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

Rabid Sloth Racing

Active Member
Ever since I was a little kid I've wanted to build a kit, but I was never able to find something that fit. While I have turned a few wrenches over the years, I've never done anything to the extent of soloing a full build. So for a first go at it I didn't want anything too expensive or complicated, but I still wanted something zippy with good handling and aesthetics. Yea... cheap, easy, fun, fast, well made, and nice looking. I wasn't asking for a lot. Then maybe 3 years ago YouTube's shuffle god, in it's infinite wisdom, decided to show me a video of the Goblin prototype on a track. An Atom-esque kit that wouldn't break the bank and wasn't so ugly that I would be embarrassed to drive it without a tinted visor over my face? The Goblin was everything I wanted for a toy. Fast forward a couple years, grad school a couple relocations later I find myself in West TX with a garage and some spare time. On a weekend trip to Dallas we swung by Red Oak and met Lonny and Adam. Awesome guys, great to talk to, do excellent work, and took us out on a joy ride. I was sold.

I started lightly browsing IAAI, Copart, and Craigslist to get an idea of what an SS/SC donor would cost by the time it got to my door. There were a bunch of other house and car projects I wanted to finish before I jumped into a full build... but then an 06 SS/SC went for sale about 30 miles from me for $825 so I pulled the trigger. Four days later I'm ripping a smashed bumper off of a shiny red Cobalt before I left the Copart yard. After ~45 minutes of playing "Ahhh what the hell are you doing!" with sand haulers and frac trucks I get to my driveway. As I'm backing in, the tire, rim, and brake drum fall off the trailer onto the sidewalk and brake fluid dumps all over the road. The expression on the lady who was kindly waiting for me to back in was almost worth the four hour hassle with U-Haul. But I finally had the car home and in a bay of the garage. The car looks promising. While it was filled with cigarette butts, partially empty energy drink cans, unopened boxes of condoms, quasi-legal fishing gear, and smelled like bad life choices, it appears that nothing I'll need for the Goblin was damaged. I'm not 100% sure of the subframe or drivers LCA yet but they passed a cursory inspection. The battery took a charge and I picked up a new belt so hopefully I'll fire it up this weekend and maybe start the stripping. Then it's probably down payment and rush to get my other projects done before it's time to go pick up Stage 1.

My goal is to have a full cage street car with a stock engine to enjoy in the almost always sunny skys out here by September. Occasional trips to the twisties in Big Bend, the Davis Mountains, and New Mexico are also in it's future.

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Ross

Goblin Guru
We have the same donor car! Congrats on joining us in "cheap, easy, fun, fast, well made, and nice looking. "
That is my new mantra. :)
 

ctuinstra

Goblin Guru
Welcome to the forum! Looks like you have a great donor there. Don't worry about the condition of the car. We had dog piss in the back seat that was growing mold! And to cover up the sent, multiple air fresheners (stinky #%&*@ things!) that embedded even the wiring! I could not wait to dump the car off at the salvage yard to get that stink out of here.

You made a good choice and you will be glad you embarked on this journey.

The orange frame in your photos brought tears to my eyes! I miss her.
 

BaltimoreHokie

Goblin Guru
Nice, my Uhaul experience wasn't quite as eventful but when they asked me what I was putting on it they said "oh that's way to heavy" I said, you realize that the cobalt is one of the smaller vehicles on the road, what weight will this car trailer hold. Eventually they just sent me on my way with the trailer.

Nice donor, Looks like you have some good parts to sell (if you want to deal with the same teenagers who made the bad life choices before they wrecked it ;) )

Hopefully the wheels and hood are in good shape. Those should get you just about the whole donor cost back. How many miles are on it, and where are you from?
 

Rabid Sloth Racing

Active Member
Things have been moving slowly on the tear-down of the donor. So far I'm very happy with what I bought. The engine doesn't have any old oil stains on it. After running it up to temp there were no leaks. The computer isn't throwing any codes. It appears that the only mods the kid did were a new intake and exhaust tip. The only real issue I've had is putting the new belt on...

I first had to cut away some bent steel to clear the belt's pathway. I measured the charger's pulley, and it's stock. Advance overnighted the belt to me and then I spent an embarrassingly long time trying to fight the tensioner low enough for the thing to slip on. Come to find out, factories sometimes stamp the wrong part numbers on parts and my belt was an inch too short to fit when the tensioner was fully compressed. Returned the wrong belt ordered a replacement and surprisingly the proper length belt is way easier to get on the engine. But besides this one little hiccup things are going smoothly. I'm on vid #3 and hope to be done with stripping the donor this weekend.

It looks like there will be some stuff to sell if I can find buyers out here in West Tx. Front fenders, bumper, and hood are trashed but everything from the firewall back has potential.
 

JeffsGoblin

Goblin Guru
That interior shot shows your e-brake still in the donor. This is just a friendly reminder to grab the e-brake handle mechanism, cable tubes and cables for the DF e-brake setup if you are going to use it. I kept my handle, but unknowingly threw out the tubes and cables, so now I have to buy them again.
 

k.rollin

Goblin Guru
That interior shot shows your e-brake still in the donor. This is just a friendly reminder to grab the e-brake handle mechanism, cable tubes and cables for the DF e-brake setup if you are going to use it. I kept my handle, but unknowingly threw out the tubes and cables, so now I have to buy them again.
Do you have a source for the tubes, or are you going to have to get them from a pick n pull type of yard?
 

Rabid Sloth Racing

Active Member
Only a month later and I've finally finished stripping the donor. I hope the scrapyard will be able to come early next week before I have to run to Austin for a few days. If so, I'll be ready to organize the garage, strip the dash, and start prepping parts next weekend!
 

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