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I really enjoy the threads that everyone contributes to (What did you do, What broke, etc.) not just for the entertainment, but I learn a lot from those too. While working on my car last week and correcting some of Bubba's handiwork, I thought "Why not a thread for the Bubbafication we find on our cars and what we do to remedy said Bubbafication."
The Bubba fix that triggered this for me was discovered while I was replacing the heater hoses on my car after I split one recently. When I got into the project I could tell almost immediately that the hoses I had received were different than the ones on the car. One was smaller than the other in the replacement kit while the ones on the car were the same size. I didn't think much of it until I got under the car to remove the hoses from the heater core. There I found a large blob of some kind of putty like substance covering the hose clamps I needed to get to and encasing the ends of the hoses essentially making the heater core and the hoses going into it a single unit. There's some good news!
I got my utility knife and a flat bladed screwdriver out and started carefully removing the putty so that I could get to the hose clamps and make the repair. At this point I didn't really know what the putty was there for so I didn't want to get too aggressive with it just in case it was there for some good reason (Silly me!). I didn't get too far into it before I cut down to a blister in the putty of the nastiest coolant/putty/whatever else mixture that was right at the end of the hose that should have been smaller than the other. Mystery solved! Instead of using the correct sized hoses, it looks like Bubba bought a roll of hose and sealed the leaking end of the incorrectly sized hose at the heater core with the aforementioned putty.
After I cleaned the coolant/putty mixture off of myself and my safety glasses, I finished the removal of the rest of the putty, which was about the size of one and a half of my fists. I finished the repair and now I don't have coolant leaks any more!
I call it " hack job" as a know guys who are car wrenching gurus named bubba, so term as used here doesnt fit,
what i get a kick out of is when someone is prasied for a hack job repair because of who they are or context,
An example is the steering box conversion that requires tapping in the steering shaft to make it all fit,
If that wasnt a conversion sold retail that some guys like and some cat just asked about tapping in has shaft to make a conversion he dreamed up work people would call it hack job,
Truth is car craft long enough you will see hack jobs, they sure are a lot out there,
But just because the factory did it doesnt mean some cat won't do it better lots of savvy people on this forum have proven that,
Seems "hack job" sometimes is subjective.
Ooops, if you want classic hack jobs check my build thread what ex buddy mike or the paid tech did,
No offense intended to anyone named or called Bubba. I have friends who carry the same moniker. That being said, the nickname for improper or half arsed repairs is used frequently on the forum and I'm not offended by it at all. I find it funny. Call it what you want, I was just thinking we could continue to learn from each other and share some funny or interesting hack jobs/Bubba repairs as we find them on our cars. If others are offended by the thread it will die and disappear into the nether reaches of the forum.
I really enjoy the threads that everyone contributes to (What did you do, What broke, etc.) not just for the entertainment, but I learn a lot from those too. While working on my car last week and correcting some of Bubba's handiwork, I thought "Why not a thread for the Bubbafication we find on our cars and what we do to remedy said Bubbafication."
The Bubba fix that triggered this for me was discovered while I was replacing the heater hoses on my car after I split one recently. When I got into the project I could tell almost immediately that the hoses I had received were different than the ones on the car. One was smaller than the other in the replacement kit while the ones on the car were the same size. I didn't think much of it until I got under the car to remove the hoses from the heater core. There I found a large blob of some kind of putty like substance covering the hose clamps I needed to get to and encasing the ends of the hoses essentially making the heater core and the hoses going into it a single unit. There's some good news!
I got my utility knife and a flat bladed screwdriver out and started carefully removing the putty so that I could get to the hose clamps and make the repair. At this point I didn't really know what the putty was there for so I didn't want to get too aggressive with it just in case it was there for some good reason (Silly me!). I didn't get too far into it before I cut down to a blister in the putty of the nastiest coolant/putty/whatever else mixture that was right at the end of the hose that should have been smaller than the other. Mystery solved! Instead of using the correct sized hoses, it looks like Bubba bought a roll of hose and sealed the leaking end of the incorrectly sized hose at the heater core with the aforementioned putty.
After I cleaned the coolant/putty mixture off of myself and my safety glasses, I finished the removal of the rest of the putty, which was about the size of one and a half of my fists. I finished the repair and now I don't have coolant leaks any more!
I'm kind of worried about this too. I'm in the process of replacing all the hoses. The other day I looked up everything to make sure I got the right ones, ordered the correct heater hoses. I go out to the car and sure enough I have 1 original looking cracked end hose from the valve to the heater core and another from the top of the valve to the engine that is a different size. At the connection to the engine I can tell the hose is the wrong size and too big for the fitting (but not leaking) and someone tightened the heck out of the clamp to make it fit. Never noticed it before, but yeah I'm worried about what they've left for me to fix once I take the hoses off.
I'm kind of worried about this too. I'm in the process of replacing all the hoses. The other day I looked up everything to make sure I got the right ones, ordered the correct heater hoses. I go out to the car and sure enough I have 1 original looking cracked end hose from the valve to the heater core and another from the top of the valve to the engine that is a different size. At the connection to the engine I can tell the hose is the wrong size and too big for the fitting (but not leaking) and someone tightened the heck out of the clamp to make it fit. Never noticed it before, but yeah I'm worried about what they've left for me to fix once I take the hoses off.
It didn't take much time or effort to do the actual repair. The longest part of the whole process was digging the putty ball out of the frame/firewall where the heater core comes through. I started after I took my son to school and was finished by the time I had to go pick him up. While I was in there I replaced the radiator hoses too. Might as well, that way I know how old all of the hoses in the cooling system are.
How would one know if he was Bubba? Here are just a few tell-tale signs.
