Jeff’s Extended Track Goblin in AZ – 2007 LS, 2.2L Manual, #225

[jdwrigh]

I've wanted to build a kit car for a long time, and what better time than when working from home. I picked up a complete running and driving car from another forum member up in Queen Creek over the summer. The weather in Tucson is finally cool enough that the garage is tolerable, although it's been in the 90's this week! I'm delinquent on my first post since I picked up my kit from the DF shop over 5 weeks ago, but the good news is I have been busy. The main pieces are being powder coated, the muffler is at Jet-Hot, and I dropped the drivetrain from the donor today. I'll post up some pics of work completed to date in the coming days.

I enjoyed the shop visit and riding in a supercharged Goblin. It was definitely worth the flight out and 14 hour drive home. I also got to make good use of my roof crane to load and unload the chassis. I'm looking forward to finishing up deconstruction and getting into the build process. Those activities should dovetail nicely with powder coating hopefully wrapping up in the next week or so.

My plan at this time is to primarily use the finished Goblin for track days with an occasional blast around town. I intend to leave it NA for now.

 

[ctuinstra]

What is your donor? N/A I understand.

 

[Desert Sasqwatch]

Jeff, welcome to the forum. Wow, you are jumping right into this with a kit and a donor already to start your build. You mentioned you picked up your donor through another member? See you picked up your kit from Red Oak. Now that you have started your build log, please give us details and photos of your progress and know we are here to help answer your questions.

 

[Ark :D]

Welcome!

 

[jdwrigh]

Thanks. I made my way through the first 3 videos without issue about a week ago. I was surprised how many parts came off to get to that point, which starts to take up room in the garage. I do plan to try to sell most online.

The donor is a 2007 LS 2.2L manual. I bought it from JerryW:

SOLD 2007 Cobalt LS for sale - good luck Jeff

I was going to take this cobalt apart and build a Goblin, but plans have changed. I bought this 2 dr cobalt new back in May 2007 and it was my daily driver up to a year ago. It has approx. 103,500 miles on it. I drive it a few times a month so the miles will edge up a bit. It is a bare bones car...

dfkitcar.com

 

[Desert Sasqwatch]

Making great progress. Did you get a label maker for the wiring/connectons to mark each one? Take LOTS of photos.

 

[ctuinstra]

Looks like a great donor! That 5-speed will make it fun!

 

[ctuinstra]

Somebody likes all kinds of motor sports. I spy some sand tires and a few other toys.

 

[Desert Sasqwatch]

Don't forget the shifter kart behind the partially open door in the first photo.

 

[jdwrigh]

Some keen eyes in here! A couple nights ago I dropped the drivetrain and got half the interior pulled out. I'm planning to finish the interior teardown this weekend and start on the wiring mods. I borrowed an engine hoist from a neighbor and had to come in from the side due to space limitations, which actually worked pretty well, as it didn't require any 2x4's on the dolly for clearance. The only minor snafu's so far are related to mine being a manual and the videos being for an automatic. Nothing that some searching here and on YouTube couldn't solve though.

 

[jdwrigh]

Made my way through the first 6 disassembly videos. My frame and other parts were done getting powder coated so I ended up putting the bumper back on and using the engine hoist to roll the donor out of the garage before removing the rear suspension per video 8. Once my subframe is back from powder coat I should be well into wiring mods. I ended up stuffing most of the interior back into the car, except the seats, and put the doors on, which freed up some much needed garage space. Hooray for no HOA!