ctuinstra's City Goblin - 07 SS/SC donor **Licensed**

ctuinstra

Goblin Guru
Well, I'm off to a start so I thought it was time to start my build log. I couldn't be more happy to be at this point that it is starting to seem real and it's going to happen.

My 17 year-old son was away at Skills USA National Competition when he texted me "Dad, we should really do this....". He had sent me a link to the Goblin. My first reaction way "Now what crazy idea is he getting in his head while at Skills?" I assumed it was something that he came across while in Kentucky. But it wasn't, it was just a random YouTube video he had seen during that time. I reluctantly looked at it and was quickly changing my attitude. "This is really cool, and this could be a great project to do together before he heads of to college", was my thought that made the decision! You see, we tend to do a lot together. He ATV quad races in the summer and RC car races in the winter. I'm his pit crew and work on everything and am not afraid of a welder, oxy torch, wrenches, soldering iron, you name it. He is studying Mechatronics in high school and aspiring to become an engineer. He has all but mastered AutoCAD and continuously 3D prints parts and other items. So something like this fits really well for us to do together.

I'm officially in line and probably 7-8 weeks out on Stage 1. Today he was assigned the task of bidding on our donor car. We struggled to find what we wanted that was within reasonable driving distance, I just didn't want to have to pay for shipping. I have an open and a closed trailer so I don't need to ship. We found a car about 4 hours away that had 114K on it. Sure it would have been great to have something with 60K, but it's just not there if you want it now and you want it supercharged. This donor runs and drives and we may just drive it home if it's up to the task. So back to the bidding, I left it up to him to make sure that he is online in time (third car in the line) and to be on top of the bidding. He won! We have a donor! A little more than I wanted to pay but certainly reasonable for a running and drivable care (it has a scared up corner of the bumper salvage title). I couldn't be happier that it's over and we have a car! That was one of my biggest concerns. I'll post pictures when I get it home.

We plan to build the car together and drive it locally as a street car. We don't have any autocross around here, wish we did because it sounds like fun. There is nothing like this car around here, so I'm sure it will get some attention!

Sorry so long winded. I'll post pictures of the donor and the stripping process after we get the car home
 
Last edited:

DanPerryy

Well-Known Member
What an awesome project with your son. When my oldest son was 17 we rebuilt my Lancia Scorpion. That shared experience is still (25 years later) a binding one, and he is doing the same with his son - they are pumping an Abarth.
 

ctuinstra

Goblin Guru
Quick update. Tried to go get the donor car today. Didn't happen. My son was tasked with driving 4.5 hours with my dad to pick it up. I spent part of Sunday trying to pay for the car with Copart.com. I was not going to wire money or anything like that when it cost $200 just for the service. They take credit cards, but not DISCOVER which is what I use primarily. I finally realized my wife has a MasterCard and after talking with her and confirming the credit limit, I used her card; not realizing the pending doom... The card went through okay and the car was ready to be picked up, so I thought. Last night while making final preparation I checked again and Copart had tacked on a $1000 misc charge for hold!!!!

Today I called them and I'll spare you all the details, but since I used her card and the Copart account is in my name, AR blocked the sale. My wife had to drive to the nearest Copart location with the card and her passport and other photo ID and this location and the car location argued over if that was enough. A couple of hours later and emails to Copart in CA it was finally settled and the Hold was lifted. When I got home and checked my personal emails, I receive a nice little nasty email from Vivian in CA. I understand they have to protect themselves and credit card fraud is rampant. At one point I was just going to go get the cash (which would have taken moving things around a bit) but they wont take over $400!!

Lesson learned, make dang sure you have an ACH or some other form of secure transfer set up LONG before you tend to bid on a car. I would have, but the car came up for bid the day after I started looking. Hopefully tomorrow goes well and we will have the car home. I will take some pics of it then. Getting excited!

31919147_Image_1.JPG
31919147_Image_2.JPG
31919147_Image_3.JPG
31919147_Image_4.JPG
31919147_Image_7.JPG


The build sheet.


Colbat Build sheet.png
 
Last edited:

TheNuker

Goblin Guru
donor looks good!

As far as copart, IAAI is the same way. I took cash thinking sweet this will be easy! Nope. Would only take 400$ in cash. So I had to go to my bank and get money orders which they take no problem.

