Rearwheel Retread complete

The center tread has been restored. It should offer enough slip as to not tear apart the gearboxes and it should be thick enough to keep the rest of the tire off the road so that the black paint will last longer. I machined the tread out of 1/8" ABS and then heated it up and bent it over 1 gallon paint cans per Uncle Jon and Uncle Brian's suggestions. I then screwed it into the wheel using 1" drywall screws. It went well but it was a little time consuming. They definitely aren't perfectly round, and will generate much road noise at 50 mph, but at 3 mph they should be fine.

I have one more wheel to sandblast tomorrow, and if everything goes good I should be able to get a coat of catalyzed primer on them this weekend.

As far as guitar has been going, I am kind of in a conundrum. I was going to pay for March and tell the teacher that March was going to be my last month, but I went to my lesson on Wednesday and there was a note on the door that said he had been rushed to the hospital on Tuesday. So who knows. Maybe I end my lessons a month early?

Weekend update

Not much got done on project PW this weekend. Miller decided he didn't want to take very many or very long naps, so that shot pretty much any free time I had during the day. The in-laws were down this weekend, and helped take quite a bit of the 'Miller-Load' off of my shoulders. They babysat on Saturday night so the wife and I went to supper and a movie. We couldn't remember the last movie we went to together by ourselves. We went to Avatar. It was good, but I don't know if it is worth a DVD purchase when it comes out. The 3-d was cool, but I kinda doubt it is the future of movie-making.

Here is what I did find out this weekend. RIT-dye is about 25% effective in dyeing PW tires:




It cut some of the girlishness down, but not enough. I think I am going to end up painting the wheels and then laminating some .030" black acrylic down the center with some offshoots for traction. I have to do up the data and then Lasercut the parts when I have time. I created an autocad file to do some Goodyear Tire lettering out of white vinyl once the tires are painted. If I could get paint on the tires this weekend, that would be delightful, but I will just hope to get them clean an sandblasted by Sunday.

For Sale or Trade

4 Tires and Hubcaps. Less than 50,000 miles. Very Purpley. More Purpley than pictures suggest.



I spent more time tonight cleaning the garage than I did working on the PW. Even if this project fails, at least I will get a cleaner garage out of the deal.

Today at work I ordered lights for the PW, I will update when the arrive. I have been debating about installing a keyed ignition, but I have decided against it. Although Miller knows what Mom and Dad's keys are and what they are used for, most of the keyed switches I have seen are very small, too small for his coordination. I will make a fake non-functioning one for him. It will save some money and also the hassle of wiring a relay in between the battery and the shifter. Most keyed switches/switches in general are rated around 3-10 amps. The PW will pull up to 30 amps when it first gets going, which is too much for the keyed switch, which would necessitate a relay. Too much of a hassle for me, and I really don't think Miller will care.

The wheels came off easily enough, but you could tell that it had been outside for awhile. A lot of rust and crapidation. Nothing a little elbow grease and WD-40 can't fix though.

No updates

Played Raquetball last night and watched Lost. Didn't get at Powerwheel work done. At least Miller let us sleep through the night last night.

Nice

POWER!!!!!!

So I did a hillbilly hack job and hardwired the battery directly to the shifter box.



1st Gear, 2nd Gear, and reverse work like a charm. As an added bonus the high speed lockout has never been removed(The shifter has a screw that blocks it from going into high gear, it was a real sunovabitch to get out, so that makes me think it has been there the entire time). Which means the drive-train and motors probably haven't been abused that much. This puppy purrs like an ugly kitten.



Now that I know things work, I went ahead and ordered the accelerator pedal(found the exact match, black, not pink), 2 hood latches, and 4 lock nuts for the wheels for a total of: $29.82

Which brings the grand total of the project to: $123.87. Which is technically $1.13 less than I said I was originally going to spend. I fibbed last night when I said it was going to be around $130.

Now the fun part begins. Since I know it is going to work I can really go crazy on the finishing, painting, and accessorizing of this bad boy. Other than paint, here are some of the things I would like to do:

Working Headlights, and a Light bar for Roll Cage ($20)
Working Ignition. Might do a fake one, if I can find something that works under $10 I will do it.
Rear-view mirror. Can make at work.
Radio/sound FX. Nice to have, a lot of people use cheap clock radios, we'll see. A bruthas gotta have tunes.
Gas-Cap Charger. ($10) Would be nice, but not necessary.
Make a new fake phone. Can make at work
Attachable shovel($7)
Customized License Plate. Can make at work
Cup holder for Milk.($3)
Do something about the damned purple wheels....

So with all the 'nice to haves' it would still be under $175, which is still roughly half of a new one. I am not saying that all of the above would get done, but everything purchased has to be under $20 per item. There may be things that Erin suggests that needs to be done as well.(Sun visors with Mirrors probably)

All in all, everything is going good. That is all I can ask for.

Powerwheels Progress

I made a few purchases related to the secret project this weekend:



So far total money out of pocket is: $94.05.

This may seem like a lot to spend on something that we aren't even sure works yet, but here are my justifications.

