Tag Archives: fix toys

How To Fix The Gas Cap on Your Vintage Little Tikes Toy

How To Fix Vintage Cozy Coupe Gas Cap

What child doesn’t like to fill up their car with gas? Usually when I find a vintage Little Tikes ride on the first thing gone is the gas cap.  Here’s how I fix the gas cap on these toys. They originally had flimsy plastic tabs to hold the top of the gas cap on, and they broke off over the years. With design changes, the newer Little Tikes replacement parts don’t fit the older ones anymore, but you can easily make them fit, by drilling a hole.

How To Fix Vintage Cozy Coupe Gas Cap : Each Project is Different

As with any case of modifying new replacement parts to fit older toys, these instructions will vary depending on future design changes on the gas cap. In this case, I used a replacement part from a 1990s version Little Tikes Cozy Coupe, on a vintage Little Tikes petal tractor. I believe the 30th Anniversary model is the same basic design as well, but I have to double-check my measurements on that, and I will update this post when I do.

How To Fix Vintage Cozy Coupe Gas Cap :

Find the Replacement Part

 

  •  Call the 1-800 number on your toy, or visit the Little Tikes website to see if they offer replacement gas caps. If not  you can easily find sellers on Ebay who will offer them. If I have any available you can order them HERE.

How To Fix Vintage Cozy Coupe Gas Cap :

Remove the Old One

  • Pry off the old one, and clean the plastic.
How To Fix Vintage Cozy Coupe Gas Cap : Replacing an old style Little Tikes gas petro cap with a new one
How To Fix Vintage Cozy Coupe Gas Cap : Replacing an old style Little Tikes gas petro cap with a new one

When you compare the vintage style to the newer style, you will note that the vintage one has a larger diameter then the newer one. Luckily there is a smaller plastic column in the newer one to help hold it in place, otherwise the newer gas cap would just fall out.

 

How To Fix Vintage Cozy Coupe Gas Cap : A comparison of an early 1990s vintage gas / petrol cap versus a newer late 1990s - early 2000s Little Tikes Cozy Coupe gas cap.
How To Fix Vintage Cozy Coupe Gas Cap : A comparison of an early 1990s vintage gas / petrol cap versus a newer late 1990s – early 2000s Little Tikes Cozy Coupe gas cap.

 

How To Fix Vintage Cozy Coupe Gas Cap :

Measure

 

How To Fix Vintage Cozy Coupe Gas Cap : Measure out there to drill the smaller hole for the Little Tikes Ride-On
How To Fix Vintage Cozy Coupe Gas Cap : Measure out there to drill the smaller hole for the Little Tikes Ride-On

Just for when the design changes, you should double-check to see where to drill your hole. When I first did this, I didn’t measure a thing, I just eye-balled it all. I marked the place to drill the hole, in the above photo, and I eye-balled the drill bit size, as in the next photo.

How To Fix Vintage Cozy Coupe Gas Cap : Find the right grill bit. You can eye ball the size by placing the bit in front of the plastic column. If you should just barely be able to see it on each side.
How To Fix Vintage Cozy Coupe Gas Cap : Find the right grill bit. You can eye-ball the size by placing the bit in front of the plastic column. If you should barely be able to see it on each side.

When eyeballing things, you want the drill bit to be the same size  or slightly smaller. So place the grill bit in front of the plastic column, if you can slightly see the plastic column on each side of the grill bit, then you have a good size. You don’t want it too small, or too large. If you make it too small you can re-drill it with a larger grill bit, or crave it larger with a box cutter. I measured the plastic column for the newer replacement part and it is 6.3mm, so  6 mm grill bit would work fine. I will add the equivalent imperial measurement when I find my imperial drill bits, or my scientific calculator.

How To Fix Vintage Cozy Coupe Gas Cap :

Drill the Hole

 

How To Fix Vintage Cozy Coupe Gas Cap : gas-cap-5
How To Fix Vintage Cozy Coupe Gas Cap : For my example, using a 1990s version replacement gas / petrol cap on a vintage Little TIkes petal tractor, I drilled the hole 10mm from the outside edge of the large hole, to the center of the smaller hole.
  • Drill your hole, and push in the new cap. Hopefully it all fits snuggly, if not, you could thicken the larger column of plastic on the replacement cap with electrical or duct tape to make a snug fit. But I have never had to resort to that, the drilling always seems to work out fine for me. You could also choose to turn the cap a different direction and drill again. The first hole would be hidden behind the cap.

How To Fix Vintage Cozy Coupe Gas Cap :

Pop it in

 

How To Fix Vintage Cozy Coupe Gas Cap : New gas / petrol cap for your vintage little tikes ride on.
How To Fix Vintage Cozy Coupe Gas Cap : New gas / petrol cap for your vintage little Tikes ride on.

 

How To Fix Vintage Cozy Coupe Gas Cap : New gas / petrol cap for your vintage little tikes ride on.
How To Fix Vintage Cozy Coupe Gas Cap : New gas / petrol cap for your vintage little Tikes ride on.

Please feel free to ask me questions, I will gladly update this file as I can.

How To Restore a Little Tikes Football Toy Box

How To Restore a Little Tikes Football Toy Box

How To Restore a Little Tikes Football Toy Box : Replacement stickers or decals to fix up your Little Tikes Football Toy Box.
How To Restore a Little Tikes Football Toy Box : Replacement stickers or decals to fix up your Little Tikes Football Toy Box.

How To Restore a Little Tikes Football Toy Box. These have been around since the 1970s, and are still going strong. Usually the only thing missing is the decals to restore them to like new condition. I sell replacement decals for it (HERE), and here are some tips on applying them.

How To Restore a Little Tikes Football Toy Box:

Remove the Old Decals First

How To Restore a Little Tikes Football Toy Box : Football Toy Box Restoration 1
How To Restore a Little Tikes Football Toy Box : Rubbing Alcohol

First remove the old decals, by pulling them off, as much as possible. Then you can use rubbing alcohol to move all the glue residue. If you leave some of the residue on, it will show underneath as lumps.  Also be sure to wash off the rubbing alcohol before applying as it will weaken the adhesive.

How To Restore a Little Tikes Football Toy Box:

Apply The New Decals

Once it is clean, dry and smooth, apply the stripe decals, starting from the front, lining them up to the front outside indent. And removing the backing as you move from the front to the back, smoothing out the creases, and any air bubbles as you go along.

How To Restore a Little Tikes Football Toy Box : Football toy box smoothing out
How To Restore a Little Tikes Football Toy Box : Apply the new decals

These are made from a strong material that won’t rip or tear, but it can stretch, so be sure to place them properly first before pressing down and smoothing out.

How To Restore a Little Tikes Football Toy Box:

Yes, I can Customize it

How To Restore a Little Tikes Football Toy Box : Replacement decals for Little Tikes Football Toy Box, customized replacment logo plate.
How To Restore a Little Tikes Football Toy Box : Replacement decals for Little Tikes Football Toy Box, customized replacment logo plate.

Yes, I can customize the logo plate. I can put your favorite team, family name, your child’s name. The colors can change, and the font can change.  I just don’t have the Original Little Tikes Logo in stock.

 

Please feel free to ask me questions.

Melissa 🙂