Looking for Maintenance Recommendations

Devo

Member
My donor is a 2006 SS/SC with approximately 60k on the odometer. It was a salvage purchase through Copart, and I have no knowledge on any service history. It ran and sounded good prior to removal from the chassis. Additionally, no check engine light was on.

I’m looking for recommendations on how far down the maintenance rabbit hole to go. I was planning on a timing set, water pump, & clutch. Any other general wear items that should be addressed with it being easy to access? For the timing sets, are new sprockets a necessity?
 

Brett

Well-Known Member
There are several trains of thought on this, here are a couple.

-Don't do anything other than plugs / oil / timing chain bolt / transmission fluid. Since it is all running, change as little as possible and then address anything needed after the build is completed.

-Go down the rabbit hole and change everything.

Personally, I wanted to limit risk during my build, made minimal changes to the drivetrain since it was running and now I am at the point of "what do I want to change".

Brett
 

Devo

Member
There are several trains of thought on this, here are a couple.

-Don't do anything other than plugs / oil / timing chain bolt / transmission fluid. Since it is all running, change as little as possible and then address anything needed after the build is completed.

-Go down the rabbit hole and change everything.

Personally, I wanted to limit risk during my build, made minimal changes to the drivetrain since it was running and now I am at the point of "what do I want to change".

Brett
Thanks Brett. I've waffled heavily on those two options. I don't want to miss the opportunity of easy access but similarly didn't want to swap out a slug of parts just to do it. I like the idea of limiting risks during the build, so I'll probably start with the minimum.
 

Sluggonaut

Goblin Guru
I've chosen to build to first start with a known running donor. Once I've successfully tested my wiring harness and know the Goblin starts/runs, I'm pulling the drivetrain to do the timing chain, clutch, and other invasive maintenance items. I'll also do all of the appearance upgrades at that time.
 

lksohm

Well-Known Member
My experience says for troubleshooting it is best to only change one thing at a time. If you make a bunch of changes then encounter a problem then you have a lot more variables to look into.
Once the car is together you will be amazed how easy these are to work on compared to any other vehicle. I would upgrade the clutch and do the normal timing tensioner parts, then address any issues as needed.
Just my $0.02
 

Desert Sasqwatch

Goblin Guru
IMO: Pulling the engine/transmission cradle out of the Goblin is easy - six bolts, unplug the engine harness from the main harness, disconnect the fuel line and transmission cables - and lift the frame off. This makes it relatively simple to do most after-the-fact repairs and upgrades, when compared to almost every other vehicle out there. So don't let the need to do everything all at once before installing the donor drivetrain possibly get you into the 'OMG what did I do' rabbit hole that some others have fallen into (sorry fellow Goblineers).

With only 60K on the clock, there should be relatively little that should be wrong with the engine internals. I would change out the timing chain tension bolt, do the clutch, and leave everything else buttoned up until you have a running build and get some miles on it to see what could use attention (or not). Enjoy it for a while and use the off-season to do any upgrades or mods. :D
 

Devo

Member
Thanks everyone - I appreciate the insight. My kit won't arrive until ~March at this point. I'll try to shake off some of the "what did I do" feelings until then. ;)
 

ncgoblin

Goblin Guru
Owning a 05 SS/sc Goblin I agree with Brett option #1. Once the Goblin is built you can fine tune everything one piece at a time. For example every year I upgrade slightly to increase that excitement factor. Timing chain kit, smaller pulley, bigger injectors, e85, cams, and all upgrades df offers.

Upgrade the clutch everything else can be upgraded without removing the engine. Go with GM upgraded clutch from zzp.

Make sure you have full oil, monitor the temp both air and coolant, have fun.

You will get to $30,000 in due time like the majority of us.

good luck
 
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Ross

Goblin Guru

2 maintenance items. Clutch if needed, but at 60,000 miles, is it bad?
 

Scott #321

Well-Known Member
I did nothing but change the oil engine/and trans and verify timing bolt prior to assembly. With 98,000 hard miles I did not experience clutch slippage with stock tune and components and I seriously doubt the clutch had been recently replaced. I am expecting to receive my care package from ZZP today and will be tearing into the motor to upgrade cams, timing chain, fuel inj, and turbo. I plan on replacing the F35 with a F23 as well and have a new clutch arriving as well. Just my take on it as I did not want to perform upgrades until after some driving and testing. I did not realize my origional F35 and turbo had issues due to very limited ability to drive my donor so I was glad not to spend money ahead of time.
 

Rttoys

Goblin Guru
Yep. Keep it simple until it’s in the goblin and running. This way you know if you have a problem, it’s wiring related and not timing chain, cams, sensors, etc. it doesn’t take much to pull it back out and do everything if need be, later.
 
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