Today I fixed a lot with very little.
On the e30 I fixed these items with a single paper clip:
What's the most you've fixed using very little while still remaining confident that it was a high quality fix?
I fixed almost every electrical issue on my jeep by fixing some splices in the harness. Less than $5 in materials, including tape for the harness, heat shrink tubing, and solder. I fixed a Kia Sportage that wouldn't shift out of park with a zip tie.
I do side work on friends' cars, so I'm good at fixing things without anything but some cleaning and diagnostic troubleshooting.
Fixed my truck's door with a rubber band. Proud of that one.
I fixed an over expanded front hub with aluminum foil 
I fixed 6500 bucks worth of damage to my protege with 30 bucks. Well, if you count the body hammer set I bought and the seal, more like 80......
I had hit a nice chunk of steel beam on the highway that punched a hole in the trans and ripped a 14" gash in the floorpan under my butt.
30 bucks for a used trans case, hammered the floor down, mig welded it up and some rubberized undercoating. The insurance company was going with a new trans and replacing the entire floorpan. I got 5700 bucks and have put another 100K on the car since then.
dad bought a used Ford dually with a 7.3 PSD. Right after he got it it started making a horrible almost train-whistle sound when climbing a steep hill. I poked around and noticed one of the clamps under the turbo was loose. fixt for 0 
familytruckster wrote: 30 bucks for a used trans case, hammered the floor down, mig welded it up and some rubberized undercoating. The insurance company was going with a new trans and replacing the entire floorpan. I got 5700 bucks and have put another 100K on the car since then.
You could crash cars for a living!
Taiden wrote:familytruckster wrote: 30 bucks for a used trans case, hammered the floor down, mig welded it up and some rubberized undercoating. The insurance company was going with a new trans and replacing the entire floorpan. I got 5700 bucks and have put another 100K on the car since then.You could crash cars for a living!
That would be a lot more fun than my current job. And I would get harassed about it as much.
I repaired the starter solenoid in my Subaru with a couple of thin washers to space the stationary terminals closer to the plunger. The terminals were worn thin as a razor blade.
Lasted at least as long as the rest of the car.
Cheap starter repair seems to be a common theme for me. I've filed the slots in the brush holders so that the brushes could extend more, when I was too impatient for the new ones to be delivered. Lasted at least 10k.
Fixed the clutch cable on my '95 Saab 900S (and then my '96 900SE) with a bottle cap.
Edit: making the difference between driveable and not, should be mentioned.
alex wrote: Fixed my truck's door with a rubber band. Proud of that one.
My neighbor fixed his bull with a rubber band.
I once unclogged a wiper nozzle on the side of the road, in a snow storm using a piece of finger nail I bit from my index finger.
I helped a buddy secure most of the front clip of his Civic with zip ties.
put a copper washer on a battery cable to take up space worn away from a side post terminal.
I usually just focus on breaking stuff...
This guy fixes stuff with little though...Here!
My old 67 Mustang decided that it wanted 2nd gear while I was cruising in 3rd gear. Transmission locked up and broke a motor mount. Upon inspection I noticed that the Clutch linkage had dropped out as the motor (200 6 cyl) flopped towards the passenger side.
The transmission would operate in 2nd gear if I put the shifter in neutral, but when I started the car, the engine would flop over, drop the clutch linkage out and pull the throttle wide open.
A bit of work on a pallet with my tire iron yielded a proper length of wood to wedge against the engine and the fender wall...drove for 3 weeks like that.
Bruce
I fixed a vacuum leak in a Ford Pinto carburetor with a snapped off pencil. Fixed it on the side of the road when the car shut down. Drove it like that for 3 years and only had to replace the pencil once. I never did figure out what fell out of the carburetor leaving a pencil sized hole.
Fixed a slightly smaller version of this with a soldering iron, 15K board of ~0.01$ of solder. Bad trace was down for over 6 months.
Fixed a dented quarter panel in a unibody hatchback with a toilet plunger.
Perfectly!
Fixed most of the rust in my TR4 with a scrap fender. Cost about $6 for welding wire - maybe another $20 in argon/CO2
the ABS in my '04 Cavalier just fixed itself.. for free and with no effort on my part.
Zip ties. Air dams, fender liners, under body trays, emission equipment, ect.
I fixed every issue I ever had with my E36 by selling it 
Gal Gas Book of matches
Optional
Marshmallow Chocolate Gram Crackers
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