Lechlis's Track Goblin - 06 SS Donor - Chassis #173 - Registered

Lechlis

Well-Known Member
I put about 80 miles on it today. Love it! It runs quite well but I am still logging to get it fine tuned. Being able to gather larger samples makes the changes much more accurate.
 

Lechlis

Well-Known Member
An interesting and unfortunate development.

During a pre-drive inspection today while the Goblin was idling and warming up, I noticed the turbo compressor wheel had a wobble to it. Nothing like I have seen previously or in any other vehicle. I shut it down and removed the Turbo Guard to inspect. While I am unsure of the shaft play spec on the S257, I noted about 1/8” to 3/16” of lateral shaft movement and faint scuffing on the edges of the wheel.

I checked the drain and feed for obstruction. None found, but both were wet with warm oil from the warm up. I pulled the compressor and center session as an assembly, leaving the exhaust housing attached to the car. Then I ran the feed line into a bucket and cranked the car over with the fuel pump fuse removed. After 2-3 seconds I had a solid oil stream.

I am going to order a rebuild kit and new shaft/turbine wheel assembly (See attached pictures. Zoom in on the scored shaft), but I obviously have some issue to correct before history repeats. The turbo had a tag on it when new stating not to use a restrictor. What is your experience? I am on wastegate spring pressure at 7psi right now, so the turbo is definitely not working hard. The oil appeared to be clean and debris free, but I am going to drain and inspect the filter.

I have an email out to ZZP and Borg Warner for guidance.
 

Attachments

KSLunsfo

Well-Known Member
Lechlis (or anyone else with the Montana route option experience), did you need your donor car at all during the registration process. I have someone interested in my shell and I would really like it out of my way if I won't truly need it. Or if anyone reading this that did not do the Montana route and did or did not need the donor shell during registration, that would also be great info to know.

I'm a good ways from the registration process still, but thinking I may be pursing the Montana route.

Sorry for the minor thread jack.
Thanks.

Edit: Moved to:
http://dfkitcar.com/forum/index.php?threads/my-montana-plates-arrived.1776/post-35306
 
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Desert Sasqwatch

Goblin Guru
Lechlis (or anyone else with the Montana route option experience), did you need your donor car at all during the registration process. I have someone interested in my shell and I would really like it out of my way if I won't truly need it. Or if anyone reading this that did not do the Montana route and did or did not need the donor shell during registration, that would also be great info to know.

I'm a good ways from the registration process still, but thinking I may be pursing the Montana route.

Sorry for the minor thread jack.
Thanks.
You could drop this request into the Registration For Road Use forum. :)
I didn't need my donor, but I'm in Arizona where you can register just about everything.
 

Lechlis

Well-Known Member
I got rid of my donor in last fall. I never even registered it in my name.

All Montana wanted from me was the MCO (I had DF reprint it with the LLC name on it to save myself the BoS step below), a VIN verification (Just a few things to fill in and then signed by a local police officer), and a cheesy inspection sheet that can be filled out without a notary, etc.

If the MCO has your name on it, then simply add the Bill of Sale form showing that you sold the kit car to the LLC.
 

Ross

Goblin Guru
I needed the paperwork from my crashed Cobalt, to assess the vehicle, and pay Arkansas taxes on my newly purchased vehicle.
Also paid taxes on the DF Kit purchase.
Arkansas DFA (Dept of Finance and Administration) never looked at the donor, or the Goblin for that matter... just looked at the paperwork.
No police, weight, safety or inspection paperwork required here.
Progressive auto insurance wanted pictures of the Goblin.
I sold my old Cobalt title and VIN plate to JSix, so he could get his Goblin on the road.
Also saved me from paying DFA taxes each year, as the Cobalt was still in my name.
 

