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

[Lechlis]

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?

I just got caught up on your build thread. I missed that you were having issues as well... Interesting stuff. A guy I work with has a 2013 Equinox with the 2.4 Ecotec. His main timing chain tensioner failed about 2 weeks ago. He limped it home sounding like a jar of marbles. Long story short, the new engine showed up last Friday and is being installed this week.

 

[Mayor West]

Man that sucks, sorry to hear it. I know the gut wrenching feeling of seeing metal in a new build.

Both @OptimizePrime and me are relatively close to you, hopefully we can all get together and share gobo stories once ours are all in tip top shape.

So are you saying you didn't do your timing chains or you did and they still tanked? I did both my chains with a Cloyes set, so I'm hoping to have good luck with it. Also did the big bolt thing from Dorman.

 

[Lechlis]

Man that sucks, sorry to hear it. I know the gut wrenching feeling of seeing metal in a new build.

Both @OptimizePrime and me are relatively close to you, hopefully we can all get together and share gobo stories once ours are all in tip top shape.

So are you saying you didn't do your timing chains or you did and they still tanked? I did both my chains with a Cloyes set, so I'm hoping to have good luck with it. Also did the big bolt thing from Dorman.

For sure on the meet up!

The only timing related item I touched during the initial build was the upper timing chain guide bolt. I pulled out the factory one that is known to break and installed the newer style. The chains, guides, tensioners were untouched.

https://zzperformance.com/products/ecotec-timing-chain-guide-bolt?_pos=1&_sid=e63016e35&_ss=r

 

[Lechlis]

I'm interested to see what your thoughts are on the ZZP flywheel when she's all buttoned up. I'm battling the lightweight flywheel option too but what has me hesitating is on a previous car I went to an 8lb flywheel from a 30lb stock flywheel and lost a LOT of torque. I get where some torque loss would make sense with the Goblin since it's so light, just wish there was an intermediary option.

Reading back through the build log and thought I could finally offer you some insight with some additional details.

In my eyes, the Goblin drives like OEM with the lightweight flywheel and GMPP clutch. It has a very light clutch pedal compared to the diesel trucks and cable clutch mustangs I have driven. On more than one occasion, I have hopped out of the my manual Subaru Baja Turbo, jumped into the Goblin, and proceed to nearly stomp the clutch pedal through the floor. I have the idle set at 800 rpm and I can pull away from a stop light on any incline with very little throttle input. I personally see no negatives at this point. All touchy throttle issues I had were corrected with reinstallation of the factory throttle body and tuning.

 

[JBINTX]

Reading back through the build log and thought I could finally offer you some insight with some additional details.

In my eyes, the Goblin drives like OEM with the lightweight flywheel and GMPP clutch. It has a very light clutch pedal compared to the diesel trucks and cable clutch mustangs I have driven. On more than one occasion, I have hopped out of the my manual Subaru Baja Turbo, jumped into the Goblin, and proceed to nearly stomp the clutch pedal through the floor. I have the idle set at 800 rpm and I can pull away from a stop light on any incline with very little throttle input. I personally see no negatives at this point. All touchy throttle issues I had were corrected with reinstallation of the factory throttle body and tuning.

I have the lightweight flywheel from ZZP. I have a tune that now puts 300 hp, 325 ft-lbs to the wheels.
The Goblin is a little sensitive at low throttle driving, but I think some here are trying to solve that through HP Tuners and the throttle position sensor.
I am sure the lighter weight flywheel adds to the low speed twitchy-ness.
I am happy with the setup after almost 1000 miles.

 

[PyroGuy923]

Wheel/tire specs?

9Lives Racing Wang length?

 

[Lechlis]

Wheel/tire specs?

9Lives Racing Wang length?

17x9 Cosmis XT206R wheels with 275/40R17 Nitto NT01 tires at all four corners.

The wing is 68" wide. I used their Exocet mounts spaced at 26.875"

 

[PyroGuy923]

Thanks. They the +5 offset?

 

[Lechlis]

Thanks. They the +5 offset?

Yep!

 

[Lechlis]

As info for all, the build sheet in post 1 is accurate and continuously updated.

 

[Lechlis]

Some pictures I thought everyone would enjoy. I have not pulled the engine out yet, so I am not sure what else is hurt. I am curious what the crank looks like. The anti-seize looking stuff in the head is metal shavings... lol. Yes, that oil filter only has about 30 minutes of run time on it... The poor thing is toast.

 

[Lonny]

What happened?

 

[Lechlis]

What happened?

I am not 100% sure at this point. The turbo bearings failed first. I replaced them but knew something wasn’t right. I changed the oil a couple times with only idle time on it and it was coming out glittery. I pulled the valve cover and timing cover to take a look. I found the balance shaft tensioner has no spring pressure on it, so the guide and chain are just flopping around. I am assuming this is the root cause at this point but haven’t opened it up all of the way just yet.

 

[Lonny]

There is some place in Texas that sells complete surplus zero mile turbo engines for $2000.

Adam says it's ATK that sells them.

GM 2.0 Ecotec Complete Engine

ATK 20LNF1 GM 2.0 Ecotec Complete Engine , Call 866-721-2315 to Speak with an ATK Crate Engine Specialist

www.high-performance-engines.com

I think this includes shipping.

 

[Desert Sasqwatch]

Yes, I purchased my crate LNF from ATK, $2K delivered.

 

[Lechlis]

The formatting is a little messed up since it was filmed with the phone upright. Full screen helps.

 

[Lonny]

A lot of folks use these for mosquitos.

 

[OptimizePrime]

Enjoy?! This is my nightmare.

Glad to see you're bouncing back I love this build so far

 

[Mayor West]

For what it's worth, regarding ATK on eBay, I bought a brand new K04 turbo from them for $600 (I'm pretty sure this is the same place, they only have one listing now It seems?)

I paid with paypal immediately, they never accepted the payment (I'm not sure how this happens, but the error on the paypal transaction says "Seller Refused Payment") and made me pay over the phone, I thought that was sketchy but I had emails and they're on eBay so I thought I had buyer protection. They said they'd ship it that day, two weeks later they still hadn't shipped it, stopped returning my emails, and didn't pick up the phone or call me back when I left messages.

When I opened a fraud case against them on eBay, they then filed a non-payment case against me, and because of that and due to eBays design, that meant that I couldn't leave negative feedback due to eBay considering the auction closed because they said I didn't pay for it, even though I did. No one on the eBay support staff could follow the situation. I eventually did get my money back weeks later, but I still cannot leave feedback because of how eBay is set up and how ATK used that loophole to prevent me from notifying others.

If you review their feedback, it has a few experiences like mine "Tried to purchase twice, held my money for a month, then THEY canceled the order"
If they treated people like they did me, there's probably several people who weren't able to leave feedback.

Their 82% feedback is pretty low for eBay standards.

I'm glad Desert Squatch had a good experience, those motors are extremely tempting at that price... but I can't help but express my troubles with ATK.

 

[gofast]

Yes, I purchased my crate LNF from ATK, $2K delivered.

I did as well. It got here to Wisconsin in a few days. Complete engine less starter and alternator. I purchased directly from them. It was cheaper than their Ebay price.