I got word a few days ago that my Mom back in Illinois is not doing so well and I may have to make a trip back there so I went ahead and did some of the assembly without Cade during the week so we could actually get the car done this Sunday.

Cade and I had figured out the wiring last Sunday and this is what we came up with. In order to cut down the amount of wire we had the amount of wire we had to run we are running the switches on the ground side of the circuits. To make life easier if we have to trouble shoot down the road we put the circuit diagram on the bottom side of access cover.




The “gas pedal” was something I had been mulling over for some time. With the different length of the kids legs I figured the pedal would need to be moved so everybody could drive it. In order to make it simple and quick (and the kids be able to do it themselves) I decided to make the pedal assembly slide in a slot with a clench bolt to tighten it down. For the switch itself I used one of the old Chevy style switches that bolt to the starter and are activated from cab with a push rod.

It was kind of amusing when I went to buy the switch. I went to the only “real” parts store we still have left in town. It’s mostly young guys there now, but I waited for the guy who’s about my age to wait on me (I really didn’t what go thru the whole “what’s the application” game). I explained what I needed, he said “OK” and without looking it up walked back to the shelf and pulled the correct dusty old box out.

As usual with something like this it took a lot longer to figure out what I would do than it actually took to build the darn thing.






Cade and I did some finish-up work on it t and then it was time for its maiden voyage. The transaxle works well (it goes just as fast backwards and it does forward) and the kids pretty much spent the rest of the afternoon driving the wheels off of it. Here are a couple of Video links.


Car 2 - YouTube

Car 3 - YouTube

Car 4 - YouTube


Cade’s growing so fast he probably won’t be able to fit in it much longer, but he sure is enjoying while he can.