Still trying to get the Dragons body off the frame. Every time I get close I find another Bubba repair that slows me down. Today I found a section of the cage welded to the frame. Why he would do this to my vett is beyond me. Wish he would stick to pick ups or go carts. Has anyone else seen any of his work?

 

Their is a bubba in each of us. It not worth the trouble to worry about what someone else has done, but how are you going to fix it, to your liking. Just remember the fix you apply may be a bubba fix to someone else with a higher standard of repair.

The thing I like about finding bubba is the experience it gives us to improve ourselves. This can be true to anything we do in life.

A older corvette is a blessing and a cruse at the same time.

The blessing is the enjoyment of learning, the cruse is learning never ends.

 

Possibly the body mounts were bad & he slid a flat piece of steel in there for a repair. Im pushen 64 & there was no internet back then,ya just did what ya had to do to get buy.Trial & error was the name of the game. Good luck with your project.

 

Bubba is a craft sneaky SOB, like Santa, somehow he has been able to work on almost every Corvette ever made.

 

I agree with cagotzmann. I think this comes from lack of experience and rushing to get the job done. The rushing I think comes from bubbas lack of commitment to the hobby. Sometimes people just rush to get rid of the car. You need to be really dedicated to own one of these for very long because they are old and things break. I drive mine often but they are short trips so I probably change it at 2,000 and every 6 mo or so.

 

Welp, I never owned a Vette when I was young and broke, but will I confess that I did some bubbaing of my own, mainly on my old pickups.

It went something like this; the real part cost 75 bucks new, but if we could find a part at the junk yard that would get me by or just bypass the part, (like smog equipment for example,) we would do it.

"Hey Junior, I gotta go to work tomorrow, how we gonna get this POS a running. No problem Bubba, we'll make er work."

 

The only thing that could even come close to Bubba work that I have done is years ago on a 67 Corvette the light switch under the dash that opened and closed the headlight doors went bad and at the time it cost $100. which sounds cheap today but was a lot then so I went to the junkyard and bought a GM power window switch for $5.00 and made an adapter for the wiring which made the part work and look like factory but I didn't hack anything to do it . You could just unplug and install the proper switch at any time. I feel that was one time that Bubba had one over on the vendors for a savings of $95.00

 

There are levels of Bubba.
Alan71 is a 0.
We're all about a 2 and a half. Admit it.
You know a 10 when you see it.
😆

 

2 1/2? That's an insult! I'm at least an 8!

 

And incredibly few of us can claim that we've never acted the part of Santa

 

Sometimes it's best not to wonder about the why. You'll end up going insane. Just think about how you're going to fix it.

on mine I've found (among other things) a rear spindle flange that had been cut using a plasma cutter, and a turn signal lamp that had been wire incorrectly(which strangely enough didn't work)

 

I an agree that no matter what...every car in my shop over the past 30+ years has been screwed up by someone...somewhere along the line.

I often times have to figure out WHY whey did what they did so I can further try to understand where their head was at the time....so I can fix it correctly.

DUB

 

I think a 12 had mine.

 

So what defines a Bubba fix? Is it any fix that isn't exactly as factory built or is it something else? If you mod your car is that a Bubba fix?

Or is it if it makes the car unsafe?

I ask because I've "fixed" a few things on my car in a non-conventional manner but at a much lower cost than as it came from the factory. So is any innovative fix a Bubba fix?

 

Not an expert, but I think a Babba fix is anything that is "rigged to work" temperarily but will eventually cause headaches. (rubber bands holding stuff in place, zip ties used to hold linkage, duct tape used for ... almost anything) Mods are not neccessarily bubba fixes, but leaving parts out can be. Like the bubba who did the tuneup on my car just prior to me buying it left all of the ignition shielding off. I had to buy the new shielding from a forum user who had swapped engines in his 72. This bubba was a garage mechanic bubba who told the previous owner that the stuff was "useless emissions equipment." This is just a few examples, I am sure there are many more out there.

 

I bought my 68 coupe in 1972 from a guy that was use to Chrysler products. He told me that he especially loved GM's "window" in the distributor cap, so you could adjust the points.
Well, when my 327/350 HP engine started running very badly, I found out that there were no points left! He kept adjusting them until it was two bare metal pieces slapping together! Lou.

 

And there are countless examples....

Just because a person does their own repairs and does not follow what GM did....does not always make them...what I call a 'BOZO'.

I get frustrated when some people choose to try to 're-invent the wheel' and fail badly in their repair because they are trying to win the award on who can do it the cheapest....which...****NEWSFLASH**** there is no award for doing a repair the cheapest....and then bring the Corvette to me to try to fix what they did. Others may feel that they can make it better than GM and do well at it.. and others may fail to take into account some dynamics that are not always apparent...and their idea does not work.

A perfect example is NOT using the french locks on your half shaft U-joint flange bolts (1963-1979) and use split lock washer instead. I always use the french locks...because if GM could have gotten by and saved money by using split lock washers...they would have. And this is one of those dynamics I an referring to. Yes I have seen these bolts with lock washer that were still tight...but I ALSO have seen them loosened. And that is all I needed to see just ONE time to make my choice an easy one. A bolt can not loosen if the head of the bolt cannot turn...and that is what the french lock does.

So I have no problem in what anybody does here on the Forum to their own Corvette. But I will say that if I see or read that something is not being done correctly and it relates to safety...or it can possibly coem back and bite them and they have to do it all over again...I will 'chime' in. And that is only because I am actually taking time out of my day to extend some experience and advice to HELP that person. If they take my often times brutally honest and direct comments as an insult...then oh well. Fix it how you want to do it...because I do not have to worry about it.

What I just love about modification that a person does is IF they took the time to think things through and not just consider how it is being installed but if they can actually make sure that what they are doing is going to LAST! So many things I find are where a 'kit' is offered with a specific amount of wire length (for example) and the person just slap a part wherever they can due to the wire length...instead of stopping and thinking that if they added more wire they can mount a part in a much better area. OR...leavign 10 feet of coiled up wired all jammed in an area because they do not know how to shorten it correctly and solder/shrink wrap it...or crimp on new terminals.

DUB

 

 

That's Funny!! ... you're a funny guy.

 

A true 'Bubba-fix' is one that attempts to correct an operational problem, uses available junk to replace intended parts, and allows the vehicle to operate...at least some of the time.

'Reliability' is not one of Bubba's hallmarks; but 'ingenuity' is.

The act of bypassing a non-functional feature in your car is NOT a Bubba repair. It's more of a Cletus. {Cletus was Bubba's mechanic.}