Considering several new donors

Ark :D

Goblin Guru
Hello everyone,

So I am back at square one after my original donor mess (well, square two: I have a lot more knowledge and tools this time around) and I am right back in the mix, looking at donors, and I had a couple questions.

1) The first donor I'm considering, I'm not going to go into specifics about yet, but I need to ask: are all Cobalt steering knuckles the same, across all trims? I'm seeing sources say yes they are, but I also see a couple saying the NA's and SS/SC/TC's are different, and I'm seeing one person say the SS/TC has its own but all other NA/SS models are the same. Searching parts stores like Advance Auto and Autozone hasn't provided me much clarity; I learned from my first go-around that frequently, parts shown on those sites are marked "100% fit" when often, they are not 100%.

2) The second donor I'm looking at is a 2009 Pontiac G5 with the LAP Ecotec 2.2 and the XFE 5-speed manual. In our discussions, he's told me that the motor and trans are "different than what's in a Cobalt" but I think it's mostly hogwash and the motor/trans would fit the Goblin kit just fine. This is a very cheap, very low-mileage donor, so even though I don't want a 2.2, I'm considering it.

Thank you.
 

Ark :D

Goblin Guru
After reading around this forum, I stumbled onto a build thread that answered my first question. Sounds like the NA's and SS/SC's share the same steering knuckle, while the SS/TC has a fatter ball joint and as such, a different knuckle.

In fact, it's already being talked about in the suspension thread I myself created! Geez!
 

Karter2026

Goblin Guru
Hello everyone,

2) The second donor I'm looking at is a 2009 Pontiac G5 with the LAP Ecotec 2.2 and the XFE 5-speed manual. In our discussions, he's told me that the motor and trans are "different than what's in a Cobalt" but I think it's mostly hogwash and the motor/trans would fit the Goblin kit just fine. This is a very cheap, very low-mileage donor, so even though I don't want a 2.2, I'm considering it.

Thank you.
They are the exact same motor and transmission. In fact that is the same donor package as my cobalt was. Only difference is the XFE package. 3.63 gears compared to the 3.82 in the standard non XFE model.
 

Ark :D

Goblin Guru
That donor is really, really tempting me. 38k miles and a 5-speed ... whew. But my primary donor interest is one sexy beast. I'm so torn, lol!
 
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