Bryan's Extended Track Goblin- 2009 Cobalt SS

[IDRVSLO]

thats really the look i am going for, I was going to try to fit a 325 in the rear though


So i stalked your build thread, I noticed you have the wing mounts but not the wing? can you tell me the distance between the two mounts and the height from the chassis to the end of the bracket?

Do you want the measurement with the mounts on the outside of the brackets?
Also I can get a measurement for the wing mounts both facing in and out.

I am going with a Nine Lives Racing wing, should be here the week of the 4th.

325s will work if you get wheels with a low enough offset........but will be overkill for the street.......but badass......

 

[BryanJohnson02]

from the bracket to the bracket, Inside to outside. and the height of the bracket from the mount. I assume those are the DF brackets?

 

[BryanJohnson02]

Moving forward, i spent a few hours saturday since it was nice outside. This is a middle of the progress photo. I have the brakes, calipers, spindles, struts, springs, all the AC stuff, and most of the harness undone. I still need to get the steering knuckle off and then the lower member should be ready to pull. hopefully have the motor and transmission out this weekend.

The guide videos make it seem a lot easier than it actually is. What took these guys 10 minutes took me most of an afternoon. I have been using them as a reference point on where i am though, even though i am pulling some things off in a different order.

I need to go to HF and buy a dolly to set the motor on. going to be a lot of deep cleaning on it for sure. I pressure washed it before i started pulling the stuff off it. I still find dirt, dust, acorns, leaves and other things.

I really hope to get the harness out in the next 3 weeks to give myself a month to do it. I don't think it should take that long but i want to have extra time on it because when i go pick up my goblin (right now planning for the 22 of march) i want it to be all ready to start putting it together. This warm weather this weekend has made me start missing my crotch rocket.

I am thinking about getting these as the wheels for the goblin. https://www.maperformance.com/products/xxr-526-hundred-dollar-deep-5x100-114-3-17-chromium-black-ssc-wheels?variant=12108323258438. I want a 16,17,or 18" wheel 9.0, 9.5 or 10" wide... i want to run 245 min on the front and 275 min on the rear.

 

[IDRVSLO]

I will get you those bracket measurements today, been slacking.

Regarding wheels, Here is a shot of a 17x9.5 with a 5mm offset and 275 tires on the rear, with the coilovers. I do not rub the control arms in the front on full lock.

This has 40mm of inner clearance (1.575")

 

[IDRVSLO]

So the 10" will work as it moves in 21mm towards the coilover from what I have. That being said if you dont have coilovers it probably wont work and you will hit your control arms at full lock up front if you go with 10s on all 4. If you go with the 9s up front you will lose 14mm of inner clearance which will probably still hit.

 

[BryanJohnson02]

coil overs are in the plans. my OCDs wont allow me to have a coil over up front but not in the back... plus being visible will make me have to.. I have an article saved on here where someone basically drew out how to order them and what spring rates.. these are things that are a few months out.

 

[BryanJohnson02]

So i got a few hours of free time Sunday morning. So i spent a little time and got the motor and transmission out.. I couldn't sleep sat night and took a lot of the dash bolts out. HOPEFULLY i will have the dash and harnesses out this week. I want to give myself a few weeks to get the harness together. When it gets warm I will be doing some cleaning. The motor had a leaking valve cover gasket at some point in time.

Part of me wants to tear it down and put better rods and pistons in it.. part of me is saying just get it going. The "I miss my bike" bug hit hard last week... luckily i have been having to work over at work so its not as bad as it normally would have been. Oh well one step closer.

 

[aaronbuley]

First Off, I am Bryan, I am from North Alabama, I work at the Toyota Engine Plant in Huntsville. I have owned several race cars (drag) and several bikes.

My Goblin story begins with a new hire here at work. We hired a guy who has been fantasizing about building a goblin for some time. He had brought it up in conversation some... I would dismiss it with oh like an aerial atom. I have never really looked at the curves as a four wheel deal. Well he sent me a YouTube video about a build and i looked at it a little more in debt, The video was of some Animal Vet on a ranch that has some cool cars... well he raced a GTR in the video and i was like... hum they really are quick, having raced a few on my bike. I spent a little time doing some homework, scanning through here looking at pictures and the builds of some of you. In November I had someone make me an offer on my bike i couldn't refuse. Thus the Goblin build came up. I spent some time cruising copart and even bid on a few... but at the time all the 09/10 SS turbocharged were really far off... or more than i wanted to spend. I kept an eye on Facebook Marketplace and Craigslist for all of the SS cobalts i could find in my area... and even looked at a HHR SS with a turbo. Then i found a Cobalt SS in the Nashville area for 1000 more than my max. I wrote the guy a few emails and ended it with a I am willing to give X for it site unseen... i have cash in hand... you can sift through emails for weeks and maybe find someone that will give you more... but youre also going to get a lot of time wasters and tire kickers... if you get ready to take this amount let me know and i will set up a time to come get it... 2 weeks pass and i had already given up on that one when the guy calls and says if you can get it this weekend and have cash i will accept your offer. So i run up and get the car (It did have some issues) and drove it home. The car sat in my back yard for the next month. After the new year i pulled it in the garage the week of the 14th to begin to strip it down. I spent one evening stripping out the interior and the bumpers with some help. Then Ordered my Kit from DF on the 18th. I will be Chassis #127. There are a Lot of things I plan on trying or doing to this. It will be mainly used as a curvy mountain road cruiser. Hopefully it will cure my motorcycle itch for some time. I will update any process and try to keep a picture log of the build

