2
Sep

Building an MG-TC pedal car: Introduction

   Posted by: Mark   in Pedal car

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A while ago I purchased plans for a MG-TC pedal car from Stevenson Projects (called the Pedal-TC). They apparently no longer sell these specific plans, but they do sell plans for two other pedal cars here. I’m awaiting a response on availability of the original plans, and will post info as soon as I receive a reply from them.

I am finally finishing this project. I started a few years ago, and let myself become distracted. Since the kids are not getting any younger and the unfinished car nags at me every time I look in our garage, I decided to finish this big “to-do.” And I know that once it’s complete, I will want to build another to make use of all that I’ve learned with this one!

I currently have most of the basic body complete, but am going to disassemble enough of it to show detailed pictures of various construction steps. Much of the construction is pretty basic, but as might be expected, the most difficult aspect of the car so far has been the steering and drive mechanisms. And although there are lots of resources out there on the web for building Human Powered Vehicles (HPVs), all are focused on the construction and use of a practical commuter or race vehicle, not a toy or “for fun” project. I have yet to find any resources for anything at all that is directly pedal/drive-rod powered but not chain-driven. This is pushing me toward making a chain-driven vehicle if I do build another of these fun toys, but for this first iteration the direct-drive was supposed to be more simple.

I’m going to set up a Flickr set for all of the pictures I take of this project. My hope is that this may become a bit of a resource for anyone out there attempting to build this vehicle or a similar one. I thought it might be fun to journal the construction, too, since there things I am learning along the way that will be of benefit later if only they can be remembered.

Stay tuned for the first construction pictures in the next post!

**** UPDATE: 3/2/2009 ****

I received an email from Pete at StevProj. It sounds like they are still hoping to update these plans and make them available for sale, but the large format of the plans and the lower volume might be raising the cost more than they want. No indication as to a timeline.

**** UPDATE: 5/18/2009 ****

I received another email from Pete Stevenson at StevProj and forgot to update this post with his info. He related that they now have the plans available for the MG-TC! I haven’t seen them on the StevProj site yet, but you can email Pete at the general StevProj address: mail@stevproj.com

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This entry was posted on Tuesday, September 2nd, 2008 at 6:38 pm and is filed under Pedal car. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

9 comments so far

Andy
 1 

Hi there,
I came across your MG-TC pedal car and the project looks great! Do you have any recent pictures of it or pictures of the finished car?

I checked the Stevenson website and could not find any info on the MG. Do you know where I can get a set of plans for the MG?

thanks,
Andy
Chicago

November 29th, 2008 at 7:36 am
Mark
 2 

Hi Andy, thanks for stopping by! I’m ashamed to admit that the pictures on the third step are at this point the most recent. I keep allowing myself to be sidetracked! And if I’m not careful, I’ll end up having to finish this thing for my grandkids instead of my kids. It’s not a hard project, but I seem to be making it so.

I just emailed StevProj again asking about plans. If I hear from them I’ll let you know. If I don’t, I may see about trying to reproduce them myself, but want to be sure to avoid any infringements.

November 29th, 2008 at 9:58 pm
Clyde
 3 

Mark, Greatings from Minn. Was truly impressed and excited to read about your project. Truly a labor of love. I have been wanting for years to build such a project. The effort and attention to detail you have displayed in your pictures truly sets it apart from many of the more boxy looking projects. My hat goes off to you.

A little background about myself. I have enjoyed working with wood pretty much all my adult life, ever since shop class in high school. I am 60 years old now and have a great nephew that would truly love to go crusin in an MG.

Idealy if you could reproduce a set of plans for me that would be greatly appreciated, we would be more than happy to pay you for your trouble. However if that is a bit much, any general information ie length, width of the frame, general body dementions, and maybe even a drawing on graff paper of fender contours would help immensely. I could enlarge the fenders to full size with the graff paper. Would very much love to see a picture of the completed project. Any and all help will be greatly appreciated. Thank-you very much, Oh and by the way Happy New Year! Sincerely Clyde

January 1st, 2009 at 10:20 am
Mark
 4 

Hi Clyde! Thanks for stopping by our blog. I hope to get back working on the MG here in the next few weeks — things got out of hand at the end of the year.

I recently heard back from StevProj.com. and they are planning on re-releasing the MG-TC plans early this year. I’d recommend waiting a bit to see if they really do release them, as that would be your best option.

I will say that with your woodworking background you should find it to be the easiest and most fun part of the project. The drive and steering mechanisms are what have stumped me for a while, mostly because of my habit of “designing while building” instead of following the plans exactly. Argh. But seeing flat pieces of plywood turn into awesome roll fenders and a rounded hood is quite rewarding!

Happy New Year to you too!

January 5th, 2009 at 12:00 pm
jimmy
 5 

I built one of these years ago.I want to build another for the grandkids,but I cant find the plans.The first one got wet and fell apart in storage.I used regular go cart steering and it worked fine.PLEASE let me know about the plans.

March 1st, 2009 at 3:46 pm
Mark
 6 

Hey Jimmy, thanks for stopping by! I email StevProj again today, and they are still hoping to get the Pedal-TC plans updated, but are having trouble keeping the costs down with the smaller volume and large-format plans.

Thanks for the mention about using go-cart parts. As a result of your suggestion I have ordered a set of ball joints and tie rods and expect them to arrive later this week. I’m excited to get past this roadblock!

March 2nd, 2009 at 4:41 pm
Greg
 7 

I like what I see. My 5 year old wants to start building a pedal car with me. She likes what yours is starting to look like. I can not find the planes though. Any help with that?

May 17th, 2009 at 9:15 am
Mark
 8 

Hi Greg! I just updated this post with some info from StevProj. Apparently they do have the plans for the MG-TC available now, but I couldn’t find them on the site. Definitely send them an email, and I’m sure they’ll be able to hook you up!

May 18th, 2009 at 11:28 am
Alan
 9 

Finally….I came across your blog and like what I see. As you had said the steering and the drive system look to be the tough spot. I like your design and will probrably use your pictures and information to help my son and I build a pedal car for him and his sister. I also was hung up on what type of drive system to use, not many resources out there. Keep up the good work, looks great.
Alan

June 5th, 2009 at 7:39 pm

One Trackback/Ping

  1. TheNorwoodHome » Blog Archive » Building an MG-TC pedal car: Part 1    Sep 06 2008 / 9pm:

    [...] mentioned in the Introduction, I purchased the plans for this pedal car project from Stevenson Projects a few years ago. These [...]

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