Ark :D
Goblin Guru
This thread just boggles my mind.
I completely disagree with the OP's opinion. Guy probably read a single, 3-page build log and thought that was all the "research" he needed to do before buying his kit. Regardless, I'd like to try to turn this into something positive/constructive.
I'm a 43-year-old IT guy (network admin) by trade, with a wife of nearly 20 years and a 13-year-old daughter. Prior to the Goblin, I would have fallen into the "novice - has only changed his oil" camp. I struggled with parts of my build, including buying a first donor with a ruined engine, ruining my first harness and having to source a second one (that was not easy), and other things. My build log has like 20 pages of electrical troubleshooting, all courtesy of the good people of this forum. I had several calls (not initiated by me!) with DF, to discuss what was going on and what direction I should go next. One of the biggest contributors to actually fixing my electrical issue, was a guy on this forum who does not own a Goblin and is not even in the market for one. If THAT is not a giving, caring community, I don't know what is and frankly, I find it incredibly insulting that the original poster would even state that the help here made it worse. Consider that a burnt bridge, as far as I am concerned.
Yet, despite the above, I persevered and now have a fun, fair-weather car that I am proud to drive and show off. All because of the help I received from DF and from the forum in particular. Nobody has ever asked me a question about, or been caught staring at, either of my daily drivers ... but that happens every time I get this car out of the garage.
Thank you again, DF and forum members, for everything. DF, you gave me a "midlife crisis" outlet, something for me to "do different" in my day-to-day life and something to relieve the boredom I was seeing from working behind a computer screen every day. And forum, you gave me all the help I could ask for on a daily basis, without asking for anything in return and without a single hint of judgment. I try to remember this every day when someone around me needs help with something. I also try to pay it forward as much as possible on this forum, even though there are people better suited to help with most things.
As far as the kit being misrepresented on the intro page and in the ordering process, I have very few complaints. There's only a couple things I can think of to offer up. In no particular order:
Sorry for the long post.
I completely disagree with the OP's opinion. Guy probably read a single, 3-page build log and thought that was all the "research" he needed to do before buying his kit. Regardless, I'd like to try to turn this into something positive/constructive.
I'm a 43-year-old IT guy (network admin) by trade, with a wife of nearly 20 years and a 13-year-old daughter. Prior to the Goblin, I would have fallen into the "novice - has only changed his oil" camp. I struggled with parts of my build, including buying a first donor with a ruined engine, ruining my first harness and having to source a second one (that was not easy), and other things. My build log has like 20 pages of electrical troubleshooting, all courtesy of the good people of this forum. I had several calls (not initiated by me!) with DF, to discuss what was going on and what direction I should go next. One of the biggest contributors to actually fixing my electrical issue, was a guy on this forum who does not own a Goblin and is not even in the market for one. If THAT is not a giving, caring community, I don't know what is and frankly, I find it incredibly insulting that the original poster would even state that the help here made it worse. Consider that a burnt bridge, as far as I am concerned.
Yet, despite the above, I persevered and now have a fun, fair-weather car that I am proud to drive and show off. All because of the help I received from DF and from the forum in particular. Nobody has ever asked me a question about, or been caught staring at, either of my daily drivers ... but that happens every time I get this car out of the garage.
Thank you again, DF and forum members, for everything. DF, you gave me a "midlife crisis" outlet, something for me to "do different" in my day-to-day life and something to relieve the boredom I was seeing from working behind a computer screen every day. And forum, you gave me all the help I could ask for on a daily basis, without asking for anything in return and without a single hint of judgment. I try to remember this every day when someone around me needs help with something. I also try to pay it forward as much as possible on this forum, even though there are people better suited to help with most things.
As far as the kit being misrepresented on the intro page and in the ordering process, I have very few complaints. There's only a couple things I can think of to offer up. In no particular order:
- Remove the "no drilling" graphic. Immediately under that graphic, the true requirements are stated in text: "The Goblin is Easy - No welding or fabrication skills are required." As the kit stands now, drilling is required to install the side panels (though I'd recommend going to a different mounting system - just include some rubber-coated clamps when customers include the OPTIONAL side panels). Running a drill through some places after painting/powder-coating is a must. And I'd say an impact drill is needed, as minimum, for donor disassembly.
- On the Goblin Build Process page, it's stated partway down: "What special tools do I need? An average set of home mechanics tools can get you through the stripping process." I am nitpicking at this point, but I don't view that as entirely accurate. You need (I think) a T50 Torx driver to get the seat belt bolts out of the donor. You need a 35mm socket to get the axle nuts off of TC donors (maybe SC too, not sure). Possibly re-wording or removing that statement would be best.
- The only other item I was going to mention here was going to be "complete the videos". The original video series ended at the front suspension I think, and I know there was a second set of videos in production to cover each individual model. Since my car has been done for two years now, I haven't paid much attention to the state of the videos ... but I went and looked at DF's YouTube channel before writing this section and there's a LOT more assembly videos now. Kudos DF! I don't know if they are "complete" at this point or not, but they are in a much better place now, than when I was building.
Sorry for the long post.
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