hand and close the hatch with the other... those freaking things are expensive for being cheap pieces of nylon!). About 75% of the rubber on the car, INCLUDING my suspension bushings and weatherstripping, still needs to be replaced. The vacuum lines were junk, ALL 4 non-factory sized (195/65/15 front and 235/60/15 rear with RWL AND traction grade B of all things!) tires were junk, the front 2 not hardly holding air and the rears not much better off, even though I have my idiot neighbor and his roofers to thank for the rears. I have aftermarket American Racing rims (one is bent, BTW, but is being replaced soon as I FINALLY found a reasonably priced replacement on eBay), but only got 3 center caps. The only reason I have a pair now is because one fell off

.

But, that's not the worst thing. My anemic little 2.8 ALSO had a trailer hitch at one point! Proof? The rear bumper has been notched to fit the hitch, and the trailer harness was still attached to the 2 OUTER BRAKE LIGHTS when I removed it. PO didn't even connect up the turn signals!

Let's see, for the engine: I already mentioned the vacuum lines being bad. The ECM had a permanent code 54, and was a cheapo AutoZone reman unit. The engine overheated CONSTANTLY because the PO had knocked off or removed 3/4 of the air dam, leaving me with a tiny 2" strip of the center piece bolted to the lower radiator support. The 2.8 was supposedly rebuilt 10K before I bought it at 196K, but there was so much crap in the lifter valley from his lack of changing the oil that it looked like it had never been rebuilt. There was a ton of grease covering EVERYTHING. The ailing 700R4 was missing the dust cover, and still is, even though it's not in the car any more. The crossover pipe was broke in HALF exactly 1/2" before the center union, and put together with crappy weld and some sort of exhaust filler. The catalytic converter was removed, the transmission hanger removed, and the intermediate pipe's flange was CUT off, and a test pipe flared and WELDED into place at both ends. Removing that SOB took me 2 days (didn't have anything other than a hack saw to cut it off and still don't) to pass inspection! Not to mention that the gap between the STOCK intermediate pipe and the 2.5" in/out Flowmaster 80 series muffler was filled in with WELD. Not only that, but the dual 2.5" tail pipes were WELDED to the muffler CROOKED, the driver's side hanging lower than the pass side, and BOTH were upside down, coming down and out of the muffler and pointing straight back out the back of the car instead of straight and down, and both were WELDED to 3" by 18" chrome tailpipes that were rusted and no longer shiny where there wasn't rust.

Electrical wasn't too bad. Radio was patched in using the twist and tape method, since the aftermarket that was obviously there was ripped out after being directly spliced to the harness. There was some sort of amp system in the car at one point (not like I have now)... The rear carpet is notched to allow wiring to pass through (still using the notch for the RCA cable), and there was a heavy red wire grounded under the driver's rear seat. And the left turn signal wire (IN the steering column, nonetheless), the light blue one for the front, was shorted to the steering shaft. Left turn? TURN/B/U fuse blows. 4-ways? STOP HAZ fuse blows. Good thing I fixed that wire before I had the car inspected (even though I broke the column bowl to get to it and later replaced the column). Don't know just HOW that wire broke or got cut, (I think it was cut) but it was. Oh, and you know the foam surround around the speaker cones? Most of it was gone in the subwoofers of the Pioneer 6x9s in the rear, and on the pass side midrange, the surround was made of nail polish!

The interior was a complete mess. Most of the panels had the screws tightened so tight that they went completely through the mounting holes (not to mention about half of the screws were missing, especially in the kick panels and the upper rear panel). I didn't have most of the large plastic screws and nuts in the rear (and the replacements aren't all that great). The headliner was redone, but it is held in place with screws in several places that are covered by snapped-on buttons (no kidding!). The car was FULL of trash when I bought it, 2-3 BAGS worth! It took me 3 months to get all of the trash (cig ash and butts and damn beer pull-tabs included) out of the car. The rear glove box was falling apart and has not been replaced (don't think it's going to be, either... I like the idea of sticking something USEFUL in there). The front seat belt covers (between the buckles and the floor on the receivers) were cracked and broken and have been removed. ALL of the seatbelt guides were gone... I still don't have the ones in the headliner and the ones in the headrests won't stay in place. The map pocket hangs open. The pass side door was the worst. The inner lock rod (with the black/red lever on the inside) was stuck behind the door panel. The door wouldn't lock for a month until I decided to get in there and loosen things up. The ignition lock would turn WITHOUT the key. Even after I lubed it, I could still remove the key with the car running (but I couldn't turn it from LOCK without the key). It looked like some dog ate the driver's rear seat, both the upper and lower parts, but especially the lower half, which I removed the cover from it was so bad (have been replaced now). And yes, the dash pad is cracked, and I only have 1 grill because the remaining tabs broke off of the driver's side grill.

Gotta cover the brakes: The rears needed to be redone about 10K before I rebuilt them. The fronts were another fine example of the guy's mechanical ability. The pass side was held on with the guide pins, but WASHERS were used to space the caliper from the wheel. The driver's side was bound up altogether. I wondered why the car pulled when I drove it home. Good news was that the parking brake still worked until the pass side cable bound up on me a couple of years ago.

Most of the above has been fixed, with the exception of the suspension bushings, the weatherstripping, and the body work (short of cash for that right now). I have rigged up some of the electrical work, but it is well covered with tape and not going to move or brush against any other wiring (inside the interior wiring harness which is wrapped with tape, and the important stuff was done right), and I know I still have to fix the IAT sensor harness. I would love to find that SOB and knock him flat before I take $400 of what I paid for the car back! I think he's dead now, though, and I'm sure he was laughing the whole way between the bank and the grave...

This is cruelty to animals, seriously.

