Rauq's Twincharged LSJ in SC - #240 - GOBZILA

[Desert Sasqwatch]

Just my 2 cents: with the heater core connected, having the coolant outlet from the engine close to the exhaust header would be a benefit to put more heat into the heater core - radiant heat from the header will be transfered I to the aluminum tube. It should also be noted that having the heater core in circuit did act as a small radiator, returning (slightly) cooler fluid back to the engine. Putting a hose loop on the pipes will not remove any heat from the heater core loop.

In our case building the Goblin, having this (minor) source of extra radiated heat from the header getting into the engine coolant - with these two pipes looped. Since I'm in the desert, any time a source of heat can be removed, cooled or bypassed, it will be done and was the gist of my response. In my case, removing the tubes, taping the ports in the t-stat housing, and installing AN fittings will be a must. I plan to have an additional cooler in this circuit, that will mimic the Cobalt heater core, to remove more heat from the cooling system. This is just information for other Goblin builders to consider, especially anyone living in warmer weather.

Sorry for the hijack.

 

[Rauq]

Of course you can build your Goblin however you want, but do you want me to post a picture of my tongue on the heater core loop with the engine running? I promise you the engine isn't going to overheat because the heater core loop picked up radiated heat from the exhaust. The motor is going to pick up more heat radiating from hot asphalt. The coolant is going to pick up more heat radiated from the exhaust into the coolant crossover pipe. Are you going to thermal wrap that? Do you have any reason to believe the coolant is gaining more heat from the exhaust while sitting still than it would be shedding heat while blowing around in turbulent air ? A normally built Goblin has an appropriately sized radiator, benefits from an additional heat sink of the chassis with the coolant running through the frame, but perhaps most importantly, is not sitting in an insulated engine bay. Just think about the insulate fire wall in the back and the stock radiate in the front of a Cobalt engine compartment. For MY 2 cents, build your Goblin first and sort out issues later. Of course address things like broken thermostats or leaking water pumps. But that goes for everyone. I'd hate to see someone not enjoying their running driving car because they were convinced something was going to go wrong and needed to be addressed during the initial build, for naught.

This is a free and open forum and people are allowed to express whatever opinions, wherever, but in my opinion, we could do with a little less armchair building and a bit more input from experience. I love helping folks but I try not to speculate and always make sure to label speculation as such.

My apologies to all if this doesn't need to be out in the open but a similar conversation has also been held in private in the past, and I felt it was time to voice my opinion on the public forum.

Oh and sound deadening on the inside of the side panels is a joke, especially for someone so concerned with putting their build on a diet.

 

[Fozda]

I also got the hinges installed on the front of my hood. It was really pretty straightforward. These are stainless with captive pins so they shouldn't cause me any issues down the road. I will clean up the spots where the dzus fasteners were mounted with some black paint. I'm also thinking about better mount solutions at the back of the hood than the nut and bolt to see if I can really make popping the hood a quick task.

View attachment 25936

Did you end up figuring out a better mounting solution at the back of the hood? I hate having to unbolt it all the time but I can't come up with anything better.

 

[r3drckt]

Could use a bolt with a cotter pin through it for easier release

 

[Fozda]

Could use a bolt with a cotter pin through it for easier release

I've considered just a lynchpin or something like a cotter pinned setup but I worry that the hood would rattle like crazy.

 

[Gtstorey]

Can you not use plain old hood pins although that might require some welding to get a mounting point in the right spot?

 

[Gtstorey]

I've considered just a lynchpin or something like a cotter pinned setup but I worry that the hood would rattle like crazy.

Could add a spring under the hood to apply tension to the pin to prevent rattling. Mine seems to fit tight enough that I could do it without noise anyway.

 

[Rauq]

Yeah the reason I haven't added anything on the aft side of the hood is that the current nut and bolt rely on friction between the hood and frame tabs to fix the hood in the up-and-down direction. Replacing with anything not putting compression between the two tabs would rely only on the shear strength of the pin or whatever to fix the hood in the vertical direction. That would mean either your pin needs to be pretty dang close to the ID of the mount tabs and to have catches on either side preventing the tabs from moving away from each other, or the hood's going to rattle up and down. I wouldn't worry about the noise, but I'd worry about the longevity. Then again that's all speculation, maybe a clevis pin with a cotter would work just fine. I'm not worried about the nut and bolt enough to bother with it for now, I just keep a few hex keys and wrenches in the car in case the hood needs to come off when I'm out and about.

