[nightwrencher]

I hope this picture loads, I sent it into readers rides at carcraft a while ago, think it will get in? Let me explain:

this is on my '66 chevy truck. piece of the valve stem chipped off and my rocker was binding and bending/snapping pushrods. I tried to level out the stem with emery cloth, but the rods kept on bending. it was the exhaust valve. out of desperation (was in the process of moving) , I figured I'd shut down the good ol #4 cylinder. So I removed both rockers to that cylinder, but I figured pressure/vaccum would still build in the cylinder, so I took the spark plug out. you'd be surprised how loud that is even know nothing is firing out of the hole. so, hit a couple auto&hardware stores, threaded some pipe fittings into the spark plug hole using a non-fouler, and screwed a briggs&stratton lawn mower muffler to it. My friend said it would never last, that was 1,000 ago and towed 2 cars......I must be a redneck.

[INJUNTOM]

DUDE!!! ...you are scaring me....

[gman26]

how rough does it run since it's not firing on that cylinder?

it's actually driveable?

[Squidward]

OK, now that's officially worse than my 77 Nova exhaust from back in high school: My exhaust pipe rusted off, so I took a soup can and a Dole pineapple can, punched a bunch of holes in them with a hammer & nail, put the soup can inside the slightly larger pineapple can, and clamped them onto the manifold.

I had never heard that car so quiet.

Dude, I can't believe you've done that for over a 1000 miles.

[Thumpin455_GTO]

Well, at least its a chevy... Howd ya keep the lifters from poppin out?

[Goatster69]

Sweet! I have run on 7 of 8 but not on purpose.

[Steven S]

Twenty years ago I met a guy that pulled the push rods to every other cylinder in the
firing order in a 340 mopor and was running it as a four cylinder. to save gas????

[HWYSTR455]

Had a similar incident on a long road trip, broke a rocker stud, pulled the rockers, pulled the push rods, and loosened the spark plug, drove like close to 300 miles to my destination. Had to buy tools, parts, and do the repair in a parking lot in the rain no less, thought it would be as easy as just changing the stud, toss the push rods & rockers back on. Nope! Darn lifters pushed out of the bores, had to yank the intake & valley pan in the rain, in a parking lot! Buy gaskets, rtv, etc, doh! Ate into my vacation money!

[Larry Navarro]

Back in high school (late '70's) there was a guy who removed a broken steering wheel and clamped a VISE-GRIP wrench on the steering stem and drove it to school!!!
Wish I had a picture of that!

[bobzdar]

I would have just rigged up something to keep the exhaust valve open...

[tempest455]

If you remove the rockers and pushrods, that piston just goes along for the ride. I did that on a buddy's 409 and it ran just fine.

[HWYSTR455]

Until the lifter gets pushed out of the bore, like it did for me. Then it starts effecting oil pressure...

[larry davis]

Originally Posted by Larry Navarro

Back in high school (late '70's) there was a guy who removed a broken steering wheel and clamped a VISE-GRIP wrench on the steering stem and drove it to school!!!
Wish I had a picture of that!

Tell the truth, it was you in that SD.

[tempest455]

I'll bet the guy I did it for kept the RPM below 3,500! He just wanted it to last another month or two for the Goodguys Car Show.

[66bonne]

Don't know if you'll make Car Craft but I bet Jeff Foxworthy picks it up for his act .....
"You might be a red neck if ....... you have a lawnmower muffler sticking out of your motor"
I can't stop laughing at that pix, that is REAL redneck engineering - you get a PhD.

[nightwrencher]

to answer some concerns, or defend myself-don't know which.....
gman26, it actually runs pretty decent, better than it did when the rocker was slacking up. doesn't idle too rough, and I've been driving it on occasion to haul and around the yard to pull tree stumps. I towed about 7,000 lbs with it four few hours, and it runs about 3000rpms w/ no trouble (it has 4.88 gears).

thumpin 455: what lifters? the first time I dropped the pan to find the pushrods/etc. if the lifters popped out, they'll just sit in the valley area, and oil psi still around 30psi w/ no fluctuations.

just not worth the time or money fight now. the heads are worth the valve job right now, when I can get my garage up, I'm pulling the engine out to use in my chevelle. anyone got an extra 30x60 foundation?

[Thumpin455_GTO]

Yeah if you keep the rpm down the lifters wont come out, they wont go anywhere on a sbc. Unless they are restricted they will drop the oil pressure if they come out, but rpm would be about the only thing to knock em out. sbc's have longer bores than Pontiacs dont they? Im not pullin one apart to measure it...

[Zimtok]

I drove a Mazda RX3 for 2 months without brakes downshifting and e-brake.

I also drove a 68 Cutless with a 1 gallon gas can for fuel tank till I could fix the fuel lines. (3 weeks)

I also drove a 72 chevy 4 wheel drive truck for 2 weeks using the front diff locked in because I broke the rear driveshaft.


The things we do to get by........




.

[sharkbite]

I had an old Honda bike that had no back brakes and a broken throtle cable. I hooked the cable to the rear brake foot pedal, so when I wanted to go faster I just pressed down on the rear brake. I think I got hurt on that bike more then once.

[topdown]

What is the purpose of venting the cylinder? Wouldn't you want it sealed so the pressure differences would help propel the piston back the way it came?
I had a pressure release on a dirtbike way back, and it provided a fair amount of engine braking when activated. It was LOUD too! I can see why you would want a muffler.