RichN City Goblin - 2007 LT donor

RichN

Well-Known Member
Hi, my name is Richard. I will be building this with my 2 daughters; Virginia 11 and Tabitha 13. We live in Penacook, New Hampshire. I enjoy working on cars in my spare time and my girls enjoy working on things with me. I promised them that they would do as much as possible and I would only lift the heavy stuff. My wife will keep me honest about not tinkering around when they aren't home. We were looking at other kits and this one seems to be the best fit for us. We bought our donor car shortly after putting down the deposit on the Goblin. The Cobalt really did belong to a little old lady who bought it new and just couldn't drive anymore. It had sat for about 6 months before she sold it to us for $4000 with 47,100 miles. The body isn't pretty; a small dent in the fender, a small hole in the front bumper cover from parking too close to a pick-up truck with a hitch ball, and scratches and scrape marks all over. Because she was bumping into too many things, she decided to quit driving and give up her license. My wife will be using this as her daily driver until I go pick up the kit. The power steering quit working last week so I brought the car to the dealership and had the ignition and power steering recalls fixed. The only thing it needs to pass the state safety inspection is front pads; I will be replacing the rotors and pads later today. Everything on the car works great, no smoke from the tailpipe on start-up and it shifts just fine. I have a set of rims and tires off a 2002 Camaro SS with only 6,000 miles on them, so I was looking for a donor with 5 lugs. The speedo will only be off by 3%. I will by an adapter later and maybe a second set of wider fenders. I’ll use the factory Cobalt rims and tires for now. We will be buying a powder coating system soon and figured I could practice on the steel wheels. My younger daughter Virginia asked me this weekend; “When can we start tearing apart Mom’s car?” I replied; “As soon as I get back from Texas this summer.” :)
 

Gage

Member
Well, I'm looking forward to pictures and updates. I applaud you for letting your daughters work on the project with you.
 

RichN

Well-Known Member
Looking at buying a 12' enclosed trailer. I'm hoping the kit should fit; the dimensions show the Goblin @ 11'4"
 

DanPerryy

Well-Known Member
Another builder bought an enclosed trailer, his works great, a Cargo Craft, 14' x 7' V nose with 7' ceiling and ramp - he paid $3850
 

RichN

Well-Known Member
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Here's a picture of the girls and the car. I picked up the tool box the other day to help organize parts during the disassembly of the Cobalt.
 
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RichN

Well-Known Member
First and foremost, thank you Adam and Lonnie for helping me with my brakes on the Honda.

Now I have to saw WOW! The Goblin is a blast to drive. Lonnie gave us each a ride in P1 and I got a spin in the supercharged one. My brother, Ben, laughed when he saw the huge grin on my face coming back down the driveway. I said I want add a supercharger; time will tell. Ben and I then took P1 for a spin to the parts store. They look so much cooler and smaller in person. In my mind, I was expecting them to be larger. I’m not sure why I thought they looked larger on the website than they really are in person. I know the specs are on the website, but I never put a tape measure to any of my current cars to compare. In the end, this is not an issue at all for me.

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I am going to build mine with the factory seats, but will probably have to upgrade to the racing buckets and 4 point harness to keep myself behind the wheel. The car handles great and turns on a dime. My brother buckled all 5 on his harness and the first time I hit the brakes going 30 mph, well; let’s say he is glad he planned on not having any more kids. Brembo brakes are totally unnecessary. The 4-lug rotors on P1 are only 10” and they are more than enough to stop the car. My donor is an LT2 5-lug with the larger 11” and I have no doubt they will be more than sufficient.

I was thinking of keeping my steering column intact, now I have seen and like the set-up on P1. I like the key in the upper left. The switches around the instrument panel will replace the steering wheel buttons to reset the oil life and such and I want to keep the cruise control. Now I will buy a smaller steering wheel with a better feel than the factory one.

Driving back from the parts store, there’s a set of RR tracks. I remembered they were there going to the store and the Goblin handled them with ease. I forgot about the dip in the road after, and was surprised to find the car didn’t bottom out. The suspension is not too tight and not bouncy or soft. The car accelerated up to 70 before I knew it.

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We picked up my frame and also picked up Frank’s frame. It was fun answering all the questions we got every time we stopped for gas. We handed out a few brochures Adam gave us. I think my brother will buy one in a couple of years. My oldest daughter Tabitha, Ben and I dropped Frank’s frame and stage 1 part kit earlier today. He is just as excited as I am to begin. He saw mine and is thinking of powder coating his Goblin green metallic also. We decided we are going to keep in touch and share tips and stuff.

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Afterwards, we came home and cleared up the garage to make room for our frame. My wife filled the gas tank yesterday on the Cobalt. That will be the last time. We will begin disassembling the donor as soon as Adam posts the how to videos of the factory build one they are starting. I will post updates as often as I can.
 

RichN

Well-Known Member
Started disassembling the donor Saturday morning, worked on and off with my girls all weekend. By Sunday night, the body was on the trailer with half of the dashboard and harness left. Virginia (my younger daughter) had a blast. She loved pushing the car off the engine out the door by herself. I will post that picture later.
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Its hard to see, but there is a tire under the subframe. The rotors are about 1/4" off the floor.

