F40 upgrade worth the price?

M

microsoftisevil

Member
Howdy, I am looking for your thoughts on whether or not it would be worth it for the guys at DF to build my kit (#150) with the F40 option. It adds $2500 for the extra work they have to do on the kit to accept that transmission.

ZZP has a conversation kit, but looks like that will set me back additional $3k. Not a small price increase to go down this road!

My donor is a ‘10 SS TC with the LSD option. Thoughts? I don’t have money burning a hole in my pocket, but this is something I am considering for my build if it’s a worthwhile upgrade.
 
JeffsGoblin

JeffsGoblin

Goblin Guru
My thought process on this is if you can afford it, do it. If not, what you have is just fine. Everyone raves about the F40, but it is not an LSD... you would have to add LSD if you wanted it and that is another added cost.
 
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Desert Sasqwatch

Desert Sasqwatch

Goblin Guru
There are a couple different threads in the forum with some in depth discussions about the good and bad of using an F40 in a Goblin. Search for them, read them through, and feel free to ask more questions. Right now I know of 4 builders who are going the F40 route with varying successes.
 
JSATX

JSATX

Goblin Guru
Let’s just round the figure off and call it $5000 to do the swap.

That’s crazy money for a $15000 car. It’s not worth it at all when the base manual has quite a lot of history holding 300hp+.... that’s just my opinion.

If youre spending $5000 on an old Saab gearbox let’s just up the ante some, spend $7000 and get a full on rally spec sequential shifting dogbox beast of a FWD transaxle, FWD rally circuit is pretty big in Europe and I know there’s at least 3-4 companies making them.

With all that being said I 100% respect the people willing to take the time to figure it out and make additional options available.
 
ncgoblin

ncgoblin

Goblin Guru
I personally do not have any traction issues as of now with the supercharged LSJ without the F40. I have 215s in front and 275 in the rear. I had the money to spend on the F40 but I knew easily I would be $20k into the build for a weekend/autocross toy and I knew small parts would add up. I was very accurate in this assessment and I got my donor for $1100. I have an additional $2000 of quality of life upgrades this year speakers, ZZP supercharger upgrade and tuning.

So in saying this if I was staying below 300WHP I would not upgrade if I was going above well is money an issue at that point?

My 2 cents
 
ctuinstra

ctuinstra

Goblin Guru
ncgoblin said:
I personally do not have any traction issues as of now with the supercharged LSJ without the F40. I have 215s in front and 275 in the rear. I had the money to spend on the F40 but I knew easily I would be $20k into the build for a weekend/autocross toy and I knew small parts would add up. I was very accurate in this assessment and I got my donor for $1100. I have an additional $2000 of quality of life upgrades this year speakers, ZZP supercharger upgrade and tuning.

So in saying this if I was staying below 300WHP I would not upgrade if I was going above well is money an issue at that point?

My 2 cents
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I second this other than our front tire size. Otherwise this perfectly describes our situation. But for those with really big builds, maybe it’s wirth it.
 
Desert Sasqwatch

Desert Sasqwatch

Goblin Guru
F40 trans (Regal GS) new - $750
F40 flywheel/clutch (Regal GS) new - $225
F40 6 speed shifter (Saab) new - $250
F40 Quaife LSD new - $925
F40 gasket and seal set (to install LSD) - $125
Sub total - $2275
DF F40 frame mod (bolt in) - $2500
My total - $4775
Note: all of the prices (except the Goblin frame) are delivered to my door

My opinion only - for the needs of my car build and what I expect out of my vehicles, this is worth the money to have a 100% new bullet proof 6 speed transmission that will last the lifetime of the car. Everyone else has their own opinion on costs and what is most important to them for their build. Just wanted to put the real cost of the F40 - if you shop around - out there for comparison.
 
M

microsoftisevil

Member
You guys really aren’t making it easy on me here! I have a couple weeks to make up my mind, but now I am leaning towards sticking with the donor trans and getting a crate engine instead. My donor has 101K on it and some mods (no clue what all has been done, but it has some ZZP stuff on the intake for sure). Most likely has a tune as well.

Thinking I may keep the old engine to do a built engine. It runs like a scalded hog (‘10 SS T/C) but I think it may have something up with the timing chain tensioner. It has a tick that sounds like the second hand of a clock, so I am thinking I need to go through it.

