In March we brought a Rollplay VW Splitsceen camper kids ride on car this was the single wheel drive 6Volt model – It was being sold by Argos for a very good price as the 12v version was 4x the price!
After a summer of use the car has been really good apart from being 1 wheel drive on our bumpy garden the car get stuck and we have to go and push him, So i started looking at converting it to 2 wheel drive – You can go 12 volt conversion at this point but the extra cost was not worth it for me as I had a good battery and all the lights were setup for 6 volts
- Parts Needed:
- 2x 6 Volt Motors (18000RPM) <-This is what I used
- For 12Volt ones click here (12000RPM) and for (2300RPM) 12v motors
- 1x 6.3mm Terminals – click here
- Some wire, solder and heatshrink
Now start by disconnecting the battery and unplugging the old motor,
Now turn the car over and remove the wheels caps and pins holding the wheels on,
Remove the rear wheels and axle
Remove the screws holding the old motor and remove the old motor
You should now be left with a empty rear end.
Old motor 
Old motor with wheel 
Old single motor 
All motors removed
Test fit the new motors (note on mine the new motors fitted towards the rear)
I also had to remove a mounting hole off one side of the housing
New mounts towards the rear – old motor went forward 
New motor mounted differently 
tab that needs removing 
Tab removed 
New 6v 1800RPM motor 
New motors fitted towards rear
With them test fitted now remove and solder some wires to each of the motor terminals (remember to swap colours for each side so the motors run opposite directions) Heat shrink the wires and leave the excess to reach the connector.
New motors fitted towards rear 
Refit the motors and run the wires through, refit the axle and wheels. Turn the car back over and we will start on the wiring using a multimeter connected to the old motor plug check put the car is forward and check which way gives you 6 or 12volts (if you have -6 or 12volts the power is on the black lead) make a note what colour wire on the car side gives you positive power. Now connect each motor in turn and check they spin the correct direction (if you reversed the wire colours on the motor you should have the same colour wire for forward each side)
On mine I remove the old plastic plug from the terminal on the old motor, these terminals use the 6.3mm male spade terminals but struggled to find anyone that made the plastic housing so we reuse the housing with new space terminals. I connected both motors and ran a 3rd wire out for the headlamp output. With the spade terminals fitted i pushed these into the old plastic housing.
Next because we knew which wire was positive I could fit the diode for the headlamps, this stops the headlamps working in reverse, diode stop current flowing in the striped end, so it goes positive power into non striped end and the striped end towards headlamp. With this all wired in tape the loom and secure all wiring and plug everything back in.
Old wiring with diode for headlamps 
Reusing diode in new wiring 
Reconnecting headlamp wires 
Old 6volt relay board 
Finished wiring 
Finished wiring and secured in place 
All neat and taped up 
Now for the testdrive: After popping my 2 year old son in and sending him off all was going well until we got to the grass and the car stopped, (He shouts battery is flat daddy!) I walk over and try the throttle and it works fine, another 5 meters and it stops again. I think it my son stopped pressing the throttle but the next time it stops right by me and a second later I hear a click.
Back in the garage and checking I find a thermal fuse in the main battery lead, now with the 2 motors and grass it trips the thermal fuse, so next mod was to cut the thermal fuse out and replace with a standard inline fuse with 7.5 amp fuse, with this done next night we had a good drive all round the garden with no getting stuck and on pavement it faster but my 2 year old can cope with the extra speed no problem.
