Rabid Sloth Racing's '06 SS/SC full-caged street Goblin

Rabid Sloth Racing

Active Member
Y'all have no idea how badly my donor stank. Since the garage is one door away from the living room I went a little overboard pulling stuff off to throw in the dumpster. Between that and a pump sprayer full of Fabreeze my dog will finally follow me back into the shop without looking quite so offended.
 

Rabid Sloth Racing

Active Member
Finally back home and able to work on the car again. Got rid of the carcass, it brought a whopping $11.37 from the local scrap yard.

I've started cleaning and painting some of the small parts. Still need take pics and try to sell the doors, seats, and such. I'm trying to decide about having Lonny and Adam doing the harness. I wanted to do the whole build myself, but life keeps getting in the way and slowing me down.

I should probably mention I'm not insane, but... has anyone ever thought about adding a tiny 1-1/4 class 1 tow hitch to thier Goblin?
 

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DCMoney

Goblin Guru
Id highly recommend having DF do the harness if:

1. You're not comfortable with all the cutting and extending of the wiring. Not having a dedicated guide on how to do it for the SS/SC, yes there plenty of help on the forum and lots of good info but not everything you need is on here or in one concise spot.

2. Don't want to or have the time for it, I easily spent 30 hours on the harness, made sure everything was right using alldata's electrical diagrams was a huge help and it paid off, my car started on the first attempt.

I have a good understanding of the harness now and it will be easy if I want to do anything custom later (doubtful), but there was a moment when I almost looked for another harness to send to DF to do.

Jeez $11 hopefully that covered your gas getting the shell there...
 

ctuinstra

Goblin Guru
Yeah that wasn’t much for the metal. Most get $75-$100.

No reason why you couldn’t add a class 1 hitch as long as you do it right and safely. The car has the power to pull it. The subframe should easily be stout enough for it.
 

Ross

Goblin Guru
I want to add a hitch to my Goblin, just to add a bike carrier or a hitch carrier. Never thought of pulling a trailer, but I guess a small one would work.
 

k.rollin

Goblin Guru
I've thought about adding a hitch to tow a trailer just big enough for a set of tires and some other stuff to track events, but then I realized that driving the Goblin 140 miles to the Ridge for a track day then doing another 140 miles back home all in a day probably wouldn't be practical, based on some other members' comments about extended seat time and comfort.
 

Rabid Sloth Racing

Active Member
Yea, $11 bucks kind of shocked me, but I had to rent the tow rig to move another car so I'm not counting those expenses in my final Goblin costs.

There are a couple extra wires I would like to have. Radio, lighter, USB, side marker lights, and trailer light connector. I may see if Lonny and Adam could add those.

As for the hitch, I was thinking of torching the receiver tube to the subframe. Just to pull a trailer large enough for track tires, basic spares and tools, small cooler, and a sunshade in case I end up wanting to do events that don't allow support vehicles. Will there be enough clearance with the stock Goblin exhaust or will something different need to be bent?
 

Ross

Goblin Guru
There is definitely enough power in a goblin, but putting weight on a rear hitch would cause a bit of lift on the nose of the car.
And the nose of the car is already light... so you would have to be careful with weight distribution.
 

Torchandregdoc

Goblin Guru
I know we will need to be careful addressing this topic, when safety becomes a factor, it can really ignite people's emotions. I absolutely think you could do it, but you'd need to be careful. No more careful than pulling 10,000 with an HD pickup though.

If you look at the numbers, the total weight will still probably be less than the Cobalt by itself, so mechanically, as long as the hitch was well thought out, it wouldnt hurt the drive train. And from a towing perspective, the towing vehicle weight will be close to that of the towable trailer. Modern HD's can safely and easily tow 3 times their own weight, granted, trailers that heavy will have brakes and your tear drop may not. Thats for a hitch tow. If you go to a fifth wheel on an HD, I don't even know where the top is at. I know what the law says(20000 I think) , but I have seen 30,000 towed behind a pickup. 4X the weight of the truck.

