Ross's extended city, easy entry Goblin- 06 SS/SC, NW Arkansas

Ross

Goblin Guru
Drove 5.5 hours today with the goblin in tow, had several drivers checking it out as they passed. 2 of them rolled down their windows to give me a thumbs up! I have never had a bad experience with someone boxing me in to chat, but I'm pretty extraverted, and don't mind talking to people. Before I ordered my kit, I crossed off the small print saying that I had to let people drive mine.
 

Ross

Goblin Guru
Goblin Gal didn't catch a picture of this car that snuck in the back door.
I have been raiding the parts bins and trying to stump Lonny.
Swapping and hopping. Swapping parts, and hopping tires.
I still don't know what I have done to mad max (my goblin) to make it hop, but we have eliminated many possible parts.
Can't believe I stole Lonny for a whole day out of his schedule, but he is super dedicated to the product!
23195

What we did today:
- removed my thick wheel spacers, and brought the tires in closer to the frame. Did this by using some DF modified hubs with the 5x114.3 pattern.
- Lonny had custom A arms made for the top, 1" shorter, to change the kingpin angle, to help accommodate for my wide tires.
Hopefully this picture explains it better than I do. The green arrow should point to the middle of the tire tread. Wider tires need more angle.
23197

- new lower A arms
- new heim joints on both A arms.
- new shocks, new springs
- new beefier billet arms that steers the uprights... goes to the steering rack... can't remember its real name this late at night.
- new stainless brake lines to replace my rubber ones.
- new brake rotors, new brake pads
- borrowed wheels and tires that are a more normal size for a goblin
Lots of quick test drives, multiple drivers.
Tomorrow: brake booster, steering rack... keep swapping until we win and hopping leaves mad max alone!
 

Ross

Goblin Guru
Wow. Just wow. 4 days of thrashing on my Goblin at the DF factory. Lonny and everyone there have treated me like I belonged there, like I am family. I arrived with a very perplexing problem and left with a solution. I didn't know if I had brought a damaged vehicle, a worn out vehicle, or an improperly assembled vehicle. I did know that wheels aren't suppose to hop up in the air when braking. That has ceased on my mad Max goblin. Every day Lonny would have a new plan to attempt to beat this hopping issue. Yesterday he offered me a full frame replacement. Amazing customer support! But I figured if it was the frame, we could weld repair it without going to the extent of a full replacement. After all, I did paint it so I can make changes to it.

Today's plan was to make the rear end of the goblin more stable. My big balloon tires have a lot of sidewall flex, and the shocks appear to be worn out. 200K miles will do that. The rear was just springs. BC shocks fixed that.

The AT version of the goblin has 2 front bars to strengthen the front end. Suede welded in an AT bar on the passenger side, and made a custom one on the drivers side because my clutch pedal was in the way of the standard AT one. These 2 bars stiffened up my front end, and the BC coils controlled the rear. That changed the whole car. I also had my frame converted to a full cage, but can't really say I noticed much difference to the braking issue.
23271


I have been wanting to add a hood. The trip home was concerning me, as rain is in the forecast. I really would like to play on the autocross course on Saturday, and rain in the BCM might prevent that. I was looking for a damaged, or crusty, affordable hood. Look what we found! An old blue and white one, a perfect fit for my color scheme! You barely even can recognize it is my mad Max car.
23273
 
Last edited:

SmsDetroit

Goblin Guru
That is amazing. I’m so glad I got a goblin and not another kit car. I hope I never have problems like you have but the fact that I sent my money to DF makes me happy because of how they treat their people.
 

JBINTX

Goblin Guru
Wow. Just wow. 4 days of thrashing on my Goblin at the DF factory. Lonny and everyone there have treated me like I belonged there, like I am family. I arrived with a very perplexing problem and left with a solution. I didn't know if I had brought a damaged vehicle, a worn out vehicle, or an improperly assembled vehicle. I did know that wheels aren't suppose to hop up in the air when braking. That has ceased on my mad Max goblin. Every day Lonny would have a new plan to attempt to beat this hopping issue. Yesterday he offered me a full frame replacement. Amazing customer support! But I figured if it was the frame, we could weld repair it without going to the extent of a full replacement. After all, I did paint it so I can make changes to it.

