OptimizePrime's Build | '10 SS/TC #168 | Registered

OptimizePrime

Goblin Guru
Guys, it's time to start the build!

The Donor
I picked up a mint Black 2010 SS Turbo for $5,800 with 116k miles in Gibsonville, NC. When it comes to performance mods, the car has Raceland coilovers and a ZZP Intake but otherwise it's stock and runs great. It has the G85 LSD, no material rust, and the previous owner said it has a fresh set of pads and tires on. While not a CoPart find, I felt purchasing a running vehicle in good shape at a reasonable price was a good base to build from. Here she is (didn't go into any length to detail her)

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Kit Options - Chassis #168
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Adam said my frame should be on the jig early September. :cool: I'm going to either drive down from Charlotte, NC or fly down and use a rental to bring it all back.

As far as plans go, I installed the 3Bar Map sensor (seen above) and purchased HP Tuners and went with a conservative tune until I swap everything into the Goblin. It went from a spike to 15psi to 13 through redline to a controlled 22psi spike and holding 20-21. What an incredible difference this made to liven this vehicle up, I can't imagine how quick this car is going to be when 1,500lbs. Other than the tune, initially I'm going to see how far I can push it as-is and then opt for Meth Injection before going to a larger turbo. I also have an OTTP short shifter / knob on the way to firm up the play it has after 116k miles.

I'm hunting for 10 second 1/4 miles, snappy street characteristics, and 30mpg with reliability (the holy grail!). Thanks for the space and let me know what you think!
 
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Desert Sasqwatch

Goblin Guru
Nice car, almost a shame it will sacrificed as a donor it is in such great shape. But, all things must evolve to survive, and transforming it into a Goblin is probably the nicest thing than can happen to a Cobalt. :D
 

Mayor West

Goblin Guru
Excited to see your build log posted! I'd love to take a ride along in your donor before you dismantle it, too.
 

OptimizePrime

Goblin Guru
Nice car, almost a shame it will sacrificed as a donor it is in such great shape. But, all things must evolve to survive, and transforming it into a Goblin is probably the nicest thing than can happen to a Cobalt. :D
I hear ya, and feel the same way too. It's a bit odd tearing down a vehicle that has no mechanical, electrical, or physical issues - I may have gotten lucky finding this one.

Excited to see your build log posted! I'd love to take a ride along in your donor before you dismantle it, too.
Yea man! Waiting on the title to arrive and we'll take her for a spin
 

OptimizePrime

Goblin Guru
Kit was delivered yesterday and feels like I'm at a good inflection point in the project. Here's some pics along the way

The day before she was disassembled. Still a few months out from the kit getting delivered, but I opted for the wiring service so it's time to get the harness out.
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I may have gotten lucky as I actually didn't face any rusted bolts or even break too many tabs. No power tools required ( just an electric impact and a breaker bar ). An 8mm , 13mm, 15mm, 17mm, 18mm and a 32mm I could have taken apart 90% of it.

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Dash was playing hard to get, had to get a bit creative as I was getting this out myself at this point. The steering knuckle was catching and needed some persuading. "If it works, it's not stupid" - Abe Lincoln, probably
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mmmmbeer... @Mayor West 5gals of Peanut Butter Porter killed it, I brewed 5 gals of an Octoberfest Nut Brown ale that was not worthy of consumption :(

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More to come...
 

OptimizePrime

Goblin Guru
Dove into the engine while it was out. After 118k miles she was due for a bath and a few maintenance items. Picked up some Crud Kutter from lowes and went to town.
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Time for some enamel. I sprayed the POR15 aluminum enamel for both the block and trans.
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The intake valves before the blast. This process was actually quite easy and I was happy with the end results. I used a few different picks (from harbor freight) to loosen the tough debris, then went after it with a sharpened toothbrush and some injector cleaner, then used the walnut blast as the finishing move.
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Walnut....everywhere
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Replaced the Timing Chain, Balance shaft chain, and water pump. Only broke one of the shouldered bolts off into the block! Replace the non-shouldered bolts with 10.9 bolts from Lowes. Dorman bolt installed as well

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Buttoned up and ready for abuse. You may notice the dampener, pulley, harmonic balancer (lol) powder coated. This was my mistake as it has some rubber in it... going to send it anyway
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OptimizePrime

Goblin Guru
On the powdercoating note, it was time to degrease and add some flare to the valve cover.

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Degrease, Wire Wheel on an angle grinder
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tempting to just go full polish and clear coat it
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Acetone, silicon plugs and high temp tape --- she ready
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For the first time powder coating, I think it turned out great! The center channel got a bit hot but you can hardly tell with the spark plugs in. I'm too nervous to polish the Ecotec part.

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Prismatic Powders Ink Black on some other bits
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OptimizePrime

Goblin Guru
The control arms were a complete PITA for me. Long story short, if you have the FE5 the aluminum control arms and looking to replace the bushings I wouldn't mess with the ball joint or the leading control arm bushing, just burn out and press in the lower control arm. This is still a work in progress.

