Previous Owner Crimes- Let’s hear them! (1 Viewer)

[DrRock]

So, I’ve now had my 60 for a couple months now. In the process of baselining and fixing leaks, I’ve run in to some real gems of automotive “repair”. Thought I’d start this thread for those who want a good laugh as well as for educational purposes.

My Crime Scenes:
PO: Front caliper bolt stripped. No problem, just jam in the next size up fastener and secure with jb weld!
Me: I’ve fixed that with a helicoil.

Exhaust System PO: Just weld the whole system together, those pesky flanges add weight! The next guy won’t need to replace the muffler! Me- Order a sweet complete stainless system from OTRAMM.

Axle PO: That funny looking washer that goes between the front bearing lock nuts, let’s just put it in there as it came with my bearing kit. Folding down a tab is too much work so just left it as is!
Me: Yikes! Glad I found that during my front axle rebuild! On a positive note I now have a spare.

Lets near some good ones.

 

[poptart]

My 62 apparently has rust in the pinch seams in the rear wheel wells. PO used what I can only assume was drywall plaster to fill it in and painted it black. Only way I knew was thanks to them not smoothing out or sanding their plaster down and chunks were uneven and I started picking at it while installing a lift.

this is after I wire wheeled all the plaster off.

Lucky I had a pretty good body shop nearby and they cut out the rust and welded in some new metal from a ‘65 GTO wheel well. So I’m pretty sure I ended up with an extra 15hp in the long run.

 

[poptart]

Couple other things that I don’t think were the PO but probably the shop he use.

I had the same issue with the exhaust. It didn’t clear the OME rear shocks. I had to cut it to get it out and then reweld it to get the angles right. Looked long and hard at the OTRAMM option but wasn’t in the budget. Some day though.

Apparently gaskets are dumb and you should use orange RTV for everything.

One the paint shop cut all the wires to everything the took off the car. Instead off soldering thing back together or using crimp slices they just twisted the wires together and wrapped them in electrical tape.

When I had the rear axle off for painting I heard something metal loose in the housing. They let one of the spider gear washers fall out and I guess didn’t notice or care.

 

[Samppahj]

Previous owner left it to sit outdoor in a bush for 8 years. Worst crime ever.

 

[FJACS]

Not that serious of a crime, as it came out easily, but the ABS plumbing ahead of the distributor was some sort of home made device to split the water atom. The system had 10 miles of wiring running all over the place.

 

[g-man]

My rear quarter had a few rust holes in it up high under the rear wheel well. When I pulled the drain plug about 2 gallons of rusty water came out. Yes this did lead to the early rusting away of the quarter and early replacement of same.

Fusible links found twisted together to some non fusible links wires. Missing one of the fusible link plugs. All wrapped up in electrical tape. My dumb ass drove it like this for 10 years until I started having some electrical issues and investigated/unwrapped the electrical tape. Toyota Matt made a nice harness to go from battery to the fusible link along with a providing a refurb'd fusible link.

Before:

After:

 

[g-man]

Not that serious of a crime, as it came out easily, but the ABS plumbing ahead of the distributor was some sort of home made device to split the water atom. The system had 10 miles of wiring running all over the place.

First time I've seen an HHO generator in a Land Cruiser. They were trying to up the mileage 1mpg more while rusting away the exhaust system.

 

[SteveH]

Leaving a puppy inside for 15 minutes. All seats were chewed (looked like a shark ate them) and all the windows were scratched on the inside, except the rear hatch glass (thankfully). I guess I wouldn't have gotten the truck so cheaply if the interior had been perfect.... and I replaced all the glass and seat foam and upholstery and all is well.