Jim McDonald // Extended Track // '09 HHR SS/TC Automatic

[Torchandregdoc]

Ah I'll give it a try tomorrow morning.

 

[Lonny]

That is correct.

 

[Torchandregdoc]

Is this normal?

 

[JSATX]

Everyone runs into that. At one point you could send your turbo snout to DF and they will machine it shorter, I don’t know if they still do that. I’m working on a turbo car right now it’s the same way.

 

[Desert Sasqwatch]

Jim, you should have received a different and shorter turbo outlet from DF. I don't have access to my toyboxes right now, but I remember seeing one in the items sent for the TC kit.

 

[Torchandregdoc]

Jim, you should have received a different and shorter turbo outlet from DF. I don't have access to my toyboxes right now, but I remember seeing one in the items sent for the TC kit.

I only bought stage 1,so that may be why I didn't get it.

I'm pretty sure I have some type of an alignment issue, but still trying to figure out what it is.

 

[Lonny]

When you get your second stage kit it will have a short output tube that will replace the long one. You will need to pull the o-ring out of your original tube's base and install it into ours.

http://instagr.am/p/By2gRuflcYr/

 

[Torchandregdoc]

I built a trans mount and front motor mount out of wood to isolate those two mounts as problems. Now with those two mounts centerer I can get a better look at where my problem is.

The pics of the upper mounts were taken while 2 guys pried to make those bolts. Somethings not right.

 

[Torchandregdoc]

Could the LNF mounts for the HHR be different than those of the cobalt?

 

[Desert Sasqwatch]

Need Lonny to chime in, but I believe reading there is a transmission mount spacer that goes with the automatic setup?

 

[Desert Sasqwatch]

Since you got the TC kit, it was assembled for a manual transmission. Since you are working in uncharted territory and can be helping DF determine if another donor is suitable for their kit, you may want to ask Lonny if the spacer can be sent to you for 'test fitting'?

 

[Torchandregdoc]

Need Lonny to chime in, but I believe reading there is a transmission mount spacer that goes with the automatic setup?

Tim, you are correct. If you look closely, you can see one of the spacers is in as a shim. Thanks for taking the time to reply on a Friday afternoon.

 

[Torchandregdoc]

Since you got the TC kit, it was assembled for a manual transmission. Since you are working in uncharted territory and can be helping DF determine if another donor is suitable for their kit, you may want to ask Lonny if the spacer can be sent to you for 'test fitting'?

Lonny was proactive and sent them to me with my kit.

 

[Lonny]

I believe all of those HHR trans mounts are the same as a Cobalt automatic. If you did that same test in one of our Goblins with an automatic out of a Cobalt you would probably see the same situation.

We have always ran the autos with the rubber front and rear trans mounts, now that we see there is an option to put a turbo automatic in a goblin we are designing set of solid mounts for the autos similar to manual solid mounts that we supply for the SS Cobalts.

I will let you know when we get a set ready.

So the way you bolted the engine side mount to the forward set of holes and the top of the transmission with the spacers is going to put the engine and transmission in the same location we will when we make the solid mounts.

 

[Christopher Sanchez]

I know my situation is not the same as yours but when I installed my engine and trans I installed the engine and trans mounts first meaning the top mounts welded to the frame. Many people felt the solid motor mounts (DF supplied) were miss aligned however if you leave all bolts loose and gently persuade the DF provided mounts using a crowbar they will line up.. my point is if you feel that things aren’t lining up perfectly it may be the very same issues others have had. It’s hard to tell from just a few pictures if the mounting holes are just a little off or if things are just not going to work... another suggestion I’d ask is can the motor mount holes be slotted? As a last resort or Will this weaken them to much?? It’s all coming together man! This is just a small hurdle..!

 

[Torchandregdoc]

Thanks for the support everyone . Its great to have people to bounce ideas off. This is not negative to me at all, just the opposite , its fun.

So, we did some heavy duty prying yesterday. I dont think we could make the chasis mount bolts with solid front and rear mounts, everything would be in one major strain. It would be no problem to make them with stock mounts, but then the chasis mounts will be dealing with all of the torque. I'm not sure if we could stretch poly that far. About 1/2 inch, so as of right now, I'm going to wait until I get my tank (that was not shipped because DF is going to make sure the HHR fuel pump fits properly) gets here and then do another test fit. I believe i want all 4 mounts to be solid, so I will figure out how to do that later. I like delrin. I'm not much of a machinist and it cuts like butter, so thats probably what ill use to build my front and rear mounts. I may also cut off the df motor mount and move it the half inch, or.... possibly relocate the whole motor down and back and rotated a bit. I dont have the alternstor on either, so need to check clearances there as well.

 

[Torchandregdoc]

 

[QuantumFluxuation]

View attachment 10441

That has to be one of the most intimidating pictures I've seen on here. Wow.

 

[Desert Sasqwatch]

Jim, that is one long harness! You won't need to lengthen any wires, but you will certainly be shortening some!

 

[Torchandregdoc]

Ha... , yeah, theres a bunch of wire there.

The DF guys are offering a bunch of extra service by checking out the compatability of Cobalt hardware on the HHR platform, so I'm going to send it to them.