Brad's City Goblin - 10 SS/TC Donor, NY Build - FOR SALE

[bradr]

Hey! I have always wanted a Polaris Slingshot - but the price and limitations (single drive wheel - registers as a motorcycle, etc) have been the holdup. The moment I found DF Kit Car, I knew I found something way better that checked off almost every box on my want list. Registering in NYS will definitely be a challenge, but it looks to be a fun build! At this point I have purchased the donor and placed my order for chassis #152 (Extended City).

The donor was a front collision 2010 Cobalt SS/TC. Hood & Headlights missing, RH fender and bumper removed. The upper radiator support was crushed in and damaged the following items:

• MAP Sensor
• Purge Solenoid
• Headlight Harness
• Engine Harness
• Brake Booster Vacuum Line

As a result, the vehicle barley ran and surged horribly. Temporarily capping the Purge Solenoid, gluing the MAP sensor back together, fixing the cut brake booster line and fixing the damaged MAF ground wire has resulted in a car that seems to run and idle correctly with no check engine light.

 

[bradr]

Only real progress so far is that I cut the upper radiator support for ease of access, and started to remove the headlight harness. As you can see from the picture below, the engine harness was partially unwrapped to fix the damaged MAF ground.

I am labeling the connectors as I disconnect them using zip tie label markers so they do not fall off or get damaged.

Although far from critical, the RPD control knob was very flaky and was completely unusable. As I planned on moving this over to the Goblin (possibly having a new 3D printed enclosure made for it), I wanted to see if I could fix it. In short, the encoder was dirty inside. I simply desoldered it, disassembled the encoder, cleaned the contacts and then bent them up to make better contact with the encoder wheel. The knob seems to work perfectly now. If anyone else runs into this issue, they are repairable, but unless you have a proper soldering gun and decent desoldering skills, I would NOT recommend tackling this yourself. This was one of two thru-hole components that were hand soldered at the factory and it was some of the worst work I have ever seen. This combined with the lead free solder and improper hole sizes on the board made this harder than it needed to be.

 

[BaltimoreHokie]

Congrats! It'll be a lot funner then just going out to purchase a slingshot!!! I think there is another goblin registered in NY so you'll at least have their build/process as a reference point.

Nice donor. I would not not be too worried about the harness, by the time you go to put them all together it gets cut up anyways. Good job on labeling everything. It makes it a lot easier down the road.

What did you pay for the donor? Was it from NY?

 

[Briann1177]

http://dfkitcar.com/forum/index.php?threads/bar-airs-build-up-in-buffalo-n-y.95/

 

[bradr]

The donor was from MI and has about 135k miles. I paid $1050 plus fees and transport. My only concern is if I will need to rebuild the transmission (does not shift as smooth as I would like). I am hoping a fluid change will help a bit.

 

[Vwsaabvt]

There is someone on cobalt nation Facebook page selling new g85 option trannys for $1200.

I am frame 151, gotta start my build thread soon.

Have you decided if you are going to pick up or ship yours?

 

[bradr]

One of my project goals is to keep as much of the convenience and safety portions of the donors electrical system working as possible. As I will not have my frame for a few months, I figured it best to leave my donor intact to make reverse engineering a bit easier. From my research, it appears that one of the common "issues" is dash warning lights being stuck on. This post addresses three of them in particular:

• Brake (fluid level & hand brake status)
• ABS (if equipped)
• Traction (if equipped)

For donors with anti-lock brakes, removing the ABS module will cause the ABS, Traction and Brake lights to come on. My biggest issue with this is I want the Brake light to work as it warns of low brake fluid (safety concern) and when the handbrake is active (the hand brake is needed in my state so I will be keeping it). I have no interest in cutting traces or using black tape to cover lights in the instrument cluster. Enter the "Goblin ABS Eliminator".

The video simply shows the ABS module disconnected (the databus wires are just jumpered through so the car will turn on), me demonstrating the issue, and then the result of the device I made. It simply plugs into the diagnostic port (can also be hardwired or plugged into a parallel diagnostic port if you like) and emulates the minimum required ABS messaging on the HS GMLAN databus. Current feature set:

• Turns off ABS light
• Turns off Traction light
• Allows the Brake light to work normally
• No ABS / Traction error messages show in the information center
• Goes into power saving mode when vehicle is off

 

[Ross]

Looks interesting. Is this an arduino project that you have made?

 

[bradr]

Looks interesting. Is this an arduino project that you have made?