If you open the hood of your car and more than 1 roll of strategically placed duct tape is visible, you might be named Bubba.
If you have electrical tape on your spark plug wires, you might be named Bubba.
If you have poured more than 3 bottles of radiator stop leak in your radiator, you might be named Bubba.
If you frequently throw away “extra stuff” after reassembling a part, you might be named Bubba.
If you ever bought used tires because “they still got another good thousand miles on them” you might be named Bubba.
If you have ever had a flare up in your garage because you were pouring gasoline in the “cobarator” while trying to crank the car, you might be named Bubba.
If you have a coat hanger wire anyplace where some type of linkage should be, you might be named Bubba.
If your mechanics tools include only hammers, crescent wrenches, kitchen knives, and pliers, you might be named Bubba.
If you have an old Plymouth in your backyard that you rob parts off of for your Chevy, you might be named Bubba.
My post was made for strictly humor and was not meant to offend anyone. When I was young and broke, I had a series of old pickup trucks that I used to go back and forth to work in. I did whatever I could to keep these old clunkers on the road, including a lot of “bubba” type of repairs. I needed these trucks to get me to work earn a living for my family. In the little South Texas town I grew up in, a lot of young men were called Bubba. It is normally used to describe a good old boy type and is not really a negative term. One of my nephews is called Bubba.
I agree that some of the modifications people do are better than factory. One of my buddies is a street rod fanatic and I am always amazed at some of the stuff they do to their cars. A lot of it is by necessity, but a lot of it is to add the “cool factor.”
"If you have a coat hanger wire anyplace where some type of linkage should be, you might be named Bubba."
Ha... For the longest time my car had this wire coat hanger wrapped around the heat riser. I left it for a few years thinking it had some function. It literally was doing nothing since no vacuum would mean the heat riser default to open. Bubba disconnected some of the smog equipt, left a bunch of open vacuum ports, etc... Fixed the vacuum issues w/ new hoses, new TVS, etc. and took off Bubba's wire. Been running fine all summer, actually much smoother now with all those vacuum leaks fixed.
My post was made for strictly humor and was not meant to offend anyone. When I was young and broke, I had a series of old pickup trucks that I used to go back and forth to work in. I did whatever I could to keep these old clunkers on the road, including a lot of “bubba” type of repairs. I needed these trucks to get me to work earn a living for my family. In the little South Texas town I grew up in, a lot of young men were called Bubba. It is normally used to describe a good old boy type and is not really a negative term. One of my nephews is called Bubba.
I agree that some of the modifications people do are better than factory. One of my buddies is a street rod fanatic and I am always amazed at some of the stuff they do to their cars. A lot of it is by necessity, but a lot of it is to add the “cool factor.”
Like i said the term doesnt offend me i just do not choose to use it because i have seen it offend people including ones on this forum, most dont speak out because the term is loved here and they will get bashed,
On here in most cases its not used as endearing a buddy named bubba but rather to trash a hack job repair,
I also took down the ncrs not correctly restored stingray parody logo in my forum sig because it offended some members,
If you lived around here you would understand Bubba. The local Napa bolt bins are pretty much filled with the same size fastener just so they are full. No need to inventory they full. I remember going to the local hardware store in the 80's looking for that self tapper that would hold the Camaro interior door handle back on. A wood screw was the only offering. Just went to buy a fan clutch. The guy at AZ asked me where my Alternator plugged in at. So I order at RA 10 days to deliver. Why does Bubba do what he does? I almost did something shoddy but, I'll bite the bullet and wait.
In the late 60s as broke teenagers go we had a very rusted 53 chevy that we used white house paint on the body and green on the bumpers with stickers all over it. Shift linkage broke, the repair was 1st and rev on column and 2nd and third we cut hole in floor and extended the rod long enough to grab. Brakes failed, but the emergency braked still worked so we just kept on. Drove like that all summer, looking back at this I'd say these repairs fall under your classification. T
I may be getting ready to do a bubba job myself. I just ordered some shoulder bolts to use in my removable rear window latches. My '68 used 10-24 screws and later years used 1/4-20 screws. The repop latches have slots designed for the bigger screws so the 10-24 are too small for the slot. I figured I would buy 1/4" X 1/8" shoulder bolts with 10-24 X 1/2" threads. That way the shoulder fits the slot and the threads fit the mounts. If that is a bubba fix, and I am sure it is, then I plead guilty as charged. But it avoids spending $400 for correct '68 latches that are made from "unobtainium".
Just had a conversation with a friend last weekend where he told me a funny 'Bubba' story. Back in high school before he knew anything about fixing cars he had a 1970 Chevelle. One day on the way home the exhaust broke and started dragging so he tied it up temporarily with a coat hanger but then a new rubbing noise started and he was worried that he now had two problems to fix. He told his father about it who looked underneath and then back at him and said 'Son, you tied your exhaust pipe to the driveshaft which rotates to make the wheels turn'. The coat hanger rubbed enough of a groove in the driveshaft that he had to replace it too.
While installing new parking brake cables and all the associated parts on my 68 I discovered that the PO put the rear rotors on the front. No wonder I wasn't able to adjust the parking brake shoes. I refer to him as "Master Bubba".
William, if you have a pair of old 68 latches, you can put the newer latch guts in the 68 housing like I did. 68 Latch handles snap off, that is why they came out with a beeffier design. But the 68 latch uses four screws to hold it in place. The new latches only use two screws and I did not like that idea. Lou.
William, if you have a pair of old 68 latches, you can put the newer latch guts in the 68 housing like I did. 68 Latch handles snap off, that is why they came out with a beeffier design. But the 68 latch uses four screws to hold it in place. The new latches only use two screws and I did not like that idea. Lou.
Dammit Bubba!