Biker here too... the Goblin has been a great compromise with my wife. Just started in on my tear down yesterday. I'll be chassis #136. Excited to follow your build as you are just a little ahead of me.
I'll try to post as much of my build to my youtube channel... www.youtube.com/aaronbuley

 

[BryanJohnson02]

they were welding 134 on the Instagram page the other day

 

[BryanJohnson02]

Well I have the dash disconnected from the car... I didnt feel like trying to strong arm it out so i am waiting for a friend to help on saturday... Picking up my Goblin the next saturday... man am i behind.. I really wanted to have the harness cut and ready for the goblin frame... Looks like i will be lucky to get the Cobalt out before then... I still have to pull the inside harness, tank, and rear hubs

 

[BryanJohnson02]

Well I have the dash out and the harnesses all out. All thats left is the tank and rear hubs. I will get those when i go to move it out to scrap it. I will be leaving for Texas to pick up my chassis after work tomorrow. Hopefully all goes well.

 

[Desert Sasqwatch]

Well I have the dash out and the harnesses all out. All thats left is the tank and rear hubs. I will get those when i go to move it out to scrap it. I will be leaving for Texas to pick up my chassis after work tomorrow. Hopefully all goes well.

Great progress. Good luck and safe travels.

 

[BryanJohnson02]

Well I spent the weekend in Dallas Texas. Made a little stop by DF and met Lonnie and Adam... Went on a test ride... and brought home some hardware. It was an over all fun trip. I (we) made it to DF on Friday which we had great weather, they were the first stop on the trip. They let me drop my trailer there and come back to pick it up on Sunday. I feel like they went the extra mile with everything. While in Dallas I did a little site seeing (gas monkey garage, fired up garage, flat 12, ASM, Arc-light Fab, Magnolia Farms, Silos, Billy Bobs Texas, Stockyards, Arlington, and some other stuff downtown). Eitherway... Frame 127 is home, going to the Powdercoater later in the week and i should be able to get the cobalt skeleton out of the garage this week as well.

 

[Ross]

Man, you really went to town! Did they have an automotive tour set up for you? PS, I'm not ditching the Cobalt skeleton until the Goblin gets registered, just in case somebody wants to check the old VIN.

 

[BryanJohnson02]

I think that Brenda could open up a little side "pick up your goblin" package... you know this hotel, this is where this and that is... here is what i would do if i was spending the day here type deal... LOL.... I can say this, the whole family seems to be some really cool people. We took an hour or so out of their already busy day to be fans...

I will say this, of all the things i wanted to see and do, I really should have took off 2 more days to cover it all. When I get the Goblin done, I may go do doughnuts at GMG just because... Fired Up (the original GMG) was up for lease, its LITERALLY next door to ASM. that whole set up was kind of a bust. Gas Monkey Bar and Grill... the food was OK but not for the prices. Flat 12 was closed, and ArcLight was closed... but i still went by in the chance i could see in. The JFK stuff was cool, Fort Worth was cool as well... but i wouldnt go back.... and since we was so close to Waco we had to go to the joanna gains place... which was a nightmare to begin with...

 

[BryanJohnson02]

Well... the cobalt is stripped and gone. Ill be getting the rear wheels and all that back at a later time.

 

[Desert Sasqwatch]

Well... the cobalt is stripped and gone. Ill be getting the rear wheels and all that back at a later time.

Yea!!! That seems to be a big first turning point in many builds when the donor carcass is gone. Sounds like the trip to Red Oak was a great time and you got your goblin kit home safe and sound. Now the fun starts and you get work with clean parts from now on.

 

[BryanJohnson02]

Havent updated in awhile. Chassis is at Powder coat right now, got a hell of a deal 450$ for a 3 stage color... I have been dreading the harness for weeks and pushing it back more and more... well finally gave in and started hacking. Spent all day Saturday going through video 9 and 10... first off... the Turbo Harnesses are NOT the same as the video. So i HOPE its all right. I did a lot of research and read schematics to compare. I took out several wires. Then Rolled the ones i would be using into a more organized way to store them. I went ahead and watched video 11 and decided it would be another day before i got all that together.

 

[BaltimoreHokie]

Havent updated in awhile. Chassis is at Powder coat right now, got a hell of a deal 450$ for a 3 stage color... I have been dreading the harness for weeks and pushing it back more and more... well finally gave in and started hacking. Spent all day Saturday going through video 9 and 10... first off... the Turbo Harnesses are NOT the same as the video. So i HOPE its all right. I did a lot of research and read schematics to compare. I took out several wires. Then Rolled the ones i would be using into a more organized way to store them. I went ahead and watched video 11 and decided it would be another day before i got all that together. View attachment 8363 View attachment 8364

Man, working on the ground. Thats got to be tough, hopefully that was only for the picture. The harnesses are a little different. There are things you'll want to keep that aren't in the base. Just think about what you're cutting. For sure keep the boost gauge. not sure what else. its been a while.

 

[BryanJohnson02]

did the dash on a table, did the body on the floor... made it easier to scoot around and have enough room to have it all spread out. Although my back was killing me after all day of it