Not Arduino based - It is production hardware I designed several years ago. I just reverse engineered the Cobalt ABS stuff and wrote new code for the hardware.

 

[Karter2026]

Nice job!

 

[ctuinstra]

Very cool. It's probably much better than the computer just freaking out over all of the issues that never get resolved.

 

[Desert Sasqwatch]

One of my project goals is to keep as much of the convenience and safety portions of the donors electrical system working as possible. As I will not have my frame for a few months, I figured it best to leave my donor intact to make reverse engineering a bit easier. From my research, it appears that one of the common "issues" is dash warning lights being stuck on. This post addresses three of them in particular:

• Brake (fluid level & hand brake status)
• ABS (if equipped)
• Traction (if equipped)

For donors with anti-lock brakes, removing the ABS module will cause the ABS, Traction and Brake lights to come on. My biggest issue with this is I want the Brake light to work as it warns of low brake fluid (safety concern) and when the handbrake is active (the hand brake is needed in my state so I will be keeping it). I have no interest in cutting traces or using black tape to cover lights in the instrument cluster. Enter the "Goblin ABS Emulator".

The video simply shows the ABS module disconnected (the databus wires are just jumpered through so the car will turn on), me demonstrating the issue, and then the result of the device I made. It simply plugs into the diagnostic port (can also be hardwired or plugged into a parallel diagnostic port if you like) and emulates the minimum required ABS messaging on the HS GMLAN databus. Current feature set:

• Turns off ABS light
• Turns off Traction light
• Allows the Brake light to work normally
• No ABS / Traction error messages show in the information center
• Goes into power saving mode when vehicle is off

Brad, if you could provide some more information about this, it would be appreciated. Is the ABS module reused or is there a different plug in module utilized? Does the traction control function/try to function? Having the brake indicator function 'normally' is a big asset to the Goblin. Very interested.

 

[bradr]

Brad, if you could provide some more information about this, it would be appreciated. Is the ABS module reused or is there a different plug in module utilized? Does the traction control function/try to function? Having the brake indicator function 'normally' is a big asset to the Goblin. Very interested.

At this time, any normal build will not reuse the ABS module (if equipped) and all related wiring for the ABS system will be removed as part of the harness reworking process. As a result, the ABS, Traction and Brake lights will come on as a result (the traction control system is just additional software that is implemented by the ABS system - consider them one in the same). What I made is a small electronic device that plugs into the diagnostic port and "Emulates" and ABS module. Because the vehicle thinks that ABS is working, no warning lights are present and everything works as it should. There is no down side or cravat to this solution and no part of the old ABS system is reused or retained. Let me know if this makes sense or If I need to clarify further - happy to help!

 

[DCMoney]

Do you plan on selling these? Id love not to have to see those warning lights.

 

[Desert Sasqwatch]

Brad, so this is a module that plugs into the OBD port? If the port is already being used with a data recorder or other device, curious if it would work pugged into a parallel OBD port and not interfere with or be interfered by something else already plugged in. Guess someone will just have to try it. I'm with DC, would love to have this to eliminate the annoyance of the lights and make them work correctly.

 

[bradr]

Do you plan on selling these? Id love not to have to see those warning lights.

I plan on finding a way to make them available to other builders once testing is done on another vehicle.

 

[bradr]

Brad, so this is a module that plugs into the OBD port? If the port is already being used with a data recorder or other device, curious if it would work pugged into a parallel OBD port and not interfere with or be interfered by something else already plugged in. Guess someone will just have to try it. I'm with DC, would love to have this to eliminate the annoyance of the lights and make them work correctly.

I have moved this to a dedicated thread HERE. I believe it addresses your questions. You can see what the device looks like in the video posted in the new thread.

 

[bradr]

It has been a while since I posted. Other than the electrical projects I have been working on, the only real progress at this point is I have installed seat heaters in my Sparco R100 seats, attached the custom brackets and have them sitting in the frame. I am very happy with the way they turned out. Below you can see pictures of them slid all the way forward and back. I am 5'11", like to sit far back in a vehicle and this setup gives me more than enough room. I can slide the seat back to make it easier to exit and slide it forward enough for someone significantly shorter to drive the car.

 

[JSATX]

I like your incline. Mine are mounted flat relative to the chassis and sit too upright.

 

[bradr]

I decided it is about time to start taking apart the donor. It will really slow down the electrical projects, but needs to get done sometime. Suspension and subframe dropped. Engine ready to drop out the bottom. Interior is gutted short of the dash.