Coming back from Mexico after a hard night, the old Ford stopped running about a hundred miles from home.
By taking the fuel line off and cranking the engine with a screwdriver shorting out the starter posts, I figured out it wasn't getting fuel.
After I pulled the fuel pump out, I could see that the push rod was flattened out too much to make contact with the cam.
I cut the tongue out of my leather shoe and wrapped it around the end of the push rod, shoved it back in the hole and bolted it down.
The old Ford took me the rest of the way home and then some.
LOL, that's a good one! I'll have to tell my dad about that. He's a master at using oddball items to repair cars with.
My dad had an old Buick that was rusted out around the bolts that held the body to the frame (it was pre-unibody - 1966 I think). The car body would bounce up off the frame when he hit a bump.
So he cut out the rusted metal, then drilled a hole in a plastic hockey puck and used it as a giant washer around the bolt, and squeezed tile grout around the puck to hold it all in place. I think he drove it for another 5 years like that.
::sigh:: We all miss that car. He didn't sell it until I was in college (1982). It was like a family pet.
LQ