My 4 year old sons first car - the swing bin racer.

[bertelli_1]

Thanks for all the nice comments guys. I'm sure the boy will be beside himself later when we take it out. I'll try and get a video. The top speed, according to my maths, wiil be around 3.6mph. Which will probably still hurt in the ankles. For those interested in buying/building one - a fully built kart costs £300 from lightning, I've spent around £150, the cost really depends on what you have lying around in the garage. I've added another pic for the technical peeps, showing the boot area and the relays used to reverse the motor polarity.

[tr7v8]

Fantastic, makes me almost wish I had a lad to build one for!
How do they sort the steering uprights?

[bertelli_1]

A little video of today - http://youtu.be/EiaRrtoYSFI

[toxicated]

That's fantastic! Wonder if my 4 and 6 year old boys would be interested Might have to have a gander through that original post. Thanks for putting this up.


eta: have you got a link to the lightning carts you mentioned? Could only find an Aussie company with that name.
Found it Lightning Cars

Edited by toxicated on Saturday 25th June 20:55

Edited by toxicated on Saturday 25th June 20:58

[pist nbroke]

Lucky lad, looks dead chuffed!

However a word of warning, does this come with a warranty?

I would say the nearside front wheel is toeing out. I would advise a full geometry otherwise he maybe bringing it back in 3 months with inconsistent tyre wear.

[bertelli_1]

Unfortunately as hes my son i have to offer a no quibble lifetime warranty. The toe is adjustable. It just looks wrong in the pics. Ive set it with a little toe in for high speed stability.

[shouldbworking]

Now that is a nice bit of kit

Now it just needs an 8mph motor and a pretend v8 soundtrack. or an electric motor that sounds like a straight cut gearbox!

[AshRS250]

That is quality. Way better then the electric battery cars you get from Toy R Us and such like.

That makes me want to build one for my little girl. She would love it. Especially if you could make the throttle useable outside the car so i could control it as shes only 15months old.

[Oxhead]

This is awesome! Lucky 4 year old!

[skatty]

Well done that's top Daddying that is...

[OlberJ]

MadRob6 said:

And I thought your 944 project was awesome.

Link?

[Monster26]

That is awesome, well done Dad. But you realise that anything that breaks or needs to be made from this day forward will be down to you. Thats exactly whats happened to my poor dad.

[bertelli_1]

OlberJ said:

MadRob6 said:

And I thought your 944 project was awesome.

Link?

here

Edited by bertelli_1 on Sunday 26th June 10:16

[Nedz]

That is absolutely superb,well done that man!

[bertelli_1]

Monster26 said:

That is awesome, well done Dad. But you realise that anything that breaks or needs to be made from this day forward will be down to you. Thats exactly whats happened to my poor dad.

Well so far hes managed to break the steering twice. a blob of weld and some loctite 648 seem to have cured the failures - plus i've told him to be a bit more gentle. i also need to roughen up the drill chuck (I may try putting some grooves in it with the angle grinder) as it sometimes slips on the tyre, im worried if i adjust it any further it'll damage the bearings.

Here's a pic of the steering - very basic, and the throttle.

[difflockphil]

Excellant!!!! First child due September don't know if it's a boy or girl but its getting one of these if it likes it or not. I even have the drill ready by the garage door it was going to go out to the dustman Tue but its now back in the rack ready!

ETA. Just remembered I have another old cordless at the workshop could we go 2 or even 4 wheel drive

Edited by difflockphil on Sunday 26th June 11:24

[Monster26]

My little one is only 14months so I have time tostart this little project. Do the plans come with instructions on the electrics?

Edit - looks your own homebrew on the electrics any tips where to look for a nail bender to replicate?

Edited by Monster26 on Sunday 26th June 15:34

Edited by Monster26 on Sunday 26th June 17:43

[bertelli_1]

There are no electric instructions with the plans, I used a couple of switching relays for forwards/reverse. At some point I'll post up the wiring diagram although a google search will probably find a similar setup.

[Mark_Karting]

Awesome

The next step, maybe for his 5th Birthday?

[bertelli_1]

Update:

The gokart is still going strong & working well despite the abuse it gets! My boy always wanted it blue so its been stripped down, painted in what I call 'Bugatti blue' and had a few mods to beef things up. It has a working speedo now (does around 5mph) courtesy of a bicyle computer and some basic mudguards to stop little fingers getting trapped. There are still some things on the to do list like lights and a horn but its more important to get some fun out of it while we can. Anyway, some updated pics -