Any Power wheels on craigslist, garbages, etc. does not come with a battery. The reason for this is that the batteries are of a low quality, and the chargers that come with them are shit. The chargers(if not closely monitored) will overcharge the battery, thus shortening its life. If you forget to unplug the charger after a few hours, it will keep charger full speed ahead. If you go to bed and leave the power wheels plugged in, your battery is going tits up real soon.

So.....I knew no matter what I would have to buy a new battery. After a lot of research I found a new battery. The new battery is $20 cheaper than the official 'Power wheels' brand, which is good, plus it is rated at 12v/12ah. The stock batteries are rated at 12v/9ah, which means the new battery will last approximately 25% longer than the old battery. This will please Miller.

I also knew that I would need a new battery charger, one that actually monitors the batteries voltage, and shuts off once the battery is 'full'. This will extend the life of the battery from 3-6 months to 2 or more years. This pleases me.

As for the other stuff, I needed to run new wiring as the previous owner ripped most of it out. Also, with the new battery I needed to run an in line 30amp fuse, because the stock batteries have an integrated fuse inside the battery. Without fuses, bad things happen.

The goal this week is to run the new wire enough so that I can hook up the battery to the switch to see what works and what doesn't.

3 things may or may not work.

High/low/reverse shifter. If this doesn't work it is bad news. They cost between $10 and $20, which isn't a big deal, but since this jeep was made back in '99, I can't buy a direct replacement, which means a lot of jerry rigging on my part, which I may not feel up to.

Gearboxes. The gearboxes are brittle and prone to shearing pieces off. From what I can see everything looks tip top, but once I hook everything else and something is off, it could be a deal breaker, as new gearboxes are $30 a piece and this one has 2.

Motors. Sitting outside in the rain for 10 years will wreak havoc on these motors. There are 2 motors in the vehicle. Luckily, motors are cheap $19 apiece, and are one of the easiest modifications to do to make the vehicle faster. Broken motors might not be a deal breaker as I may have replaced these anyways.

So this week will be a big week concerning whether or not this project will be continued. I have given myself a limit of $130 to get the jeep running. Keep in mind that $130 does not include a stereo system, under-vehicle neon, hydraulics, working lights, and the aformention turret mounted bb-gun. $130 just to be able to put one size 7 kids shoe on the accelerator and have it take off at a leisurely pace. That means I have $40 dollars to work with. Here is what I know has to be fixed without even considering the previous 'might go wrongs'.

Accelerator pedal. Right now there is no accelerator pedal, I either need to fabricate one, or buy one online($12). Either way I will have to do some fandangaling to make it fit, because all of the original pedals have been sold. Luckily I can test everything else out by hard wiring the battery directly to the shifter, thus by-passing the accelerator pedal.

Inconclusion, if it looks like this project is going to go over budget, it goes right back out to the side of the road. I can use everything I have purchased up to this point in another vehicle so it will be no great loss(other than the loss of brain cells by consuming toooo many beers the night of acquisition because I was so damned excited). But lets hope it doesn't come to that.

It's On!

So right about the time that the Dr. told us that I had produced a boy in Erin's loins I have had a certain amount of things that I have had planned for said boy. One of these was to procure a Pow-Pow-Power wheels for him....






When I was but a young-buck, I really really really wanted a pow-pow-power wheels. The Sears wish-book would come in the mail and I would spend hours trying to figure out a way to get one. I remember one year telling my parents that I was willing to go in half with them if they wanted to get me one.

My parents, in their infinite wisdom, realised that once a boy is old enough to know what a pow-pow-power wheels is, they more than likely will be supremely disappointed with the pow-pow-power wheels performance once they receive it. Thus, I never received a pow-pow-power wheels. Don't feel sorry for me because I did get a Froyd-Custom Go-kart that worked most of the time, plus tractor rides and plenty of ride on toys.

My plan with Miller is to give him a pow-pow-power wheels before he even knows what one is, thus blowing his little mind. That being said I am also known as(and I quote)"The tightest fucker alive". So in keeping with that tradition, far be it for me to go and spend over 300 dollars on a toy that M-dawg will outgrow in 6-8 months. I have been searching the local craigslists and what not, and have not come upon any great deals. Now is not the time to be looking I suppose, because all the snot-nosed little brats just received the presents that their parents will be looking to sell in 6-8 months. Weeeelllll....I can't wait that long. Today I found a rare gem, sitting alongstside the paved path awaiting garbaaaaahge pickup. I present it to you now:








Yes, it is obviously a BARBIE pow-pow-power wheels jeep. This does not concern me....well the purple wheels concern me, because I don't think paint will last long on them, other than that, some camouflage will suit it nicely.

I cannot tell you my overall plans right now, but I can tell you that the Discovery/Speed/TLC channels will probably be wanting to film a TV show ala Orange County Choppers when I am done with this bad boy. I wonder if a Turret-mounted BB-gun would be overkill?


My plan is to unveil it on or around Miller's birthday this year. We will be in Fargo for his actual birthday so I will be damned if I am bringing it up there, but he will have it either before or after that.

I shall be taking pictures during the process to document, as per this blog, be prepared for updates every 3-4 weeks.

Good Day.

Here's hoping February is better that January

This is what I think of January...