Some of you may have seen me post about my son Andrew. He has become obsessed with hillclimbing. He's the little guy waving like a mad man as you come down the hill. While I've tried to teach him the way of the subaru, he continues be a devoted fan of the open wheeled cars, in addition to trucks. When it comes down to it, I think he really loves the sound of a V8. He's currently obsessed with hill climbing, and we've spent many an hour lining up his hotwheels and doing complete events with fam runs and the bring down etc. He was lucky enough to receive a hand me down Peg perego electric "John Deere" gator. Batteries were shot. However my friend James Phillips, saved the day with a call into his buddies at interstate battery, and now the thing has run pretty well for a season. Andrew has really taken to driving the thing. He's decided that it needs some upgrades to turn it into a race gator. First up is to add a roll cage, cause every racer needs a cage. Improved wiring will follow, along with an upgrade from 12 volts to 18 volts, with possibly a push to pass functionality.
With out further delay
This is my son Andrew, as we depart for roll cage supplies.
Where does one get roll cage supplies in Waitsfield Vermont? At Kenyon's Variety store of course. They are the official parts supplier of the race gator project as well as being home to SCCV wintercross.
One of our early challenges was getting the raw tube home from the store. We only had my trusty Subaru, and the tube is a solid 10 feet long. After some early head scratching, we rolled down a window and enjoyed the winter air.
Once home, we pulled the gator into our plush heated work shop. Please don't tell my wife Rhonda.
I'm sure you are wondering what the heck we are going to make the cage out of it. Since the gator is plastic, we figured PVC was a wise choice. It's light weight, easy to work with and it's a approved for drinking water. Based on the weight of the gator we chose .75 inch PVC. It makes assembly a snap for a 4 year old.
Below you can see the junior fabricator in action. Below we are mocking up the main hoop, and getting the harness bar at just the right height.
After the first day of fabrication, Andrew is taking a break and showing off his handy work. We had run out of some important fittings, and Phineas and Ferb were on so we decided to call it a day and relax a little bit.
After a second and third trip to Kenyon's we had the supplies we'd need to continue. Below Andrew is showing me how to use the drill to attach the cage to the front of the chassis.
As you can see most of the main structure is complete. Andrew poses for a glamor shot to give his sponsors some face time. While you can see he has many sponsors, he still has some spots left for associate sponsors. If you'd like to sponsor feel free to contact him directly.
We made good progress on the cage, but it still needs paint. The only place warm enough on property is this fabulous work shop, but we didn't we want to risk a yellow over spray, so we'll have to save it for when it warms up outside. For now we decided to get the harness fitted up.
While far from done, this is the last picture of the project for now. You've been warned, this guy wants to be king of the hill....enjoy your time at the top of the leaderboard, because he's gunnin' for you.
Some times it is good to have small hands, Andrew displays the source of our torment, a broken shifter mechanism.
Looks like he might need the next size up driving suit.
