Snirtman's Extended Track Frame #466 - 06 SS/SC

[snirtman]

Hello fellow Goblin-ers. I don’t have my frame yet, but I’ve been hanging around the forum for about a year now, so I kind of feel like part of the family already. After what seemed like an eternity searching for a donor (part of the problem is not being sure what donor would be best – Std/SS/SC/TC/manual/auto) my son found me a donor on FB marketplace (I don’t do any social media). It was a 2006 SS/SC with only 115k on it. It ran and drove, but was a rollover, so there was no fixing it. The only unbroken piece of glass left in it was the LH backseat window.

The CEL was on and it ran like poo, but a couple new vacuum hoses, a fresh set of plugs and some fresh gas fixed all that.

I took awhile to pull the trigger on my frame, partly because I didn’t know which one to get (I’m 6’2”, 250), but DF kind of made that decision for me when they discontinued the city frame. I would have loved to have been able to at least sit in a Goblin before buying one, but oh well. I think mine will be the 11th one in Michigan, but as far as I know I’ll be the only one on the west side of the state. Definitely planning to make it to the Woodward Cruise, though!

This is definitely going to be a budget build. At first, at least. I agree with many others on the forum who advise to get the car up a running before modding it, so that's the plan. I don’t know if I’ll be satisfied with a 200hp Goblin. My last bike was a Honda CBR954RR and my last snowmobile was a SkiDoo 800R. I’ve kind of gotten used to having plenty of power under me.

So I’ve started this build log. My frame is supposed to be delivered the week of the 12th (#466), but I’m nearly done with all the pre-build (donor is 100% disassembled, wiring is done). I cleaned the intake/PCV/laminovas and installed a dual pass, but I still have a timing set I want to change before the engine has to go into the frame.

First question I have is I’m wondering if there’s any other pre-build stuff I can do while the frame is at the powdercoater? Things like assembling the radiator, etc?

I suspect I’ll be reaching out to the forum for help with the inevitable wiring issue(s), so I’m thanking you guys in advance!

I'm sure I’ll also need to get some advice from the Michigan builders on registration/licensing when the time comes.

 

[Gtstorey]

Just for clarification, the city frame refers to “open frame” without halo bar, not chassis size. It’s still available, at least on the website.

 

[Mahkoi]

Welcome to the michigan club. I've got it posted in the michigan builders section I believe but feel free to give me a shout when it's time to register if you have questions. The way I did it I accidentally skipped the state inspector step and it all worked out and the SoS was happy.

 

[Desert Sasqwatch]

Welcome to the forum! That's the perfect donor for a Goblin - one that will never be a driver Cobalt ever again. Sounds like you have a good start on the build with all of the prep work, your Goblin should go together quickly. Be sure to include your son in the build, this will be a good project for him to gain some knowledge and quality time working with Dad.

 

[snirtman]

Welcome to the forum! That's the perfect donor for a Goblin - one that will never be a driver Cobalt ever again. Sounds like you have a good start on the build with all of the prep work, your Goblin should go together quickly. Be sure to include your son in the build, this will be a good project for him to gain some knowledge and quality time working with Dad.

My son has a little more than a passive interest in the project. He and some buddies like to get together at Grattan Raceway (2-mile road course in mid-Michigan) and drive their cars during open track days, so I have a feeling he's going to be talking me into going out there with him. There's no racing, just an opportunity to go fast and improve driving skills. Kinda looking forward to it actually.

 

[Jr Green]

We took a chance on a rollover as well but it turned out to be a great donor. Best of luck in your build!

 

[Rttoys]

Cut the top off and take it for a spin.

stepping up the power is a good practice. I also come from a heavy power to weight background, riding liter bikes for over 20 years. One of my street bikes is a highly mod’ed FZ1 and one of my track bikes is a Ducati 996s. A stock LSJ you have already is a great place to start. Once you get use to the power (shouldn’t take long), it doesn’t take much to step it up significantly. A smaller supercharger pulley, larger injectors and programming will get you where most of us are at, which does take a little bit of time to get use to. Be sure to run sticky tires. The softer the better. The instant power of the LSJ can come out from under you quickly.

while the engine is out, I would go ahead and upgrade the intercooler system with a dual pass end plate and while the end plate is off, I would clean the laminova cores, too.

