A Real Hack
What does it take to come up with a hack?
The plan
25 years ago, on a Friday evening, I was driving my 1980 Subaru.
I was a soldier on the way to the base and had to be there on time, otherwise I would have faced very serious consequences. As usual, I left home ahead of time, in order to not be late should anything unexpected happen.
The problem
A few kilometers before the destination, at about 80km/h, I realized that nothing happened when I pressed the accelerator pedal. I let the car go further until it stopped on the side of the road in the middle of nowhere. I opened the hood and turned off the radio. I pressed the accelerator and again nothing happened, the engine kept running very slowly.
Analysis
I stopped the engine and thought. There was almost no traffic and no public transportation in this area. If I started walking, or even running, I’d be late. Hitchhiking and leaving the car — it would probably get stolen. There were no cellphones back then. The engine was not strong enough to pull the car with such low revolutions per minute.
Domain knowledge
I knew that the accelerator (throttle) pedal was mechanically connected with a cable, similar to bicycle breaks, to a small arm piece, loaded by a spring. The further the pedal is pressed, the wider the throttle valve opens, thus, more fuel is injected into the engine, making it revolve faster.
Creativity
I realized, that if I could control this arm somehow, I could control the engine RPM and try to drive the car. I needed some kind of a string, about 2 meters long. I had nothing like this, so I looked around the side of the road.
Improvizing
I found several 40cm nylon threads and tied them to each other until I had a 2 meters string. I was able to quickly find the metal arm piece that controlled the engine, tied the string to it and passed it through non moving parts under the engine, so I could hold it with my left hand while sitting in the car.
Trying
I ignited, hoping the string will not touch any moving parts. I pulled it with my hand and the engine revolved faster. I had control! I tried a few more times and closed the hood.
The risk
I was afraid that I would make a mistake and cause an accident. Luckily, the road was almost empty. I decided to mitigate the risk by practicing.
Practice
I shifted to the first gear, started releasing the clutch, and pulled the string. It was very confusing, but it worked.
I pull the string more and shifted to the second gear and went a few seconds like this on the empty road. As I gained more experience I switched to third and then fourth.
Not caring what others think
I wasn’t going fast, about 60–70km/h. I could see the stunned looks of the few drivers that were passing by. It was a bit embarrassing, but it worked.
Fine tuning
It worked until I reached a red light up-hill. It wasn’t steep at all, but the old weak engine, and lack of experience drove me to decide to pull the choke. The choke was a small lever under the steering wheel, used in old cars to start them. When pulled, it caused the air/gasoline mixture injected into the fuel to be richer with gasoline. A few seconds after the engine ran, the driver could push it back in. With the choke I had more confidence also up-hill and I was able to continue.
Persevere
After a few more minutes of driving, I reached my destination on time.
Epilog
I did the way back home the same way and reached the mechanic. He was so impressed with the solution, that he didn’t charge me for the fix.
Summary
- Have a plan with room for the unexpected
- Analyze the options in face of a problem
- Know the domain and the constraints in order to be creative within them
- Improvize, try the preferred solution
- Take a calculated risk
- Practice
- Ignore other people’s reactions and opinions
- Fine tune as you go
- Don’t give up
- Profit
