Motoracer Colorado Street Extended - 2009 SS/TC

Motoracer110

Well-Known Member
The donor is in! I will be building a street extended goblin turbo. Color scheme will be murdered with white accents. After a long process I finally got my 2009 cobalt from Arizona, won my auction at $2k and after fees ended up spending $2800 (I hope to recoup as much as i can selling parts. The listing had stated that the engine started only and there is suspension problems which totaled the car. I took a shot in the dark and when the car arrived I feel like i hit a home run. The frame looks great! the suspension is shot which is ok, the car does start and drives, the driver side tie rod is snapped and the wires for cylinder 2 are snapped causing only 3 cylinders to run. I should be able to do a quick repair to the plug and make sure cylinder #2 works before tearing the car down. Oil and all fluids look great and not sure if it comes stock with brembo brakes but this donor has them as well for a plus. there is a gauge cluster so i hope the previous owner did not run the boost too high time will tell. the car does have over 120k miles so I will be changing some stuff too keep things going. Overall very happy with my purchase!
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BaltimoreHokie

Goblin Guru
Looks like you've got a great donor. Congrats on joining the squad!!! Looks like you have some goodies to sell as well. I recommend joining the Cobalt SS facebook groups to sell them. There are a couple and way easier than the Cobalt SS forum.
 

Motoracer110

Well-Known Member
Update. I got the cylinder 2 wires repaired and unfortunately im pretty sure engine has a blown head gasket :( I have a low coolant censor going off and the engine sounds bad when i added some coolant, I look at the back of the car and coolant has come out of the exhaust. Looks like ill be getting a crate motor as well and harvest everything else off the car.
 

BaltimoreHokie

Goblin Guru
Update. I got the cylinder 2 wires repaired and unfortunately im pretty sure engine has a blown head gasket :( I have a low coolant censor going off and the engine sounds bad when i added some coolant, I look at the back of the car and coolant has come out of the exhaust. Looks like ill be getting a crate motor as well and harvest everything else off the car.
Man. I'm sorry to hear that. If your good with a wrench it may be worth just replacing the head gasket and see how it runs afterwards. It's not a bad job

There are a few threads on the forum that talks about it. I changed one myself on my first donor after the timing chain gave out (I had to ensure nothing was messed up)
 
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ctuinstra

Goblin Guru
That motor with 120K should be in pretty good shape assuming the oil what changed. As long as the block is not cracked and it's just a head gasket, you could be in for a simple and fairly inexpensive fix. I would have to at least take off the head to for piece of mind. Good luck.

Looks like a good donor otherwise.
 

Motoracer110

Well-Known Member
Thank you all for the suggestions and impute. Ill for sure take the engine apart and see the damage. Im still stoked that i have the donor and can get this project started. I did notice some frayed wires under the car going to the back of the car not sure where they go and once i get that wire harness out i should be able to make any repairs i need no problem.
 

BaltimoreHokie

Goblin Guru
Thank you all for the suggestions and impute. Ill for sure take the engine apart and see the damage. Im still stoked that i have the donor and can get this project started. I did notice some frayed wires under the car going to the back of the car not sure where they go and once i get that wire harness out i should be able to make any repairs i need no problem.
Although its going to be a lot harder, it may be worth taking off all you can inside the car and performing the work there. That way you'll know for sure its completely repaired. Its a little tight working behind the engine for the turbo but it can be done. When I completed it, I only removed the manifold instead of the whole turbo.

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If you would have kept this engine anyways, you may wanted to have done the timing chain. (why the engine above failed) so, now you can just go head and do that while you're in there.
 

Motoracer110

Well-Known Member
Update: I am officially having fun :D I put in about 3.5 hours in today getting the tear down started and so far very smooth. I ended up buying the harbor freight $40 electric impact wrench and it has been amazing making short work of rusted bolts.
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In the video he used a 30mm socket to loosen the main drive bolt however the bolt is much bigger. I will be heading down to the supply house and wondering if anyone know what size that is. to me looks like a 32-33mm?

thank you all for the engine help. I saw some videos and I can make the repairs to the head gasket no problem and hopefully no cracks in the head. Fingers crossed.
 

Motoracer110

Well-Known Member
Awesome thank you! Ill get that size tomorrow. Jbuild thats great to hear another Coloradan! when we get our builds done we will have to go for a cruise
 

Tony

Well-Known Member
The nut is a 35mm. Rented a deepwell impact set at O'Reillys and got them off in 10 minutes.
Mine was 35mm originally, but after replacing the axle, the new one came with a nut that was 36mm - so I'd say get both if renting is an option. Otherwise bust out the calipers and measure before buying.
 

Motoracer110

Well-Known Member
Update: a good week of vacation is over and now back at it. Kit number 148 is in line whaoo! I guess orders are coming in like crazy at DF and the wait is like mid june so got plenty of time to prep my parts. Im starting video 8 for the rear end break down then the donor is gone at the end of the week.
 

Christopher Sanchez

Well-Known Member
Update: a good week of vacation is over and now back at it. Kit number 148 is in line whaoo! I guess orders are coming in like crazy at DF and the wait is like mid june so got plenty of time to prep my parts. Im starting video 8 for the rear end break down then the donor is gone at the end of the week.
Do not forget your shifter cables like i did. You will need the plastic connectors to attach the shifter to the DF supplied cables.
 
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