Lark's Track Goblin No. 40 - 2008 LT ***REGISTERED***

k.rollin

Goblin Guru
Not really, I put a sheet of plywood on top of the cage so I could finish fixing my mistake of cutting the X101 engine to body harness connector; I think I got the wires and their destinations correctly identified last night, I just need to solder them when I get home from day one of Bellingham Beer Week. I also bought a new air compressor to support paint and paint prep, and some powders to finish some of the smaller parts and the valve cover.

I crashed my motorcycle during my morning commute about a month ago and my right shoulder is all screwed up, so lifting and pulling the coolant hoses is out for another 6-8 weeks per the doctor. It made unloading the chassis from powder coating an event since I had to coordinate the day with 3 of my friends who weren't crippled.
 

k.rollin

Goblin Guru
Seems I'm overdue for an update. Between screwing up my shoulder and working on the wiring harness sucking my motivation, the progress has been much slower than I had hoped.


When I checked out of maintaining this build thread, I had just gotten my chassis back from powder coat. Working in a single car garage and needing to finish the harness repair from my first attempt (which involved taking my harness to a friend's house and paring it down while drinking and getting distracted by the guys acting like morons), I placed a sheet of plywood over the halo and got after it over the course of a few weeks. Ended up getting frustrated with the lack of apparent progress and burned a weekend (and my fingers) working continuously on the harness, breaking only to buy more solder and Taco Bell at 0230. I've gotta say, I'm really glad I had access to the online Chilton resources working through that. Clearly, I didn't learn my lesson about drinking in the garage, but this choice seemed appropriate. Additional updates to come after I get some sleep; there's five months of summary to catch up on.

 

k.rollin

Goblin Guru
Around the time that I dropped off, I had also just purchased a new air compressor to support my shop needs. One of the first things I did was try my hand at powder coating. The horn bracket, coolant hose loop, and power steering motor bracket were the first parts I ran, and they're color matched to my chassis.

 

k.rollin

Goblin Guru
My friend Nick is swapping an LS1 from a C5 Corvette into a 996. Porsches have the ignition switch on the left side and so does the Goblin. Naturally, I installed the switch, took a picture, and told him that that quirk didn't make his car special.



Also, tires and wheels arrived. The rubber still isn't mounted yet though, so I have a stack of tires in my living room at the moment. Maxxis Victra VR1, 205/50R15 and König Hypergrams, 15x7.5




The color match isn't as good as i had hoped for, but I can live with it for now.



More to come.
 

k.rollin

Goblin Guru
I got tired of waiting for friends to be available to help me flip my car and help me pull the coolant hoses, so I got really high by combining alcohol and prescription painkillers/muscle relaxers after a PT appointment and flipped it by myself.



Then I pulled the hoses by hand by using ratchet tie downs to anchor the frame at both ends, digging my heels in and yanking like a dazed idiot. I found the trimmer line swab didn't work for me because the line would just bird's nest in the frame as I tried to push it through. Instead, I tied a rag in the middle of a length of paracord, and tied a nut to one end. Then I used compressed air to push the nut through the frame so I could pull the lubed up rag back and forth a few times.

I righted the frame the following morning, solo and sober and started bolting stuff together. After getting the pedal box installed, I remembered that the brake switch bolt sheared off during the teardown. Consequently, it is presently held together with zip ties.



I also powder coated the front suspension, minus the steering arms (ran out of space in the oven) and mocked up the front suspension. Current condition has the radiator and fuel tank installed. I just replaced the timing set too, but I need to remove the oil pan because I broke off part of the dipstick funnel when I was preparing the engine for paint. The plan is to try for first start prior to paint due to the changing weather.

 

IDRVSLO

Goblin Guru
Looks great! I could have popped over for flipping it over! You and Dre are both moving along nicely! Gonna be fun to have some close folks this coming summer. Also you guys will probably work through registration before me to work out the bugs, haha.
 
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k.rollin

Goblin Guru
Not a big update, but I did mock up the front brakes and mount the wheels. I remember reading about someone who was running 15" wheels and had to shave their calipers to clear the barrel ID, so I wanted to check before painting the calipers. I've got less than a finger's width of clearance.


 

k.rollin

Goblin Guru
Another day of really minor progress. Started by reassembling the engine hoist so I can pull the oil pan to remove the bit of dipstick funnel that broke off while preparing the engine for paint several months ago. Also bought longer bolts for attaching the steering arms to the uprights, a replacement screw for the brake position switch (no more zip ties), and a M10-1.25 tap for retapping the headlight bungs.

Unfortunately, running around town ate most of the daylight hours I planned to work today, so the only changes have been installation of the brake fluid reservoir and headlights.

 

IDRVSLO

Goblin Guru
Looking good! I need to get the bleeder back your way. Let me know if there is a day you are down and want to check mine out or I will get it up to you on Sunday!
 

k.rollin

Goblin Guru
Another small update after taking advantage of the dry weather this past weekend. I pushed out the bikes and powder coated the last of the steering components (steering arms, column drop, bearing retainer, and tube), then assembled it all.




I also brought the calipers inside the house to paint using Eastwood's caliper paint and a foam brush. Kind of regretting that decision because it is both durable and ugly. In retrospect, if I wanted them coated, I should have sprayed Cerakote. No pictures because they're terrible looking.
 

Karter2026

Goblin Guru
I also brought the calipers inside the house to paint using Eastwood's caliper paint and a foam brush. Kind of regretting that decision because it is both durable and ugly. In retrospect, if I wanted them coated, I should have sprayed Cerakote. No pictures because they're terrible looking.
The foam brush leaves bad results. I used the POR15 Caliper paint. I think it is the same as eastwoods. I ended up reducing it with some lacquer thinner and spraying them with a small detail gun. looked so much better.
 
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