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Sunday night.
 

Adam

Administrator
Staff member
Nice work. Time to clean and paint those donor pieces.

I see you got a little bit installed on the frame as well.
 

RichN

Well-Known Member
Worked on the car this week with Virginia. She installed the pedals, master cylinder, booster, radiator (with my help), fan, front hoses, fuel filler neck, and steering rack.

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RichN

Well-Known Member
Sand blasted the frame a couple of days ago.

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Painted it hammered black to help hide the scrapes and scratches. Painted other parts like the filler neck, rusty bolts and the brackets supplied in stage 1.

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Engine painted cast aluminum.

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Grinding down the ignition switch.

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Tabby installing it.

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TheNuker

Goblin Guru
What is the best method to paint the engine I have mine clean, I guess just tape up everything and go to town?

Nuker
 

RichN

Well-Known Member
I did not disconnect the entire harness from the engine. It wasn't in bad shape and the tape wasn't dried out. I only undid the part where you pull back the MAF sensor to the large splice (the 5 loose wires on the left). I then taped the harness and put the looms back on. I did pull the 4 coils, taped the bolt holes and shoved a paper towel down the spark plug hole so there was some support for the tape over those holes. I know the front of the engine won't be seen behind the gas tank and seats so I didn't try too hard painting the front. I used Armor All on the hoses and wire looms before I painted which made it easy to wipe the over-spray off before the paint dried. I used a microfiber rag to wrap parts I didn't want painted and to help pull the wire harness away as I sprayed a section. I did tape off some parts as you can see in the photo like the oil cap, cv shaft seals, fuel rail and tensioner pulley. I will get the bottom of the oil and tranny pans when I install the engine on the frame. I did 2 thin coats, after the first coat, I could still see some dark areas, second coat is what you see above.
 
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RichN

Well-Known Member
Engine is in! :) I found it was pretty easy doing it this way even though Adam recommended using an engine hoist. I don't have a hoist but I do have a come-along and an I beam in the garage ceiling. First, I zip-tied the front of the frame to a moving dolly so it wouldn't scrape. I then lifted the frame up over the engine and rested it on the jackstands. . Then we attached the mounting plates to the frame. I lowered the frame onto the engine while the girls pulled the stands out. Then we attached the 6 bolts on the engine and tranny. When we bolted on the subframe, we lifted the whole thing up as shown in the picture and rested it on the jackstands.

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Now to start the wire harnesses.....
 
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RichN

Well-Known Member
Ordered wheel adapters, racing seats, sliders, brackets and 4 point harness today.
Replaced the bolts with the rubber studs in the upper radiator.
Started the dash harness.

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RichN

Well-Known Member
Got a lot done this week with the girls.
Seats came in; they are loosely bolted in place.
Most of the electrical is done; fan wires (used a 2 wire trailer plug so it can be disconnected), shortened starter wire, grounds, battery wires.

I will have to leave the rats nest of a front harness until after the car is running. I didn't do a good job keeping the harness taped up when we started stripping wires out.
I wanted to keep extra switches for cruise control and both power outlets in the center console.
I kept the dimmer switch because I prefer the dash lights to be very dim when I'm driving at night.
I kept the fog light switch because of the way they work; you have to manually turn them on every time you start the car. I'll use that for LED lighting under the car.

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Meant to post this sooner. My donor's fuel filler neck (on the right) has a different type of baffle that can't be knocked out. I beat on it and ended up deforming the threads for the cap. I went to the junk yard (left) and that type pops right out.

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Do I need to buy a new fuel pump? This is the one from my donor. I had to cut up the tank to get it out.

EDIT= I just noticed the assembly instructions; I do have NU6 on the trunk label.
I clicked on the Rock Auto link; it brings up 6 different ones for 2010.
If I change it to 2007 2.2 one of the pumps is SPECTRA PREMIUM/COOLING DEPOT SP6015M for $130. It's lists Alternate/OEM Part Number(s): 19152750, 19152752, 19168894, 19177326, 19257126, 19257138, 88967307, 88967310, 88967312, SP6618M
Will this work?

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I built a small paint booth today so we can paint parts in the basement.
It's a little cold up here for the next few months and I don't think I'm going to see 50 degrees again until spring.
 
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RichN

Well-Known Member
Here's how I modified the cheap seat brackets from eBay. I welded on a piece of metal on the top of the front bracket to keep the adapter from dipping down when you lean forward. I also added 5 washers between the slider and seat bracket so that the bar wasn't resting on the green brace. Seats, sliders, brackets, and 2 harnesses came to $420.

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PHerder

Well-Known Member
Here's how I modified the cheap seat brackets from eBay. I welded on a piece of metal on the top of the front bracket to keep the adapter from dipping down when you lean forward. I also added 5 washers between the slider and seat bracket so that the bar wasn't resting on the green brace. Seats, sliders, brackets, and 2 harnesses came to $420.

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RichN,

I'll bite... can you list the URL for the seats or at least the brand name so I can look them up on eBay? :D

Thanks!
 
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