Carl's Track Goblin - 05 SS SC donor, Chassis # 39

Waterdriver

Goblin Guru
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Well, I've been following DFKitcar for awhile now and monitoring their development. I was looking for a car to build that would be able to be street legal, auto cross and do track days at some of areas road courses.
In seeing the progress and refinements being made to the Goblin, I decided on making the commitment to go this route.
Plus with a weight distribution and power to weight ratio similar to a 125 shifter kart, this sealed the deal for me.

Last November, I decided to start the process of searching for a donor car and really wanting a manual transmission. I found that manual transmission cars are really hard to locate.
I eventually ran across a manual transmission 05 LS Craigslist car. The day I had arranged to see and buy the car after work, the seller wasn't returning texts or calls. So when I got home from work I thought well I might as well take another look on craigslist to see what I can find. There I found a wrecked 2005 SS cobalt for sale. ( exactly what I was looking for ) I called the buyer immediately, made arrangements and picked up the car the following weekend for $900. Car starts and runs, 101k miles. (I will need to source the lower subframe and motor mounts as they were bent and broken in its accident.)
Otherwise the car is in great shape, from the firewall back. I should be able to recoup some if not all of the donors expense.

Since purchasing the donor car, the pre-build project began on working on the garage to make space for the goblin frame and its components.
Selling off my race kart, parts, building shelves and painting. Space is at a minimum since I currently only have a single car garage. Having to get creative.

Then last week, I finally submitted the order for the Track frame Goblin.
My daughter and I are excited to get to work on the disassembly process of the donor and prep for the Stage 1 arrival.
 

Waterdriver

Goblin Guru
I know. Well, it was November.
When picking up the donor, I got lucky with a break in the snowfall over the Cascades. I had a bit of a road trip to pick up the donor as I live western WA and it was in eastern WA.
The roads were nice and clear and made good time .
My seven-year-old daughter went with me to go pick up the car and I was amazed in the fact that I didn't get the "are we there yet" until the last hour home.
 

Waterdriver

Goblin Guru
Finally got the single car garage cleaned out, stuff sold, shelving built and painted. Now to start on the donor!

Not much to report at this time. Finally rolled the donar off the trailer and started on the first video for disassembly. Hood removed and fuel drained.
 

Attachments

Waterdriver

Goblin Guru
A little more progress on disassembly.
Finally able to get the McGard locking lug nuts off the wheels. What a pain to figure out, but if I have to do it again it'll be easy now.

Got through the second video. Leaving the doors on for now to keep the inside dry. This is the Northwest after all.
 

Attachments

Waterdriver

Goblin Guru
Just Paul the subframe and it looks to be undamaged.
Does anyone have the cross bolt measurements? From right front to left rear mounting hole and vice versa to verify if my sub frame is tweaked or not?
 

Attachments

Waterdriver

Goblin Guru
Never mind about the measurements. I see now after I pressure washed it that it definitely is bent and twisted on the right rear corner. Bummer.
 

Tony

Well-Known Member
That's a bummer. But I think they are all pretty much the same. Local junk yard should have one.
Pretty much. If you aren't planning to run a sway bar, then they're all the same, just slightly different mounts for the bar between years/trims.
 

Waterdriver

Goblin Guru
Yeah, going to have to drop by the closest Pick-A-Part and source one.
I do want the option to run a rear bar, but would like to use one with multiple end point mounts for softening or stiffing it up.
 

Waterdriver

Goblin Guru
I've been whittling away at the disassembly process. A little time here and there after work and between family life.
Got my 7 year daughter to help rip out the interior plastics. She started having fun with just ripping parts out. That and bribing her with a Slurpee!
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As for the current status:
The full wiring harness has been removed.
Dash removed from vehicle.
Steering column and gas/brake pedal box removed.
Still working on dash tear down process at this time. I should have that completed today.
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Box-O-wiring! (Looks like fun)
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The car is looking empty...
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The garage is looking full!
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I've got to sell those SS seats from the Cobalt. What have others got for seats? I'm asking $600.
 

TheNuker

Goblin Guru
I got $500 for my 07 black/red SS seats. Another 250 for the door trim pieces, 30$ for stock flywheel, 97$ for the car shell, 500$ for the wheels/tires (aftermarket) gas tank 20$, ZZP intake 100$, passenger airbag 80$, Passenger door 100$(Minus trim) sun roof 80$.

I think a few other parts but I can't recall.

Nuker-
 

Waterdriver

Goblin Guru
Okay, so I'm not too far off on my asking price.
Nuker, did you post on Craigslist, Cobalt forum or something else.

I've just been posting off of Craigslist. So far I've sold the rear trunk lid with wing, side skirts and rear bumper cover for $300. That was to one buyer.
 

TheNuker

Goblin Guru
Okay, so I'm not too far off on my asking price.
Nuker, did you post on Craigslist, Cobalt forum or something else.

I've just been posting off of Craigslist. So far I've sold the rear trunk lid with wing, side skirts and rear bumper cover for $300. That was to one buyer.
I mostly posted to craigslist, FaceBook market place and the cobalt buy/sell/trade facebook group.

Nuker-
 

Waterdriver

Goblin Guru
Disassembly, it's done, done done!
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Misc. parts loaded back in, just not where they were originally mounted.
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Now on to prep parts.
 

ctuinstra

Goblin Guru
Nuker, you were able to unload a lot of parts. I didn't think I could unload anything. My neighbor convinced me to put it up on CL and I've actually had some interest in body panels and other items.
 
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