Carpokes

Thought it would be fun to start a thread where people can share the worst of their previous owner's work. Post up your most cringe-worthy find!

I'll kick it off with this 944 timing belt spring tensioner -- i.e., the thing that prevents the 944 motor from self-destructing. I was helping a friend do the belts on his car recently when we discovered the spring tensioner had a very quirky feature. The car had apparently been driven like this for years...



Turns out, the threads that stud screwed into were stripped and someone made the world's worst helicoil repair. Only about 2 threads of the helicoil were actually engaged in the casting -- the rest just sat free inside the locating/pivot tube. The stud was screwed into the free-floating helicoil and got wedged at the bottom -- which explains why the stud felt like securely attached bobble head. The more amusing part is that the PO apparently thought that was good enough, so ran the car like that for years.

Note the installation tang still attached! It was a bear to remove the press-fit pivot tube to repair the thread, and even more so to get the whole thing back together, but I'll do a separate post on that soon since I couldn't find a peep on the internet about how to disassemble and reassemble these things...

That "repair" on the pivot bolt is just wild! Really surprising that it didn't come loose.

I will have to sort through all the shameful deeds of my 944 P.O. and pick a favorite

My PO was fine - did a lot of by the book maintenance.

He did have his brother sell the car for him. The brother decided to put in a new fuel filter. As in - add a new few filter not replace the old one….

On my 968 Cabriolet the inside cam gear cover. Not done by the person I purchased the car from but most likely 2 PO’s ago by the shop he took it to for the belt maintenance (2019). Car had been driven about 7k miles with this “mod”.

Im that PO... just kidding- well kind of... I do some hacky things to my cars, but not to one I plan on ever selling, for those I usually try to involve some level of quality craftsmanship...

That being said, my 944 had been monkeyed with by a PO, lots of elecitrcal tape holding EFI loom together in places instead of just replacing sensors or splicing the wires. Lots of stuff that should have been bolted down just floating...

But them, I did pull my intake to find my AOS disintegrating at the ears and just used oversized washes to lock it down.

I'll eventually replace it, for now it's holding strong...

Then there is my Mustang, it looks restored to the uninitiated, but is the most franken-car I have ever owned. The engine is basically a mix of engine parts from Mustangs, Falcons, Fairmonts... at this point I have worked out it's quirks and know it well enough, but holy cow I couldn't assume anything when ordering parts.

On the flip side of this, anyone ever purchase a car and find a mod that impressed them? My old truck needed a throttle linkage and I crafted up some really nice titanium rod and small monoball ends that ended up looking really clean and feeling really nice. I never asked the guy who purchased the truck what he thought...

The PO actually did a nice job maintaining the car, until he let it sit for years. I on the other hand have used quite a bit of zip ties

@spacecad3t
" titanium rod and small monoball ends"
I like the way you think!!!!!

ROB III wrote: Sat Mar 14, 2026 6:16 pm @spacecad3t
" titanium rod and small monoball ends"
I like the way you think!!!!!

McMaster is a hell of a drug...

I'll not be posting about any PO screwups on my car because, yes, I am the previous owner!