ZZP LSJ Dual Pass Intercooler Plate Kit

ZZPerformance had a new end plate casted so we do not have to hack up a used stock plate, weld fittings on it, then thread ugly fittings into it. Ours is a new bolt on unit with no core charge! The OEM liquid to air laminova intercooler flows in series and our dual pass plate kit converts it to...

zzperformance.com

 

[snirtman]

Cut the top off and take it for a spin.

stepping up the power is a good practice. I also come from a heavy power to weight background, riding liter bikes for over 20 years. One of my street bikes is a highly mod’ed FZ1 and one of my track bikes is a Ducati 996s. A stock LSJ you have already is a great place to start. Once you get use to the power (shouldn’t take long), it doesn’t take much to step it up significantly. A smaller supercharger pulley, larger injectors and programming will get you where most of us are at, which does take a little bit of time to get use to. Be sure to run sticky tires. The softer the better. The instant power of the LSJ can come out from under you quickly.

while the engine is out, I would go ahead and upgrade the intercooler system with a dual pass end plate and while the end plate is off, I would clean the laminova cores, too.

ZZP LSJ Dual Pass Intercooler Plate Kit

ZZPerformance had a new end plate casted so we do not have to hack up a used stock plate, weld fittings on it, then thread ugly fittings into it. Ours is a new bolt on unit with no core charge! The OEM liquid to air laminova intercooler flows in series and our dual pass plate kit converts it to...

zzperformance.com

I live only about 15 minutes from ZZP, so I stopped in before buying my donor to chat with them about best donor choice. I talked with Ryan for quite awhile and after discussing pros/cons of the different choices (basically LAP/LE5/LSJ/LNF) we agreed that LSJ would probably be the best choice for best stock power as well as best base to build bigger power. He's also a fan of the LNF, but I wasn't. Ryan was very generous with his time and advice, so my opinion of those guys went up quite a bit.

Just a bit of trivia - Ryan said that the LSJ bottom end is about the strongest there is. Their Ecotec builder (Al) is using a stock block and crank in his 600+hp roll racer, and some dragracer is using an LSJ as a base for his 2000hp Cobalt. And another LSJ holds the record for fastest 4-cyl in the world. 6.07sec in the 1/4 on 80 lb of boost. Yeah, I'm not doing that.

Based on my previous vehicles (bike was 150hp/400lb, snowmobile was 160hp/500lb) I can see myself looking for a future power upgrade for my Goblin. I'll have to decide between getting more out of the SC and just skipping straight to the turbo swap. My son wants me to twin-charge it (have a turbo feed the SC), but I don't think I have the budget for that. At the end of the day I have to have a car that is still streetable, not just an uncontrollable track car.

 

[Rttoys]

Yep. Availability, huge aftermarket and overall strength was the reason I went with the LSJ. As much as I like the LNF’s power right out of the box, I really think if I build much bigger, the LSJ is the way to go. I would like to hit about 300hp and I think I would be set. 300 is a ton for these cars. Just a guessament, I’m probably at 250 now at best and that is a ton of fun.

 

[snirtman]

Hello fellow Goblin-ers. I don’t have my frame yet, but I’ve been hanging around the forum for about a year now, so I kind of feel like part of the family already. After what seemed like an eternity searching for a donor (part of the problem is not being sure what donor would be best – Std/SS/SC/TC/manual/auto) my son found me a donor on FB marketplace (I don’t do any social media). It was a 2006 SS/SC with only 115k on it. It ran and drove, but was a rollover, so there was no fixing it. The only unbroken piece of glass left in it was the LH backseat window.

View attachment 38879

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The CEL was on and it ran like poo, but a couple new vacuum hoses, a fresh set of plugs and some fresh gas fixed all that.

I took awhile to pull the trigger on my frame, partly because I didn’t know which one to get (I’m 6’2”, 250), but DF kind of made that decision for me when they discontinued the city frame. I would have loved to have been able to at least sit in a Goblin before buying one, but oh well. I think mine will be the 11th one in Michigan, but as far as I know I’ll be the only one on the west side of the state. Definitely planning to make it to the Woodward Cruise, though!