A few folks have tried other solutions (below) which are much more ideal for this type of application, although I'll let you read their posts and get their feedback. I'm interested in trying these but it's very low on my list of priorities right now.
MR.812
jamesm
Mayor West

 

[Rttoys]

I've considered just a lynchpin or something like a cotter pinned setup but I worry that the hood would rattle like crazy.

I have tried it and it does. I didn’t even make it down my street and I turned around to put the bolts back in.

 

[Gtstorey]

I use butterfly nuts on mine. There is enough friction to hold the bolt in place and makes at least that portion of removal tooless.

 

[Rttoys]

That got me thinking.

how about a wing nut and wing bolt? Quick, tool less and secure.

 

[Gtstorey]

Make sure you have clearance. Mine wing nut rubs on my dash just a little so I angle the bolt until I can't. No dash and it's probably not an issue. If you have enough room you could even go a knob with threaded shaft or a thumb screw which would look better.

 

[Rauq]

I'm going to do something I don't like doing, and that's ask for input on something I haven't done a lot of diagnosis on.

I got my build powered up again, and the reverse lights are on all the time with the key on, regardless of whether the reverse switch on the trans is plugged in or not or even with the connectors on the plug jumpered. I double checked that the 8 pin coil pack harness connector, throttle body connector, engine harness power connector were all where they're supposed to be. The car fires up, too, which I think generally tells me that those connectors are in the right spot.

Any low hanging diagnostic fruit or easy checks to see if I'm missing something simple? I did have the powertrain out of the car and I'm hoping to avoid having to go back through the harness, but I will if I need to. Everything worked like it was supposed to before tearing it down.

 

[Corgithulhu]

From what I can tell in the wiring diagram, power goes to that backup switch, and then through light green wire to the backup bulbs. So if you can measure 12V at both pins on the switch, then that light green wire is getting power from somewhere. The pink wire at the backup light switch should have 12V switched by the key, and the light green wire should only get 12V when the switch is closed.

My guess is that light green wire is getting 12V somewhere. It seems like a relatively simple circuit.

It's weird the first diagram says pink/black going to the switch, then the second diagram says the switch just has pink coming in.

Edit: just to be thorough...that light green wire going to the interior rear view mirror is only on the Onstar (UE1 code) cars. It just goes to the logic board inside the mirror. IIRC, it gets thinned out when you do the harness. It shouldn't be a factor, regardless...tracing the light green wire which I assume you'll do anyways should be enough to rule it out.

 

[Gtstorey]

Make sure you have a good ground for the lights. I have seen a bad ground feed the tail lights through another light and ground through a relay basically putting the lights in series instead of parallel. Don’t know if these multiple light leds can do that.

 

[baustin]

Might be thinking wrong, but are the speed sensor and reverse switch on the transmission able to be swapped?

*it's been a while since I've touch anything in that area, it might not be possible*

 

[Ross]

The sensor on top has green and pink wires on it. That pink wire might have been red 16 years ago.

The sensor on the differential has yellow and purple wires.

 

[Corgithulhu]

Might be thinking wrong, but are the speed sensor and reverse switch on the transmission able to be swapped?

*it's been a while since I've touch anything in that area, it might not be possible*

I don't believe so. IIRC, the backup switch has a notch between the pins inside the connector. The speed sensor has a kind of slice of bread shape without a notch:

 

[OptimizePrime]

From the f23 writeup, don't know if it helps here

[GUIDE] F35 to F23 (with LSD) Transmission Swap

I'm at a good point where I believe this can be documented. I'm still trying to figure out how to get the Speedometer to work, so if any you guys have thoughts around this please share! FIXED! First, why would someone do this? Well, first is performance. Going from the F35 with Final Drive of...

dfkitcar.com

 

[Rauq]

Almost drivable again.

Now:

• Trans fluid
• New steering arms
• New lower rod end mounts
• Alignment
• Brake bias adjuster
• Bleed brakes + clutch

Later:

• Shifter
• 3d print side panel mounts (in progress)
• Pulley
• Fuel injectors
• Heat exchanger mount
• Radiator grille
• Dye/UV protect seat covers
• Saturn Steering Motor
• Brake vacuum regulator

Done:

• LSD
• F23
• Timing chain tensioner
• Fuel pressure regulator
• Redesigned gauge pod
• Replace WB gauge splices with connector