Today's plan was to make the rear end of the goblin more stable. My big balloon tires have a lot of sidewall flex, and the shocks appear to be worn out. 200K miles will do that. The rear was just springs. BC shocks fixed that.

The AT version of the goblin has 2 front bars to strengthen the front end. Suede welded in an AT bar on the passenger side, and made a custom one on the drivers side because my clutch pedal was in the way of the standard AT one. These 2 bars stiffened up my front end, and the BC coils controlled the rear. That changed the whole car. I also had my frame converted to a full cage, but can't really say I noticed much difference to the braking issue.
View attachment 23271

I have been wanting to add a hood. The trip home was concerning me, as rain is in the forecast. I really would like to play on the autocross course on Saturday, and rain in the BCM might prevent. I was looking for a damaged, or crusty, affordable hood. Look what we found! An old blue and white one, a perfect fit for my color scheme! You barely even can recognize it is my mad Max car.
View attachment 23273
Out of curiosity, what exactly fixed the wheel hop issue then? The front AT bars? The shocks?
Ross, that was just amazing. The persistence of you and DF is phenomenal.
I can’t wait to see some more chapters to this story!!!
 

Ark :D

Goblin Guru
That's really great news, Ross. I'm glad you guys got it worked out. And awesome to hear yet another tale of epic customer support from DF!
 

Ross

Goblin Guru
Out of curiosity, what exactly fixed the wheel hop issue then? The front AT bars? The shocks?
I think it was a multiple issues that all came together to create a hopping mad max goblin.
I bought the softest frame DF makes (city, extended, easy entry) and then put big wheel spacers and tires on it.
Took an old donor with worn out wheel bearings, worn out shocks, put those parts on, then went to the autocross races, and drove it aggressively.
So a bunch of decisions created the braking issue on the autocross course.
 

Desert Sasqwatch

Goblin Guru
There is no other company in the automotive industry who would do what Lonny and DF has done for you Ross. That is the reason this Goblin family is loyal to their product and have nothing but 5-star things to say about the company and the people who work there. It is fantastic that Lonny took the time to work this problem with you and got it resolved. It also can pay dividends to any future tweaks to the design to help prohibit this from recurring. Great work! :D
 

Desert Sasqwatch

Goblin Guru
Ross, where do you and Lonny think the frame was flexing, in the vertical (z) axis or the lateral (y) axis? Was the flex in the frame between the front a-arm mounts and the dash bar or the dash bar and the b-pillar rollbar hoop?
I'm very curious about this, since I have already put a diagonal brace tube between the upper rear a-arm mount and the dash bar at the a-pillar front hoop on my frame (funny thing is no one has ever commented on it though it is visible in many pictures I've posted). This just looks right to me, adding some z-axis stiffness at the front of the frame - and yes the EPS motor does fit nicely in the gap under the diagonal bar. I'm wondering if adding the AT bars would add any benefit versus added weight to the y-axis and frame twist stiffness.
Here I go again with more ideas and potential mods...seems these are never ending. Just glad that Mad Max is a little more under control when hard braking now. :cool:
 

Ross

Goblin Guru
The front tires were taking turns stepping on the road, so I think I was twisting longitudinally. The back was on springs, so maybe that contributed to the left/right oscillations.
 
Last edited:

Desert Sasqwatch

Goblin Guru
That is definitely a longitudinal twist which means the AT bars would be of the greatest benefit, as general rule. Guessing that adding in the track frame halo with the a-pillar to b-pillar tie-in helped on your easy entry frame. ;)
 
Last edited:

Desert Sasqwatch

Goblin Guru
Mad Max looks so different with the track halo and hood and side panels. Great that you tested the 'fix' under track conditions and the brakes work now. :)
 
Top