The reason for getting a crate engine would be so it’s ready to go, and I can go through the old engine in my garage. I’m doing this build in a slot in my buddy’s shop, and I promised I’d try to have my stuff out within 3-4 months.
 
ncgoblin

ncgoblin

Goblin Guru
microsoftisevil said:
You guys really aren’t making it easy on me here! I have a couple weeks to make up my mind, but now I am leaning towards sticking with the donor trans and getting a crate engine instead. My donor has 101K on it and some mods (no clue what all has been done, but it has some ZZP stuff on the intake for sure). Most likely has a tune as well.

Thinking I may keep the old engine to do a built engine. It runs like a scalded hog (‘10 SS T/C) but I think it may have something up with the timing chain tensioner. It has a tick that sounds like the second hand of a clock, so I am thinking I need to go through it.

The reason for getting a crate engine would be so it’s ready to go, and I can go through the old engine in my garage. I’m doing this build in a slot in my buddy’s shop, and I promised I’d try to have my stuff out within 3-4 months.
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If it were me I would invest the money in the crate engine so you have a reliable base less to troubleshoot trust me you will have other areas causing you a headache
 
M

microsoftisevil

Member
Desert Sasqwatch said:
F40 trans (Regal GS) new - $750
F40 flywheel/clutch (Regal GS) new - $225
F40 6 speed shifter (Saab) new - $250
F40 Quaife LSD new - $925
F40 gasket and seal set (to install LSD) - $125
Sub total - $2275
DF F40 frame mod (bolt in) - $2500
My total - $4775
Note: all of the prices (except the Goblin frame) are delivered to my door

My opinion only - for the needs of my car build and what I expect out of my vehicles, this is worth the money to have a 100% new bullet proof 6 speed transmission that will last the lifetime of the car. Everyone else has their own opinion on costs and what is most important to them for their build. Just wanted to put the real cost of the F40 - if you shop around - out there for comparison.
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Could you share where you ended up getting these components? I emailed Adam this morning to let him know I decided to bite the bullet and go with the F40. Just decided since it's something I have to do up-front, I might as well put the money there instead of into a crate engine. Thanks to the helpful folks here (looking at you Karter2026!), I figured out the click I have is just the high pressure fuel pump. I'll check compression, but my engine seems solid. Figure I can drop in a crate engine later on any time when I decide I want more power, upgraded turbo, etc.
 
Desert Sasqwatch

Desert Sasqwatch

Goblin Guru
microsoftisevil said:
Could you share where you ended up getting these components? I emailed Adam this morning to let him know I decided to bite the bullet and go with the F40. Just decided since it's something I have to do up-front, I might as well put the money there instead of into a crate engine. Thanks to the helpful folks here (looking at you Karter2026!), I figured out the click I have is just the high pressure fuel pump. I'll check compression, but my engine seems solid. Figure I can drop in a crate engine later on any time when I decide I want more power, upgraded turbo, etc.
Click to expand...
I trolled many places on the internet to look for the best pricing on the parts I purchased. I bought the Quaife LSD from WG Motorparts on eBay, but did some negotiating with them for a break on the price since I had to wait over 2 months for delivery. The F40 came from Motor City Transparts, the clutch/flywheel came from ZZ Performance when they had a big sale, and the shifter was bought from eSaab Parts on eBay.
 
M

microsoftisevil

Member
Desert Sasqwatch said:
I trolled many places on the internet to look for the best pricing on the parts I purchased. I bought the Quaife LSD from WG Motorparts on eBay, but did some negotiating with them for a break on the price since I had to wait over 2 months for delivery. The F40 came from Motor City Transparts, the clutch/flywheel came from ZZ Performance when they had a big sale, and the shifter was bought from eSaab Parts on eBay.
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Awesome, thanks for the info. Guess I better get my stuff in order. I’m still mid-June for my kit. Hoping to start tearing into my donor here in 3 or 4 weeks. I have been spending my weekends and free nights helping my buddy finish his shop where I plan on doing the build. Always rent to be paid, even if it’s in sweat equity!
 
Desert Sasqwatch

Desert Sasqwatch

Goblin Guru
Deciding what to do with your Goblin is definitely a personal choice and weighing the cost of new and upgraded parts against using parts from a donor is not easy. I spent a lot of time researching engines, transmissions, brakes, and suspension before deciding what to purchase and what to reuse. Part of my choice was made by the availability (or lack of availability) of replacement parts that don't have 131,000 miles on them from my donor. In the end I will be spending more money than many other builds strictly using donor parts, but they are new versus used and will provide me with the confidence to not fail at sometime in the near future. It's all good!
 
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