Nuker-
 

ctuinstra

Goblin Guru
My son was able to pick up the car today. Long day, up at 6:00 and home around 7:30PM. No problems at Copart. The car is what I had expected but worse than what I had hoped. I have high standards I guess. Typical Vin Diesel wannabe kids got ahold of it. Duct tape on the cold air intake. 90 of the 100K miles were on a gravel road. Interior was trashed. But no real damage to the car, just not cared for. Motor seems good though. The battery is totally shot making it difficult to move around because you have to jump it every time. And the trunk key is apparently lost and I cannot get the trunk open. Any tricks there? I guess I could get rough with the back seats and just rip them out.

I'm afraid Vin may have put a tune on it. He has a gauge pod on the pillar and the A/F meter bounces all over at idle. This may be due to the dead battery and lost the settings? How can I put a factory tune back on without having to pay a couple hundred for a tuner just to reset it?

Sorry for no pictures yet, it's too late and dark now. Not to mention hotter then heck out. And who the heck blacks out the side marker lights anyways? Kids!
 

PHerder

Well-Known Member
Left side of the dash there is an "access hatch/door" that opens downwards and inside of that is a button that unlatches the trunk lid.
 

ctuinstra

Goblin Guru
Left side of the dash there is an "access hatch/door" that opens downwards and inside of that is a button that unlatches the trunk lid.
Thanks Paul! That did the trick. I just hadn't looked hard enough. Most cars had the truck pop a bit more obvious.
 

ctuinstra

Goblin Guru
I'm taking the car into the dealer on Tuesday to see if they can check to see if it has a tune on it and if they can reset it back to factory. I wish I knew for sure if they could before I spend the money just to say "We don't know if it had a tune". But I assume if they flash it, it will overwrite anything that was on it if it was and then I know for sure that it's at factory. I guess they can also read any hidden codes so I may know of anything I should be aware of now.

I'm also thinking about taking the gearbox off if it's not too difficult and having a local transmission expert check it out and the clutch just to make sure before it ever goes back in a car. It should be pretty easy if I can just drop it off and they don't have to pull it. The clutch is pretty much on or off, not much engagement. Maybe because it's a very short clutch throw.
 

ctuinstra

Goblin Guru
Kaleb and I got started on stripping the donor this weekend. Although I had meetings out of town all day Saturday, Friday night and Sunday afternoon were productive.

The shop cleaned out some to make room for the car. Backed it in at an angle through the garage door in front of the vette. More room that I figured we would have. Also have the thermostat set to a cool 74 degrees!!!
DSCN0857.JPG

Kaleb with tools in hand.

DSCN0858.JPG

The dirty, filthy mess of an interior. Kid was a pig!
DSCN0859.JPG

DSCN0860.JPG
 

ctuinstra

Goblin Guru
Although I was watching the videos, I was a bit out of order. Much of the interior has been removed already at this point. Everything is salt corroded and covered in gravel dust. I have a lot of cleaning ahead of me.
DSCN0861.JPG

DSCN0862.JPG

I will be replacing both CV axles. This one had a torn boot and quite a bit of slop in it. The passenger side seemed to be good and may have been replaced already, but I'm going to replace them as a set.
DSCN0863.JPG

I had a hell of a time with the 20mm bolt on the engine mount to the subframe. So I removed the mount from the engine so I could tackle it outside of the car. With heat and lots of impact, I finally got it loose. Much to my surprise and embarrassment, the nut was welded on and I should have removed the 18mm bolt instead. Not the first time I've made that mistake. The driver side lower A-arm had a rubber mount that was shot. I kind of thought the car handled a little weird.
DSCN0864.JPG

I had a hell of a time with the lower strut bolt wanting to spin on me. The axle shaft took a heck of 2lb hammer beating to get the rusty thing out. I didn't bother with trying to save the threads, the shaft it going to get replaced and this will keep me from even thinking about trying to save it.
DSCN0866.JPG
 

ctuinstra

Goblin Guru
Just as I had suspected!!!

What should I do, run it?

View attachment 1581
So I've been reading up on this, bear with me I'm not a 4-cylinder tuner, but it looks like this PCM is setup for a stock intake with up-sized injectors of 60#. Interesting. I think this kid had a stage 2 kit on this car. This might be a real score. I'm going to contact ZZP to see if they can give me any info using my VIN (they apparently require the VIN to do a tune).
 

