My first modified Electric Vehicle project.
Discussion
Me again. 
Anyone who's read my BMW 328i or Discovery V8 threads will know that I love a good project. So, much to my wife's dismay, it wasn't long until I found something new to spanner away with in the garage.
As we know Electric is the future and we all need to get on board at some point, but for now you'll be pleased to know that I'm not planning a Prius with a body kit, and my two gas guzzlers are definitely here to stay.
This latest venture came about a month ago when we visited the local car boot sale. We spied an old 12v ride on car. It was pretty rough with faded plastic and worn out rear wheels. But it worked and was mostly there apart from a missing charger. With Ideas already whirring around, a deal was done and we bought it home.
It took all of 5 minutes after we go home for me to start fiddling, with removing the damaged bull bar from the front.
Don't worry though, that's not it. There are plans for much more PH worthy tinkering, but some new parts would need to be sourced first.
Happily, I knew that behind the wood shed at the inlaws there was another similar old 12v toy. This time a quad bike and in much worse condition, but ripe for some pillaging
A quick chat with the Father in law and it was agreed that as long as I got rid of it to the local tip, I could have what I wanted from it.
In the end I came home with:
Much more to follow, so stay tuned for updates
Anyone who's read my BMW 328i or Discovery V8 threads will know that I love a good project. So, much to my wife's dismay, it wasn't long until I found something new to spanner away with in the garage.
As we know Electric is the future and we all need to get on board at some point, but for now you'll be pleased to know that I'm not planning a Prius with a body kit, and my two gas guzzlers are definitely here to stay.
This latest venture came about a month ago when we visited the local car boot sale. We spied an old 12v ride on car. It was pretty rough with faded plastic and worn out rear wheels. But it worked and was mostly there apart from a missing charger. With Ideas already whirring around, a deal was done and we bought it home.
It took all of 5 minutes after we go home for me to start fiddling, with removing the damaged bull bar from the front.
Don't worry though, that's not it. There are plans for much more PH worthy tinkering, but some new parts would need to be sourced first.
Happily, I knew that behind the wood shed at the inlaws there was another similar old 12v toy. This time a quad bike and in much worse condition, but ripe for some pillaging
A quick chat with the Father in law and it was agreed that as long as I got rid of it to the local tip, I could have what I wanted from it.
In the end I came home with:
- Two motors with gearboxes
- Battery and matching plug
- Four wheels
- full suspension setup
- Little winch
- front bumper
Much more to follow, so stay tuned for updates
Edited by JordanTurbo on Sunday 20th November 13:30
Cheers guys. I have my eye out for another HT lead don't worry 
So anyway. What are my plans?
The I bought the car working and I've already sourced the charger that was missing, so it doesn't actually "need" much doing apart from sorting the worn wheels and maybe doing something about the faded plastic bodywork. But of course that doesn't mean there's not going to be plenty happening in this thread.
As standard, the little Toyota (We think it looks like a FJ40) is only RWD
And it also only has working suspension on the back - the front just being fake plastic covers.
Obviously I can't have my Boys rolling round in a sheep in wolfs clothing, so my first job is to convert it to proper 4wd and 4 corner suspension.
I started off with the springs. Here's the old budget rear Vs it's replacement.
Mid swap
Rear done. Resulted in a 1.5" lift over standard.
Moved onto the front. Cut out the solid mounts. Evicted some spiders in the process.
Fitted the new spring. (I will make a full new wheel arch later on in the build
)
And it's final ride height.
Next job will be the 4wd conversion. Keeping the standard rear setup and adding the two motors from the quad in the front.
To keep and acceptable range with 4 motors, I'll be running both batteries for total of 24 amp hours (12 each)
There's just enough room for the two side by side in the battery compartment, keeping clearance for the steering shaft to pass through.
The front motors will be mounted within the front wheels. like so. (Pictures slightly out of order with the old suspension still fitted here)
The conversion will involve scratch making a new front axle assembly, which will be of live design with steering hubs housing the motors.
The axle will be mounted on a full "long arm" suspension setup complete with panhard rod. similar to this:
Steering will be with drag and tie bars:
All of the above rods (6 total) will be built using aluminium rod, with rose joints threaded at either end. Everything will be adjustable to get the steering and suspension geometry just right.
That's it for now, but there will be more updates soon. I'd like to get the truck finished in time to be given back to the boys at Christmas.
As always, thanks for reading and comments welcome.
So anyway. What are my plans?
The I bought the car working and I've already sourced the charger that was missing, so it doesn't actually "need" much doing apart from sorting the worn wheels and maybe doing something about the faded plastic bodywork. But of course that doesn't mean there's not going to be plenty happening in this thread.
As standard, the little Toyota (We think it looks like a FJ40) is only RWD
And it also only has working suspension on the back - the front just being fake plastic covers.
Obviously I can't have my Boys rolling round in a sheep in wolfs clothing, so my first job is to convert it to proper 4wd and 4 corner suspension.
I started off with the springs. Here's the old budget rear Vs it's replacement.
Mid swap
Rear done. Resulted in a 1.5" lift over standard.
Moved onto the front. Cut out the solid mounts. Evicted some spiders in the process.
Fitted the new spring. (I will make a full new wheel arch later on in the build
)And it's final ride height.
Next job will be the 4wd conversion. Keeping the standard rear setup and adding the two motors from the quad in the front.
To keep and acceptable range with 4 motors, I'll be running both batteries for total of 24 amp hours (12 each)
There's just enough room for the two side by side in the battery compartment, keeping clearance for the steering shaft to pass through.
The front motors will be mounted within the front wheels. like so. (Pictures slightly out of order with the old suspension still fitted here)
The conversion will involve scratch making a new front axle assembly, which will be of live design with steering hubs housing the motors.
The axle will be mounted on a full "long arm" suspension setup complete with panhard rod. similar to this:
Steering will be with drag and tie bars:
All of the above rods (6 total) will be built using aluminium rod, with rose joints threaded at either end. Everything will be adjustable to get the steering and suspension geometry just right.
That's it for now, but there will be more updates soon. I'd like to get the truck finished in time to be given back to the boys at Christmas.
As always, thanks for reading and comments welcome.
Edited by JordanTurbo on Sunday 20th November 17:32
NOT what I expected at all.
Top work, than man!
When I was very young I had a pedal version of a similar vehicle. I used it so much I completely wore the "tyres" out (hard plastic, like yours), so the rears split entirely around their cicumference on the plastic welded seams. I was gutted.
Being the 1970s, no-one could source new wheels, so the vehicle went to the tip.
Vitorio said:
LanceRS said:
Ok, time to finally admit to myself that I am a complete failure as a father.
Never too late to get going!"But dad, im 21 and have a real car" "No son, you need this small modified electric quad"
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