Tony's City Goblin - 2010 SS/TC

Tony

Well-Known Member
Can you take a picture of how the T looks with lines installed? Mine appears to be the same, the line nuts thread almost all the way into the T, and while it doesn’t appear to be leaking it is heavily corroded which makes me think it might be.
The rear tee now looks like the front, which I have a picture of up above. I'll take another pic when I get home.
 

Tony

Well-Known Member
More good news. The M10 bolts that I bought for the seats (because that's what fit the holes in the rails that I made) are too big to fit the seat slider holes. Guess I need M8. I also found out that the seatbelts don't buckle. I'm assuming it's because the center buckles are from the back seat. I would have thought that I wouldn't have saved them without checking that first, but I'm apparently an idiot. More setbacks.
 

aaronbuley

Well-Known Member
Thanks for the confirmation. Here's where I ended up putting it (the far end is on the existing engine harness ground stud).
dang i'm glad you posted this picture. i forgot about that cable. it was just sitting on my shelf laughing at me as i tried to start the engine. :D
 

Ross

Goblin Guru
dang i'm glad you posted this picture. i forgot about that cable. it was just sitting on my shelf laughing at me as i tried to start the engine. :D
My frame had a grounding lug welded right beside the spot you used to ground it.
That is the engine ground wire - which makes sense when you have rubber engine mounts, but our engines are directly mounted to the frame, so that should provide pletty of grounding to the engine... probably an easy way to save some weight.
9013
 

Tony

Well-Known Member
True, but I didn't think to remove the powder coat from the plates before bolting it up, so I figured it was good insurance.
 

Tony

Well-Known Member
Got insurance nailed down yesterday. I ended up just going to the agent I use for the rest of my cars, and she dug for me and came up with a policy from Classic Collectors. Pretty low premium (~$475/yr), agreed value of $16k, and 5000 mile/year limit. I would've preferred more miles, but I should be able to make that work.

Also did some fiddling with the seatbelts. I pulled the rear seat belts from my Trans Am off a shelf to see if they buckled into the receivers, and they did. Unfortunately, the retractor was originally mounted flat, not vertical, so no direct swap. Plus it's beige, which would have looked terrible lol. However, I was able to use that buckle as a comparison, and I popped the receiver apart and made some small tweaks for a temporary fix. The belt now buckles securely, it just needs help in the form of sticking a finger through a hole in the plastic to lock it down haha. Not perfect, but it'll work for the weekend - there's a big festival in my hometown that I want to show off for. I'll probably order some universal replacements from OEMSeatbelts.com for long term. Glad to have seats and belts installed though, huge morale boost!
 

Tony

Well-Known Member
Got insurance nailed down yesterday. I ended up just going to the agent I use for the rest of my cars, and she dug for me and came up with a policy from Classic Collectors. Pretty low premium (~$475/yr), agreed value of $16k, and 5000 mile/year limit. I would've preferred more miles, but I should be able to make that work.
Well ****. Just got a phone call from the agent, and apparently after submitting forms, CC changed their mind. They claim that it "looks like a dune buggy" and could be used off-road - obviously not true, but no explaining to them. That was the only option my agent was able to come up with, so I guess I'm back to square one. I did get an update from AMIG, saying they would cover if I added body panels, but I wasn't really sure I wanted those. Guess I don't have a choice now.
 

Tony

Well-Known Member
I got a quote from NCM Insurance and spoke with Sam on the phone, and he was happy to be convinced that the Goblin is not, in fact, an off-road buggy. He wrote up a policy for ~$800/yr, which is a bit high, but is full coverage and $20k agreed value.

On another note, I got the alignment eyeballed kinda close and fixed the leak in the intercooler water circuit. I couldn't wait any longer and pulled out for a lap around the block. The brakes still need more bleeding, and the sketchy alignment made it squirelly as hell, but it was a huge landmark. There's an alignment shop down the street that I'm going to try to take it to in the next couple days.
 

Tony

Well-Known Member
Unfortunately, the shop down the street was booked all weekend, and they're closed this week for vacation (it's a small family-owned shop). I spent a bit more time getting it closer by hand so I can drive a bit further to a different shop. I also got some headlights and front turn signals on, which I would like to say are temporary, but knowing me, they'll be there a while. I still need to cut out a couple more backing plates to get the mirrors mounted, but apart from that and continuing to bleed brakes, she's road ready. I just wish I could get the nice low insurance premium others seem to be getting.
 