Lechlis

Well-Known Member
I'm running an s252 so anything you end up doing I wanna see, lol.
So here is my plan.
  • I ordered a rebuild kit and the shaft/turbine wheel combo to fix what is damaged.
  • Replace the 4AN feed line hose with new. No changes otherwise. See the comment below.
  • I ordered some Earls Flame Guard to put over the feed line since it runs within a couple inches of the exhaust manifold. It looks like the inside of the hose may have been degrading, causing rubber pieces to flake off and flow through the turbo or create a restriction?
  • At the turbo, I have a 120 degree AN fitting attached to the oil feed to avoid the exhaust manifold as best as possible and help prevent any tight hose radii. I am going to leave this as is for now since I saw plenty of flow (Per my calibrated eyeball flow meter and the small geyser of oil shooting into a catch pan)
  • I ordered filters and oil for 2 oil changes. With the turbo still removed, I am going to cap off the turbo feed line, warm the engine up, change the oil and filter, idle it for some undetermined amount of time, change the oil and filter again, uncap the feed line and crank until oil is present, prelube turbo, reinstall turbo.
  • After both oil changes, I am going to inspect the oil and filter for debris. I changed the oil and filter during construction of the kit, so I am curious what ~300 miles on the oil will yield.
I spoke to a couple Cobalt guys on Facebook with the S257 and I literally have the exact same setup. The 4AN feed, 10AN drain, ZZP feed line fitting, etc is all the same and they aren't having issues. So, my feeling is that I either have contaminated oil or the turbo was compromised from the beginning (The Borg Warner box sent to me by a well known supplier was opened, taped shut with packing tape, and the top half of the Borg Warner packing foam was missing. Shame on me for not raising the issue at that time. Everything looked good externally. I can always wonder).
 
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Mayor West

Goblin Guru
Are you not using a cold-side MAP sensor? If not, can you explain if you did anything to tune it out or whatever?

I have an s252 so it's essentially the same general idea but I'm dragging my feet on the build.
 

Lechlis

Well-Known Member
Are you not using a cold-side MAP sensor? If not, can you explain if you did anything to tune it out or whatever?

I have an s252 so it's essentially the same general idea but I'm dragging my feet on the build.
The Dymond Fab intake has provisions to mount the factory TMAP sensor on the bottom of it. It is tucked away and pretty much invisible. The SCIP sensor, originally mounted on the inlet of the supercharger, was deleted. I just snipped its connector off, applied heat shrink tubing and tucked into the existing harness.
 
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Mayor West

Goblin Guru
@
The Dymond Fab intake has provisions to mount the factory TMAP sensor on the bottom of it. It is tucked away and pretty much invisible. The other MAP sensor, originally mounted on the inlet of the supercharger, was deleted. I just snipped its connector off, applied heat shrink tubing and tucked into the existing harness.
Cool, did you tune it out or anything?
 

Lechlis

Well-Known Member
@


Cool, did you tune it out or anything?
To be honest, I do not believe so. I looked over the tune and all of the check engine codes are still active yet I have no check engine light.

Looking at the supercharger parameters, it looks like the sensor (SCIP) only effects the operating parameters of the supercharger.
 

Lechlis

Well-Known Member
A small bummer of an update on the Goblin...

While I was doing the double oil change before installing the freshly rebuilt turbo, I found a significant amount of metallic particles in the filter and oil from the ~450 miles it has been driven. I decided not to immediately install the turbo, so I capped the oil feed and drain with AN plugs and warmed the engine up. When I drained the fresh oil and removed the new filter, it was already showing signs of contaminates after about 15 minutes of idling. I put a new filter and oil back in, and let it idle for about 15 minutes, idled it around the driveway a couple times, revved it up a few time, albeit poorly running with no turbo and subsequent vacuum leak. This totaled around 30 minutes of running. Upon draining the oil and removing the filter, it was a glittery mess again. I pulled the valve cover and timing cover/oil pump just to take a look. I found the balance shaft tensioner completely limp. No tension or spring pressure on the guide. I removed it and could slide the plunger in and out with no resistance. The chain, guides, and main timing chain looked fair. However, the engine is obviously not happy at this point after pumping metal through it for an unknown amount of time. I opened up the oil pump to find that the gears themselves are grooved and worn. This is no doubt the root cause of the turbo issue as well.

So at this point, the engine is coming out and getting a top to bottom overhaul. I am honestly thinking of just waiting until Black Friday to see if ZZP runs any deals like they did last year to potentially save a couple bucks. Moral of the story, I had planned to open it up and refresh the engine this winter, but it looks like the schedule has been pushed up a bit! On a funny note, I had made peace with myself when I bought the donor (203k miles) that I was on borrowed time, so I am not totally heartbroken. A new chapter of the Goblin begins!
 

Desert Sasqwatch

Goblin Guru
So sorry to hear your engine gave up the ghost. :( There is a positive to this, you now know that the engine will get a refresh (or install that crate engine you've had your eye on ;)) and at the end have a nice strong one to enjoy for many miles and years to come. :D
 

Murcielago311

Well-Known Member
I just did my timing chains and oil pump rebuild and the balance shaft tensioner also seemed to be the culprit after 160K miles.

Were you hearing chain slap?
 
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