I don’t figure kids are ever too young to encourage an interest in Hot Rodding. Over the last 9 or 10 months my Grandson and I built his (and his brother and sister’s) first car. I wanted Cade to work on his mechanical skills a bit and show him what could be accomplished with some old junk and imagination.
















A DOA riding lawn mower also donated some parts to the project.








Then it was on to paint and upholstery







Final assembly involved everybody






The initial configuration was just as a coaster car, but as I suspected it didn’t take long for Cade to bring up powering it.

I had originally wanted to use a small gas engine, but when that needed too much work (and parts) to get going we ended up using an old starter motor and battery for power the transaxle.







The kids have been driving the wheels off of it the last few weeks since we got the motor in it. It may not be the prettiest one I’ve ever been involved in and it sure isn’t the fastest, but it is one of the most rewarding builds I’ve done.


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m8Ajx_-2gJ0


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KFdi2QroU2U

thats really awesome.

very cool.... are you going to upgrade to a gas engine? I'd think the starter would burn out fairly quickly at constant use?????

Lucky Grandkids!

Thanks for the comments guys.

“……..are you going to upgrade to a gas engine? I'd think the starter would burn out fairly quickly at constant use?????......”

I’d like to, mostly to give Cade some firsthand experience with engines and because I firmly believe if it’s got wheels it should burn dead dinosaurs. We had started out with a 55 year old 2 stroke engine but after getting it cleaned up we found out it needed some parts (that I’m still looking for). Cades going thru a growing spurt and may not fit in the car much longer so I made the decision to go electric for now just to get it going.

As far as the motor lasting, we’ll have to see. I came across a site where people were building homemade golf carts using these old Ford starters and they seemed to have fairly good luck as long as they could keep them cool. I removed the tin cover over the brushes, drilled the end plate with vent holes and added a fan a shroud.









So far it seems to be doing pretty good, it’s probably got over 3 hours on it and is still going strong ( I have a couple more sitting on the shelf just in case).

Nice job Grampa!! Cool Stuff

Cool beans,you could always power it with that Deere Hit&Miss in the background.

That's cool!
I've been helping my grandson build a go kart. We started out with a riding mower, built a frame, and moved everything we could use from the mower to the frame.
We got it running a month or so ago, but have been having drive belt issues. We finally got that under control and he was out beating paths around the yard. Around the 15th lap or so, he blew up the motor. Sorry, no video. I took the motor apart yesterday, melted down the rod and stuck it to the crank. Got everything apart and have most of the aluminum off the crank. I think we can get away with a rod, some rings, and a gasket set, but that will be a couple weeks away. We are funding challenged until after holiday at least.
I have located another running motor, I have located parts to fix this motor, and I have a parts motor that either needs rebuilt, or I can hijack the parts for the current motor, but any way we go is about the same money. So much for a cheap go kart.

At least it looks like the mini hot rod you built will have a line of users if your grandson out grows it. Gene

".....At least it looks like the mini hot rod you built will have a line of users if your grandson out grows it....."

Yup, that's kind of been planned for. With the difference in sizes of the kids the pedal (switch) sits in a slot in the floor and can be moved for the different legnth in legs.

mike, grandkids are for spoiling, and you are off to a good start ! keep up the good work ! it's amazing what a guy can do with ordinary, every day junk using just a little imagination. never throw away anything !

that's great!