Tony

Well-Known Member
Well, got some interesting updates. Took her out for the first ~40 mile drive last Wednesday, and everything went great. I got the mirrors mounted with a couple plates and mounted up headlights with signals. The way I got the lights mounted isn't very secure, so they kinda move around a bit, but I'm still hoping to come up with something brighter.




Went for the same drive to rec league kickball yesterday, but things did not go nearly as well. About 10 miles in, I lost clutch action, so I limped to the AZ. Luckily, the car is light enough that taking off with the starter isn't too hard, but it's still a bit embarrassing. I crossed my fingers that I just lost bleed somehow, but no dice - a pump of the pedal spilled fluid right under the bellhousing. There's no fluid at any of the joints on the hardline, so it looks like I'll be pulling the trans to replace the slave at the very least. If that was the only issue, it wouldn't be so bad, but the failing clutch allowed the engine to overpower the brakes and I wasn't able to yank the shifter out of gear, so I bumped my teammate's new Buick while trying to park. No damage to the Goblin except some curb rash, but if anyone has a line on a '15 LaCrosse rear bumper...
 

Ross

Goblin Guru
Your Goblin is looking good! Sorry to hear that bump, but glad your Goblin is okay. I'm surprised that the brakes couldn't overpower the engine, guess you still have air in the brakes. I haven't tested that, but my Goblin has lots of braking power. Even with sticky tires, the stock brakes can easily skid, I only use about 2/3 of the pedal.
 

Tony

Well-Known Member
Your Goblin is looking good! Sorry to hear that bump, but glad your Goblin is okay. I'm surprised that the brakes couldn't overpower the engine, guess you still have air in the brakes. I haven't tested that, but my Goblin has lots of braking power. Even with sticky tires, the stock brakes can easily skid, I only use about 2/3 of the pedal.
Yeah, the brakes definitely need a bit more bleeding, but it was also on gravel.
 

ctuinstra

Goblin Guru
Have you checked the rubber seal where the aluminum block mount to the top of the slave? We had the wrong type of seal in there and it leaked down in the bell housing. Just a remote possibly before you have to tear in to the engine/transmission. You can get to it from the outside.
 

Tony

Well-Known Member
I don't think that's it, because I couldn't really feel any moisture around the block, but it's hard to say for sure with all the wiring/coolant hoses in the way. I'll have to pull those out before I tear down anyway, so I'll definitely investigate.
 

askiles

Goblin Guru
On the headlights and front turn signals...you could just mount the small turn signal lamp to the housing of the headlight. Instead of that big piece of bar stock sticking way out there. Just a suggestion...

I also second checking the seal on the distribution block. That can go. You can pop that off of there in a few minutes, so before you pull the transmission, you might as well check that.
 

Tony

Well-Known Member
On the headlights and front turn signals...you could just mount the small turn signal lamp to the housing of the headlight. Instead of that big piece of bar stock sticking way out there. Just a suggestion...
That was actually my original plan when I bought them, but I would have had to put them so far back on the housing that they'd be partially hidden from even a few degrees away from head-on. I wanted them both to be visible from either side. I need to change the mounting so that the center of the bracket is bolted to the frame, then the light is bolted from the bottom through the bracket. As it is, I have a piece of all thread tightened down as much as I could into the frame, then a nut, the bracket, and the headlight. I can use the nut to tighten the bracket against the light, but have to rely on friction/loc-tite to keep the headlight pointing forward.

I had bought some "universal" 5.75 inch lights with LEDs on the sides (link) to put in the housings instead of the plain reflectors, but they didn't fit. Was hoping to use the outer LED strip as signal, inner as DRL.
 

askiles

Goblin Guru
That was actually my original plan when I bought them, but I would have had to put them so far back on the housing that they'd be partially hidden from even a few degrees away from head-on. I wanted them both to be visible from either side. I need to change the mounting so that the center of the bracket is bolted to the frame, then the light is bolted from the bottom through the bracket. As it is, I have a piece of all thread tightened down as much as I could into the frame, then a nut, the bracket, and the headlight. I can use the nut to tighten the bracket against the light, but have to rely on friction/loc-tite to keep the headlight pointing forward.

I had bought some "universal" 5.75 inch lights with LEDs on the sides (link) to put in the housings instead of the plain reflectors, but they didn't fit. Was hoping to use the outer LED strip as signal, inner as DRL.
Your side mirrors didn’t come with signals in them? That was easiest route to go for me.
 
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