GTA50 · 10-11-2009, 11:14 PM

So, man oh man oh man....WHY DID WE BUY THESE CARS?

rs89todd · 10-12-2009, 06:31 PM

my 89 camaro rs i bought for 250$ no trans rad or serpentine set up. rockers are full of expando foam, PO cut the wiring in the car for the tbi. my return line had a small can half way down the car just after the fuel hung by a cloths hanger not sure what the idea was there

what i have done was take all the emissions and ac components out, i want to make the car a track car so im gonna convert to carb. the hydrolic clutch set up the primary cylinder was gone, and i had another setup but with the slave gone, so i cut them at about the same place and took fuel injection hose and 2 hose clamps, clutch works fine, but its just temporary for now

dontellmymom · 10-13-2009, 10:28 PM

the first ghetto thing i noticed was the vise grip pliers on the door when i went to go buy it...

H-town

Jimmy D · 10-13-2009, 10:51 PM

In one car the oil pan was used as the lift point for a floor jack and the T-Top overhead console map light was removed and a cheap audio tweeter put in it's place.

In my second Camaro the Bose stereo had been removed and a custom 2 - 12" sub-woofer box was placed in the trunk well area. The ghetto thing in this case was the fact that when they removed the flip-up rear speaker panel deck lid, they just hammered down the 4 bolt studs used to hold it in place instead of taking the time to remove them.

1962willys · 10-24-2009, 02:57 AM

I'm working on a 1962 willys 4x4 p/u apperently in the 60's it was ok to use 2'' of filler with alumnium mesh... and astroturf for a headliner...bucket seats held in with only two drywall screws and scrap pieces of wood but at least they had the presence of mind to make a wooden bed out of old pallets and 8'' lag screws it had 14 leafs in the front ant 12 in the rear milatary tubed tires filled with expanda foam oggga horn and a wooden brake shoe...I think it was a paint stick...well any how I have put a tpi system in and am working of finishing up the frame ...the 86 that the tpi came from had red paint on the gauge bezel ,vents ,intake, red neons every where, exaust held up with bungee cords and coat hangars but then again what else would you expect for a $700 car with a new crate motor

C.M.Jones · 11-01-2009, 09:09 PM

well when I got my 84 somebody put a 70s engine in it and cut up the original harness which was ok with me because I like the old skool but they could have done the install better.

when I first bought my car it had a bad tranny so when I got it home I started to replace it, and thats when I found all the bolts we only finger tight!!!, INCLUDING the torque converter bolts!!! I was thankful I could not drive it until I replaced it or the thing would have likely fallin right out. The whole time I was Cursing the guy while I was pulling it out.
I still shudder at riding around in that car when the guy was giving me a test ride in it, he even got on it a few times

wwwyzzerdd · 11-09-2009, 12:48 AM

i could name a thousand things ive found done to mine, but ill name the few that irritated me the most

first off, the blinkers didnt work when i got it, turned out to be a bad flasher relay, someone didnt feel like wiring up the fuel pump the right way, so they went the easy way and wired it into the wire for the flasher relay, and since the relay was bad the fuel pump was always on, well when i replaced the relay i started the car to drive it a little and test the signals and stuff, well they worked, but soon the fuel in the carb bowls ran out and it died, i was like WTF?, so i tried to restart the car, just kept turning over, then i realized that i couldnt hear my fuel pump kicking on... i followed the wire from the pump to a purple wire under the dash, so i turned the ignition on and turned on my blinker, and heard the fuel pump kicking on and off with the blinkers, man that pissed me off, i have it hooked up properly now

another thing, my fans are rigged to a manual switch on the inside, i want to wire them correctly, im going to look for a diagram when im done with this post actually

my alternator was rigged to one wire, i dont know how they got the alt to work with it, because once that alt finally went out i had hell trying to figure out what was wrong because hooking my new alt to that 1 wire like they had it would result in a blown alt, i finally found that they had cut off the other 2 wires inside the harness, once i hooked those 2 up to a new 3 wire adaptor, my alt worked fine, cost me a hundred bucks for the new alt and a 5 dollar 3 wire plug for the alt

my transmission crossmember bar only has 2 bolts holding it on, PO stripped the other screw holes

and the transmission didnt even have the dust cover on it, got one from a junkyard so it has one now, lucky a rock didnt get stuck in there by the time i noticed it

my right rear rotor only had 3 screws in it, the other 2 were twisted off, so my tire was held on by 3 nuts

and my front left rotor was the same

i got the car for cheap so i cant complain, but wow

car still has a few other strange things done to it, but im taking care of it one by one, once its all taken care of its gonna get a well deserved paint job

oh! and my drivers seat is supported by CONCRETE!

totalchaos · 11-09-2009, 12:52 AM

The PO of the car took a lock from a lockbox maybe or maybe a display case and put it on the gas door apparently people were stealing his gas

sathanous · 11-09-2009, 01:06 AM

When I bought mine the previous owner had stopped driving in because she got something a bit better on gas and that there was a pinhole in the brake fluid gasket... She was lucky it was there because it kept pressure off the passenger rear brake line thate her late husband(suicide) had smashed against the wheel well... But he fudged it because it was smashed too much to leak... He did a lot of shitty stuff to this car that I'm still fixing but I think that's the worst...

firebird1992 · 11-09-2009, 01:10 AM

i once had my whole front-end held to together with zip-ties

i ran without a hood for about a week after a truck backed into me

wwwyzzerdd · 11-09-2009, 01:42 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by firebird1992

i once had my whole front-end held to together with zip-ties

i ran without a hood for about a week after a truck backed into me

lol, wow, i cant believe it stayed

firebird1992 · 11-09-2009, 01:46 AM

yep i tossed all the nuts and bolts in the trash by accident the day before