For what it's worth, it's been a VERY busy summer... glad to see so many other builds going and a lot of info for me to take in from other's experiences. I had to put aside the Goblin build for a bit to work other things [house, jobs schedule, WRX mods].
Was able to get all the donor parts spray painted and I think I am settling on a build color combination scheme [Blue w/ White accents]
I checked local Powder Coating shops and most of the qoutes are WAAAYYY outside my budget for this project ( which honestly i planned for a full Rattle Can job ) .... So I found that the donor parts are pretty much all coated in this stuff...
I found that the fuel filler neck has a baffle which i dont think will bother me... but if anyone has more info as to why I should definetly replace it then I will. I suppose that a fast fuel fill up is not a priority for me during this build process...
I found that the lower control arm bushings were shot to hell and absolutely unacceptable... still considering the cost difference between trying to simply replace the bushings or getting upgraded lower control arms that cobalt drivers prefer to replace OEM with
a full shot of the setup for spraying the parts down, not entirely satisfied with the final outcome but as they say... " Good 'nuff for gov'ment work"
I figured that as time goes on I would be upgrading and replacing as the opportunity presents itself for many of the donor parts
while I am waiting on the logistics to get the frame shipped (yay!) I figured I would take the heat sheild off from the exhaust header... but stuff was in the way, thank goodness the Mechanics Manual had the steps to remove the exhaust. but i was unaware what a secondary air injection system was and how prevalent it was in modern cars... I'm chekcing to see if this is something I can easily delete or if it is actually beneficial to the goblin build.
Stolen image from
https://www.autocodes.com/qa/?qa=blob&qa_blobid=6121101915323646739
the frame itself should be in by the end of the month and I am hoping to start a youtube vlog (non monetized, not for general consumption) to go along and help me document the process further... I can already see myself getting carried away with assembly and getting too into the zone :- )
EDIT: have been doing a bit of research related to the 2.2 ecotec L61
-found out about the chain tensioner fails and should be upgraded
-gutting ing the AC might be desired over removing it altogether... I'm still undecided on this subject
-forced induction add-ons for later after the thing is built... only supercharging makes sense for this engine
-playing around with the idea of a 2.4 intake manifold swap, not sure if this is feasible