PHerder

Well-Known Member
I thought that the blower pulley would be smaller than stock thus making more boost and with that, more horsepower but looking at the ZZP Web site, they just list the 1.0 version of the PCM by itself.

Run it! :cool:

From the ZZP web site...
https://zzperformance.com/ecotec/electronics/zzp-1-0-lsj-pcm.html

The ZZP 1.0 PCM gives you the most requested and sought after features in a PCM. Buying from ZZP ensures nearly instant response on emailed questions, fast turn around, and prompt core refunds. The ZZP 1.0 PCM is backed by a company you can trust. 1.0 files do not come with any tech or programming support for changes or issues outside 1.0 tuning parameters.

FEATURES:

  • Raised rev limiter (7200rpm on stock valve springs)
  • Fan turn on temperatures modified
  • Intercooler pump turn on when key on
  • MAF calibration per intake brand (if available)
  • WOT fueling modified
  • WOT timing modified
  • Torque abuse modes are modified to eliminate bog at launch
  • Power enrichment tables modified
  • Injector charts modified
  • Rear o2 codes modified for high flow cats
  • "COT" disabled
  • "Burst KR" disabled
  • Boost limiter disabled
  • 1st gear boost modified
 
Last edited:

TheNuker

Goblin Guru
You might still need a real tune, after switching mybone stock SS/SC over to the full 3" intake and exhaust with no cat it backfires when letting off at high rpm and I can tell it's running rich. Just keep that in mind. Also that zzp stage 1 tune is no good for a stage 2 kit!

Nuker
 

ctuinstra

Goblin Guru
Since it specifies #60 injectors, I can only assume it has more than just a stage 1 tune I would think. I can't figure out the pulley, he had a pulley from ZZP inside he car but it looks like I doesn't bolt up and the pulley has grooves in it but the belt runs the smooth side down on the supercharger pulley on the car. What am I missing here?
 

TheNuker

Goblin Guru
The stock pulls is a push on type, zzp pully system uses an adapter then bolt on pulleys. Not sure about the belt.


Nuker
 

JSATX

Goblin Guru
You might still need a real tune, after switching mybone stock SS/SC over to the full 3" intake and exhaust with no cat it backfires when letting off at high rpm and I can tell it's running rich. Just keep that in mind. Also that zzp stage 1 tune is no good for a stage 2 kit!

Nuker
Man I love a good backfire. Nothing wrong with that as long as it's only happening when you release the throttle. My Porsche pops every time I let off over 4K I only wish the goblin sounded as good!
 

ctuinstra

Goblin Guru
The donor is completely stripped. I've been trying to sell off parts, but everyone says they are interested and wants to buy the parts but then I won't hear a word from them when it comes to paying. Haven't sold a thing yet. However, the rear metal bumper was used on my son's ex-girlfriend's car.

I put the car on my trailer to haul it off. Good thing I hadn't yet. The next day I was at the DMV for my wife's car and happen to ask them about the title of the donor. She was telling me that the Highway Patrol would need to inspect the donor car to ensure all the parts are from it. So I guess I'm going to have to hang onto it for a while.

IMG_4268.JPG
IMG_4270.JPG
 

ctuinstra

Goblin Guru
I've been working on clean and painting parts. Also got the engine up on the bench and having a look at what I need to do next. Upon a hunch, I thought it would be a good idea to check out the clutch since my son complained a bit about it in the car. And sure enough, it's not worn so much as it's been wet and sat and has rusted and pitted the flywheel. The fiber plate looks bad too. Maybe a guy could just clean it up, but since it's this far down, I figure I might was well replace it.

Also broke the plastic on the starter, much like Nuker had on his. The front crank seal has leaked a bit, so it's getting replaced. I did find that I have 60# injectors so this kid had this thing a pulley away from a full stage 3 kit. I've ordered up a 2.9 pulley for the supercharger and a few other little goodies. So much for a low-cost build!

IMG_3138.JPG
IMG_3139.JPG
IMG_3140.JPG


image1.JPG
image2.JPG
image3.JPG
image5.JPG
 
Last edited:
Top