It’s always a happy occasion when something fun arrives in your mailbox. And when it’s something you’ve been anxiously awaiting, it makes it even more exciting.
Finally! Our pedals for Race Car arrived and it was time to get back to work on our little guy. With hopes high that these new pedals would be what gets Race Car vrooming across the finish line, Ricky and I were excited to get down to business.
First, Race Car had to come apart in order to have full access to the pedals and the wiring. Check him out with his frame and body side by side. (Note the red pedals in the floorboard of the frame. This is our mission.)
We needed to completely remove the old pedals to make way for the new ones. But these old pedals weren’t installed with your typical screws, they were riveted. So a drill was needed. Ah! Poor little Race Car being drilled on. But not to worry, he didn’t feel a thing. And here are the old pedals safely removed without any injuries to Race Car (or us!:))
Now it was time for the new pedals. Take a look at the shiny new ones before we installed them.
But before we got too ahead of ourselves, we wanted to see if the pedals truly were the problem. Remember, we had no way of knowing for sure. We simply knew that with the new battery installed, and the motor working, the pedals were our next hope. And without knowing for sure if these new pedals would get Race Car up and running, Ricky thought it’d be a good idea to give them a little test before we went further.
He clipped the old connector off the used wires and trimmed the plastic coating back to expose the wires. Then, he connected the bare wires to the pedals. The old pedals had two prongs and the new ones have three. So, he grounded the extra wire to the center prong. We gently pressed the pedals and the wheels turned!
Vroom vroom, right? Well not quite yet…
…as with any project, there are bound to be some bumps. Pressing one pedal at a time, the car would go. Pressing two pedals at a time, made the car stop. But, as the old saying goes (well not really since I just made this up J) there’s more than one way to wire a Race Car.
With a little trial and error to get the wiring arrangement just right, Race Car was well on his way to zipping and zooming.
Now that we were confident that the pedals worked properly, we were ready to install them. Some maneuvering of the new pedals into the already cut out holes in the bottom of Race Car’s frame, a few drilled holes into the frame for placement of the new pedals (again Race Car didn’t feel a thing—he’s such a good sport!) and the pedals were now installed! YAY!
But hang on…
…We weren’t done yet. The new pedals had no juice going to them from the battery. And since we had only done a test with the old wiring, the pedals still needed to be wired. Ricky cut some fresh, new wire from the spool we picked up at our local Auto store and crimped the ends into the wire connectors. First he fastened the grounded wire and then the hot wire in the same order from our test run and Race Car was wired and ready to go. We hoped! Some pictures for show and tell.
Holding our breath, we plugged in the battery, and pressed the pedal…
AND!!!
His wheels turned! Both forward and backward! He worked! He really, really worked! Oh, the joy and celebration that took place in the Chriscoe living room.
Once we were done celebrating, we turned him back on his wheels and put the body back onto Race Car’s frame. Ricky took him for a vroom across the finish line in our living room where he became a fully functioning Race Car. And I videoed that special moment!
Watch him VROOM!!
For the next little bit, this:
will be Race Car’s home while he gets some fresh paint, some TLC, and a few surprises for his new makeover.
Be sure to stay tuned for the next episode of Race Car’s Transformation and follow along as the little toy car turns into a real live Race Car Dreams!
Sharon Chriscoe 