Anks329 - Extended City - '07 LS - #190 REGISTERED

Mayor West

Mayor West

Goblin Guru
Anks329 said:
Professional alignment completed today and there's a marked difference in how the car handles. Unfortunately the printer was out of ink, so I don't have the spec, but should be able to pick that up next week.
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What exactly did you do for your alignment? I know a lot of people lose their mind trying to quote a kit car alignment but what was your process? I want to get mine professionally done for precisions sake but I don't really wanna dive in without knowing how your experience was.
 
Anks329

Anks329

Well-Known Member
Mayor West said:
What exactly did you do for your alignment? I know a lot of people lose their mind trying to quote a kit car alignment but what was your process? I want to get mine professionally done for precisions sake but I don't really wanna dive in without knowing how your experience was.
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I started off searching on google for small alignment shops and emailed a bunch of them asking if they would be able to work on a kit car. All the big places came back and said "If it's not in the computer, I can't do it. I'd love to, but sorry." I did find a couple of shops that were willing to do it, and then one came back and said they had already done an alignment on someone else's Goblin last year! When I was there, I asked them to use the same specs as what they had previously done. Unfortunately, their printer was down and I wasn't able to get a print out of it. I've asked them to text me a picture, but maybe I can swing by there tomorrow and get a copy of it.

Best bet would be to find a local, non chain place and see if they can do it. For the settings, go with what's in the suspension DIY alignment threads?
 
Anks329

Anks329

Well-Known Member
Mayor West said:
How much did it run you?
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$165 including tax. But I watched him doing the work, and there was a lot of adjustments that he was making the 1.5 hours he was working. So, my attempt at aligning it was apparently pretty far off. Worth the price, now I'm not scared to go above 50 mph in the car; before it would dart all over the road, after the alignment, didn't face any issues and got up to around 70 on the way home.
 
JBINTX

JBINTX

Goblin Guru
Anks329 said:
$165 including tax. But I watched him doing the work, and there was a lot of adjustments that he was making the 1.5 hours he was working. So, my attempt at aligning it was apparently pretty far off. Worth the price, now I'm not scared to go above 50 mph in the car; before it would dart all over the road, after the alignment, didn't face any issues and got up to around 70 on the way home.
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Even with a very good alignment, the Goblin is very light over 70. I have not been over 105 yet.
 
Anks329

Anks329

Well-Known Member
Completely worth every dollar, even with the tip I gave. I’m not scared about driving it and that’s worth the price. For the aerodynamics, I am getting a wing eventually :) but seriously, the Goblin is light!!
 
R

r3drckt

Goblin Guru
Need to add a front splitter and wing (think Indy car/F1) to keep the nose down. Surprised this hasn’t been done yet from what I’ve seen
 
Desert Sasqwatch

Desert Sasqwatch

Goblin Guru
Air management is key for a car as light as the Goblin. One 'easy' thing to do to reduce front end lift is make a flat under side from nose to tail - put an aluminum plate in to close the hole under the nose below the radiator and battery/brake booster area. Extending this under the engine area would also help, since the flat floor creates a slight vacuum under the car and allows for smoother air flow.
Splitters and front wings, if placed correctly, would help keep the nose planted and inspire driving confidence.
 
Anks329

Anks329

Well-Known Member
So I made some time to work on the Goblin this weekend. It's been rainy and dreary here so haven't had much time for it. First and foremost was fixing my motor mounts. Got it attached again, and added some loctite this time to hopefully not have this problem again.

Next up was testing @bradr starter adapter to build a push to start system. It didn't work exactly how I wanted it to work, and in my troubleshooting, I unplugged some wires from the ignition/key area and my instrument cluster started working again! Buttons work, speed, rpm, odometer readings, everything is displaying again! I went for a test drive, and no issues with keeping these wires unplugged, but I'm trying to figure out what they are for, and what I might have possible done to mess up my instrument cluster in the first place?

Here's an image of what I unplugged:
19358


And here is what I get plugged into on the ignition/key area:
19359


My only guess is that I might have accidently soldered the green wire together in my low speed wires and it's actually supposed to go somewhere else. So having it plugged in confused the instrument cluster (but not my ODB2 reader), and having it unplugged clears up that issue. Any thoughts on what this might relate to?

And so, my to do list has been updated:
 
Ark :D

Ark :D

Goblin Guru
I would advise against the second wing, the one with the illumination. I got the same one (though branded differently and sold by Mad Hornets) and it is trash. The control box that came with mine was missing a wire, and they told me to fix it with a soldering iron. They did eventually replace the box a month later, but the lighting has already failed again so I'm just going a different route.

YMMV, of course.
 
Goblin Graber

Goblin Graber

Well-Known Member
Those wires do two things. They unlock your ignition so you can take the key out then feed power to your shifter to unlock it when you step in the brake.

Does your shifter still have this piece circled in red? I haven’t put the DF parts in my shifter yet but I have a feeling you get rid of it.
CFA2D7E9-6213-4F12-9601-58E7CF260694.jpeg


The other part can easily be bypassed with a zip tie on the ignition switch. Just slide the lock back and put a zip tie on it. Now you don’t need to hook it back up
C17A3C50-B6C8-4895-AAC9-918A3C0B59C6.jpeg
BE374735-FA03-44F1-B30F-6B802CD26099.jpeg
 
k.rollin

k.rollin

Goblin Guru
Goblin Graber said:
Those wires do two things. They unlock your ignition so you can take the key out then feed power to your shifter to unlock it when you step in the brake.

Does your shifter still have this piece circled in red? I haven’t put the DF parts in my shifter yet but I have a feeling you get rid of it.
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I didn't remove that part when I modified my auto shifter. The new arm is a bent steel weldment rather than a machined aluminum piece, but the installation is essentially the same.

dfkitcar.com

RichN City Goblin - 2007 LT donor

Fuel pump came today. Success!!! It's quick. After this run, only a small drip at the water neck, tightened it 3/4 turn; no more drip. Check engine light went off while going around the block.
dfkitcar.com dfkitcar.com
 
Anks329

Anks329

Well-Known Member
Goblin Graber said:
That’s actually the ignition lock cylinder control solenoid. Here’s the schematic.

Any problems taking it out of park with it unplugged?
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Ah! That's gotta be it! I always had an issue taking the key out of the ignition, and have been manually pressing that button to get the key out. Thanks for the diagram. Honestly, fixing this will be pretty low on my task list, maybe when I'm cleaning up the wiring in the front for the USB chargers I'll pull another wire from the BCM to this connecter and see that solves the problem. And as @k.rollin said there's no real change to the auto shifter in the Goblin vs the Cobalt.

And @Ark :D thanks on the heads up for the wing. Time to find a different one :)
 
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