Maybe Macgyver'ing it would be a more modern reference. Still pretty dated. Is there a word for what Phineas and Ferb do? That's not a good fit, but still has the same flavor.
Yeah it’s a language issue. There have been hacks that did express the idea but “hack” does get used broadly. Macguyvering conveys the concept well but as you say it’s reference is outdated so it’s lost some of its meaning.