This is definitely going to be a budget build. At first, at least. I agree with many others on the forum who advise to get the car up a running before modding it, so that's the plan. I don’t know if I’ll be satisfied with a 200hp Goblin. My last bike was a Honda CBR954RR and my last snowmobile was a SkiDoo 800R. I’ve kind of gotten used to having plenty of power under me.

So I’ve started this build log. My frame is supposed to be delivered the week of the 12th (#466), but I’m nearly done with all the pre-build (donor is 100% disassembled, wiring is done). I cleaned the intake/PCV/laminovas and installed a dual pass, but I still have a timing set I want to change before the engine has to go into the frame.

First question I have is I’m wondering if there’s any other pre-build stuff I can do while the frame is at the powdercoater? Things like assembling the radiator, etc?

I suspect I’ll be reaching out to the forum for help with the inevitable wiring issue(s), so I’m thanking you guys in advance!

I'm sure I’ll also need to get some advice from the Michigan builders on registration/licensing when the time comes.

So this probably falls into the WTF#$^^!!! category...

The tire sticker in the door jamb of my SS/SC says the car came with 215/45-18 tires:

The clown who I bought the car from had fitted it with 225/55-17 snow tires:

During disassembly I thought the tires came awfully close to the struts:

And during cleanup I find out yeah, maybe that's a little too close.

Holy balls, how do you not notice that while driving? The tire wear, the smell of melting rubber... Geez.

 

[Desert Sasqwatch]

Hard to tell through the rust, but maybe a little angle grinder work was done to get them to fit by someone. It would take more than just one set of tires rubbing to get through the steel spring cup. Wow!

 

[Ark :D]

Hope you're going with the BC coilovers...!

 

[SmsDetroit]

Welcome. I try to put a group of use Michiganders together for Woodward cruise. Last year we went out on Thursday. There were 6 of us I total and I hope to have more this year

 

[snirtman]

Just a quick update on the build. Got my frame back from powdercoat after about 10 days. I think they did a great job. Frame is gloss black, all accessories (brackets, floor panels, back panels, side panels, etc) are satin black and a few parts (valve cover and toe link bar) are red. They blasted all the parts, primed with a zinc-based primer and then color coat. I also had them blast my rear aluminum knuckles and the DF exhaust. The whole kit and caboodle was $700. The rear knuckles I will rattle can and the exhaust is getting rattle can exhaust paint.

Here's the before and after on the engine parts:

After day 1 of the build there wasn't much to report. Basically just pulled the cooling hoses, riveted in the floor pans and installed the steering rack. No surprises or issues other than having to grind out more clearance in the firewall for the steering shaft.

Day 2 was a different story. Whoever DF has bending brake lines is apparently high on something because they are all way off. The T at the back of the tunnel was about 1.5 inches too long. Had to put several bends in the line going down the tunnel to shorten it. The other end of the line was a solid 2" below the master cylinder:

So the bottom of that line got bent quite a bit to make it fit:

And the clutch line was a solid 3" too long:

So that line got rerouted to the front side of the front crossmember and rebent:

Looks a little goofy, but it should work. Now I'm kinda curious how bad the trans end of the clutch line is going to fit... *fingers crossed*

 

[Sluggonaut]

I remember mine being long at just about every connection too, but it's brake line, so it's easy to bend to fit. I think they do that on purpose because imagine the challenge you'd have if they were too short by those same dimensions.

 

[Metal Mech]

I am just a big jealous. I am on my second powder coat shop, fourth week and about $950. Thats just the frame and all the extra metal bits from stage one.

Looking good so far, love the valve cover. going to get mine done as well. I know it will be hidden most of the time, but I do love a clean looking engine.

 

[comegetjoe]

Valve cover does look pretty cool.

 

[snirtman]

Something just doesn't look right here. Engine is in, subframe is in, steering "rack" bar and rear LCAs are in and all are torqued down. I loosely fit the bearings, struts and knuckles to get a preliminary position for the tie rod ends and they seem to be a long ways out (only about one diameter (1/2") of thread engagement):

What did I do wrong?

 

[Gtstorey]

You use the Donor tie rod ends in the back and the new ones in the front (if I remember correctly).

 

[Rttoys]

You use the Donor tie rod ends in the back and the new ones in the front (if I remember correctly).

Yep