Another consideration would be, if you did have a problem, you are pretty vulnerable in a goblin. That being said, a short jaunt out into nature for a night, if well thought out, would be a great trip

So yeah, I think it's do able, so much so, that I will probably start thinking about where a hitch would mount, before I powder coat
 

Torchandregdoc

Goblin Guru
Haaa, Ross was commenting the same time I was. He brings up a really good point, but I think a small equilizer hitch would remedy the problem completely. You may even be able to transfer some load the front axle to get better steering and braking. There may also be a structural issue with adding weight to rear strut towers and bars.
 
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Parson Green

Well-Known Member
In the event of rain/snow on a Goblin-towing-a-teardrop road trip, a tarp/cover stored in the teardrop could prove useful.

Pull over, cover the Goblin with it and retreat into the teardrop for some wine and cheese ...
 

Rabid Sloth Racing

Active Member
Yea, It's the rootbeer frame. It had the two extra hoop bars that I wanted and the color is going to work better than what was originally planned.

As for towing, I wasn't thinking of anything heavy. Maybe a 4'x4' aluminum utility trailer with track tires, basic tools, sun shade, and a cooler if I end up doing any multi-track events that don't allow support vehicles. At worst it would be around 100 lbs of resting tongue weight. If this lightened the front end too much, I could always fab a quick release front bumper and fill it with sand, bb's, or lead shot. Using farmboy logic (since I don't know anything about structural engineering), I would hope that gently driving with 850 lbs behind the Goblin would be less stress on the rear-end than clipping the inside of a high-g turn while on a track. My biggest worry is what happens when a little old lady pulls out from a cross street. Will the Goblin have enough braking power with two passengers and the loaded trailer?

As for a Goblin and trailer -vs- a big-ole Class A RV... a diesel Class A might get better mileage. Coming back from Dallas in my wife's stock 2.0 TSI Tiguan with three people, a 10' utility trailer, and the Goblin frame, the mpg dropped from a normal highway 22 all the way down to 9.8. I think that alone justifies getting one of these to haul the Goblin around with:

9710
 

Parson Green

Well-Known Member
Not buying the simple-farmboy talk. However, your assertion that a goblin-pulling-a-teardrop rig would consume more fuel than a big, diesel-powered RV is a strain upon my own senility-diminished reasoning.

It's a somewhat irrelevant question anyway unless one's a young person who would consider such a rig as a roadtrip-worthy alternative. Have not personally been such a person for many years.

As for that toy-hauling megabeast, parking difficulties at the state-park campground (a venue in which a gobln/teardrop rig would be a definite warm-attention magnet) would be extreme.
 

Rabid Sloth Racing

Active Member
Been a while since an update. I've painted the sheet metal and installed it with VHB tape. Done most of the non-engine prep work. Pulled the hoses through the frame. Started to work on the engine/tranny. Should mail my harness to Red Oak next week.

I began installing the Stage 1 parts onto the frame when I ran into a road block. In Video 17 at 1:10 the electronic power steering bracket that's shown, is that a part that should have been in the kit, or was it a part that I should have pulled from the donor?
 

Rabid Sloth Racing

Active Member
That's what I was afraid of. Guess I'll skip to putting the pedals in then. I'm not in the mood to move the stuff that's in front of where the other bag of parts is.
 
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Rabid Sloth Racing

Active Member
Been a while since an update. Since the last one I started on prepping the donor parts. Polished and sealed the LCAs. Split the engine/tranny and was individually cleaning and painting everything. The goal was to do all of the internals so that when I was ready for silly power there wouldn't be any need to drop the drivetrain...

But my company has decided to relocate my job to Houston...

So a huge change of plans. Slap it together and get it running now then after the move get a second block to build for late 2020 or 2021. Not painting the body. Not working on front aero. No sound system or integrated tablet. No tow bar. I will do the Dorman, and timing tensioner, along with the tilt steering column mod.

Since I'm putting the engine/tranny back together. Does anyone have a good source for the torque specs for all of the external engine parts? Engine mounts, intercooler pump...
 
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