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Wire wheeled the subframe (will have better pics at some point). Pressed out the leading control arm and installed the Moog Cab. The rivets on the ball joints were grinded off and had to drill the holes bigger. Looks a bit sloppy here but it's good enough for gov't work. Still have to torque the ball joints on.
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OptimizePrime

Goblin Guru
The frame is here! First impressions, I was expecting the frame to be small...but WOW it's small, and I opted for the extended frame! I feel like the project is just beginning from here. The bare frame is a bit daunting but the welds looks great and the hood is high quality. I'll get some better pics of the wiring job, but it looks very high quality and worth the time saved and risk (to me).

Time to go to work!
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Picked up some Welding shtuff for the seats, Heat Exchanger and other items.
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Desert Sasqwatch

Goblin Guru
WOW, you have been busy! All of the work you have done so far looks topnotch and can't wait to see how your Goblin progresses. BTW, putting a jack on top of a jack is definitely an invitation to join the Darwin Awards - at least honorable mention. Please be safe. Great work and keep the photos coming. :)
 

KSLunsfo

Well-Known Member
Your engine is looking so nice, it's awesome you can do some powder coating! I'm guessing that's what's up with the oven? Haha. I've also been considering the aluminum finish POR for the engine and trans, I like the fresh factory look it gives.
 

OptimizePrime

Goblin Guru
Hey guys, really hoping someone can point me in the right direction on this one - I'm at a loss. Video shows what's going on but here's a summary:

Key in the On position turns vehicle on with no solid VATs light
Go to turn the vehicle on and there's nothing - starter doesn't spin
When I do the same procedure while wiggling the ignition plug halfway in it's seat the car starts up and I can then push the plug all the way in

Additional info:
I purchased the wiring service

12v at the battery, starter, relay box, alternator

*When I pull the key out of the ignition, the car turns on like I had the key in the On position* <- I feel like this is a significant tell-tale and once I can overcome this I may be okay.

The car did not have these issues prior to tear down, no VATs problems

RPD is plugged in

Clutch switch is engaged

BCM seems to be getting power / working but haven't changed wires / voltages

Any ideas?

@Adam
@Lonny

 

Lonny

Administrator
Staff member
Okay that's a new one.

I think the first thing to do is to compare switch connections at different key positions to one of the ignition switches we have here.

Also

Do a visual inspection in the connector cavity to make sure there is not a bent pin or corrosion, do a visual on the connector also.

The wires from ignition switch to the BCM stay intact while reworking the harness so I don't suspect they are the problem unless one is broken internally. That is something we can check also.

I cant explain why removing the key would turn things on.

We are at lunch so feel free to call me in about an hour or so.
My cell 214-334-0232
 

mnKevin

Member
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Not sure if this helps or if it’s related to the recall on the part. But sounds like it’s not contacting the ignition switch plate properly.
 

OptimizePrime

Goblin Guru
Thanks for your help and info guys. I spoke with @Lonny and he was kind enough to work with me to check the voltage and conductivity of the switch and bcm pins. While we didn't come to any conclusions on the call, I was looking at it further and found the bcm2 fuse to be what shut the lights off when the key was taken out of the ignition - so I started to focus on the BCM fuses, plugs, and wiring.

What I found was that one of the harness plugs, when plugged in just enough but not 100% latched would give me the normal results (key out = car off, perfect starts every time). When I latched the harness plug, the key out and starting issues return. Any ideas on where to go from here? See video for more

One other issue I'm seeing is that I don't have OBD2 communication. I can't connect hptuners because it can't establish communication. I have checked the cigarette lighter fuse and it appears to be in good shape.

 

Lonny

Administrator
Staff member
The data wires for the OBDII daisy chain through the power steering, If you don't have the power steering plugged in you will not have data going to your OBDII port.
 

OptimizePrime

Goblin Guru
GREAT SUCCESS! Collectively we were able to overcome the electrical issues shown in the vids above. The root cause? it was the ignition switch grounding out internally. Lonny and I were talking on the phone and he had me test the conductivity between pins 5 & 6 on the black ignition switch with the key out (when the lights were still turning on with the key out) and we found they were grounded together and the switches he had were not.

I then took the ignition switch off of the column and cleaned the gunk and metal shavings off of the prongs and she started right up every single time...what a hassle but I'm glad this is over. I'll keep the vids up just in case someone else has the same issues.

Before - gunk on the board, shavings were grounding out the pins on the white plastic piece
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How the ignition switch is supposed to go back together. The white plastic piece in the center of the plug in my hand has an arm that's supposed to point down as shown with the key out.
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The data wires for the OBDII daisy chain through the power steering, If you don't have the power steering plugged in you will not have data going to your OBDII port.
You are exactly right and I can't say thank you enough for your help getting through this. I'll post separately about the wiring to go from power steering to a manual rack but for those searching here's a pic of the grey plug that comes off the power steering and how it's wired to daisy chain to keep the obd2 signal

brown/white = tan/black
brown = tan
red = nothing

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