WYGoblin's Extended City Frame Goblin - 08 SS/TC

WYGoblin

Well-Known Member
Hello all

I am new to the forum and figured I would start a build log. I am a mechanic by trade but went away from turning wrenches on cars to working on oil field compressors and generators. I came across the goblin watching Off the Ranch on You Tube. It intrigued me but was always too scared to price them out. I finally did and was surprised how affordable they were so started looking for a donor. I was going to just get a regular cobalt when I ran across a turbo one for $3000 about 200 miles away from me. So of course I went to check it out. Was a running and driving car and payed the guy and drove it 200 miles back to my home. The only real problem I found with the car, and possibly why they were selling it, was I couldn't fill the gas tank. Put on the lift and pulled the filler hose to inspect. Found someone tried to sugar the gas tank!! Cleaned the filler tube and gas tank. Luckily I found no sugar in the tank itself, the check valve stopped all the sugar. (Maybe I should buy a lottery ticket) So now that I had a donor it was time to order a kit. I am locked with chassis #142 YAY!!! My plans for the goblin are just to have a street car that I can autocross maybe a couple times a year. I have some friends up here that autocross and are trying to talk me into it, especially when I told them I am building a goblin. Hopefully I can start my tear down shortly but have to arrange and clean up the work area before I can.
 

Desert Sasqwatch

Goblin Guru
Greetings and welcome to the forum. Great to see you are well on your way with a kit on order and a good deal on a donor. Where in Wyoming are you located?
 

WYGoblin

Well-Known Member
I am in southwest WY. Green River, WY. I hope to make some quick progress on the build but I am pretty sure it wont be done before snow flies. (especially since it just snowed yesterday lol)
 

WYGoblin

Well-Known Member
Well the trip to DF went pretty good. Lonnie and Adam were great :D. Got to ride in a goblin for the first time and wow I am impressed. Now the drive back was an interesting one. Had 2 blow outs on the uhaul trailer I was pulling. Waiting for uhaul put me over 8 hours behind on my trip back. I do have a question about my donor though. Talking to Lonnie he said that the turbo ss has a boost gauge but mine does not. Has anyone else seen them without the gauge. Maybe mine is a very bottom of the line ss lol. Haven't started to tear down the donor yet but figured I would include some pics of it.
 

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Desert Sasqwatch

Goblin Guru
I spy an RS Camaro on the trailer (RS lower valence), is it a 67 or 68?

Sounds like you had an adventure getting home, glad you made it safe and sound.

Someone on the Cobalt forum may have an answer about the boost gauge.
 

WYGoblin

Well-Known Member
Thank you and Good eye. It is a 68. Brought it up from Midland, TX. Has a low compression 383 in it. Going to put a pro charger on and see what it does :D. I will probably just put a aftermarket boost gauge on unless it has the wiring for it and I can find one for cheap.
 

Desert Sasqwatch

Goblin Guru
Check the Cobalt forum classifieds, you may be able to find the factory gauge cheap from someone doing an upgrade - and it will plug right in with no connector fumbling.
 

WYGoblin

Well-Known Member
Hopefully this weekend I can start to tear into it a little bit and see if there is a plug for the boost gauge. Been working way too much lately so i haven't been able to do much with it .
 

Motoracer110

Well-Known Member
Nice to meet you down in Texas! That color you chose on the frame is sweet. I can’t believe how fast the goblin was when Lonny took me for a ride. I don’t regret digging into this project one bit :)
 

WYGoblin

Well-Known Member
I was very nice to meet another builder. I really like the color too. Have to figure out how to fix one little spot where the blanket wore through and damaged the powder coat though . At least it is not very big. That supercharged goblin was definitely fast. I am excited to get mine done just next more free time now
 

WYGoblin

Well-Known Member
Well been a while since I posted. Finally got to start disassembly. Once I started going it seemed to just move along. Wish I had some buddies to give me a hand but at least they didn't have to put up with me singing along with the radio. Got the powertrain out, which was my biggest fear without some extra hands just to be safe but the quickjacks worked pretty good. Just set the car on the dolly and unbolted the engine and transmission mounts then lifted the car off of it. :D After I got the powertrain out I decided to tackle the dash. While I was trying to figure out how to get the dash out like the video showed and not having a second set of hands I decided to strip the dash in the car. Wasn't too bad actually. by the time I noticed I had the dash in pieces on the ground and the heaviest thing I had to lift was the steering column with the power steering unit still attached to it. All I have left really is to get the body harness out so I can get it shipped off to Lonnie to rework, but got too late and got it about halfway out. Today I was going to go finish it but weather stopped that. Was down to the teens today and no heat in the unit I am working in. :( Hopefully finish it in the next couple of days, weather permitting. All in all it hasn't been too bad. Have about 8.5 hours in it so far. Pile of parts is growing lol
Was going to replace the clutch and timing set while the engine was out. Any suggestions on what type of clutch, brand type etc, and if anyone is running an aluminum flywheel. Don't know if the aluminum flywheel is worth it or not, being such a light car. I probably will be doing upgrades in the near future after getting it on the road. I just cant seem to keep things "stock" lol. Not looking to get 585 hp but a nice 350-400 would be nice :D. Any other suggestions to do to the engine or transmission while I have it out. It will be cleaned and painted also. Have to have it look good where everyone can see it
 

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Christopher Sanchez

Well-Known Member
Your donor is very interesting, I owned a couple of these little cars over the last 10 years and they all come standard with either a digital or analog boost gauge. Also come with “SS” seats up front.. the emblems on the doors were removed along with the front lip. It has me thinking either the previous owner was trying to get it to look like an base cobalt or maybe swapped parts to another car. haha. Either way you got all of the important drivetrain components and from your fuel fill tube discovery sounds like you got very lucky and now have a nice donor! Good stuff. With opal injectors and a ZZP turbo swap/tune you should be able to hit your HP goal. However stock is plenty to get yourself in trouble in these things haha
 

WYGoblin

Well-Known Member
Yeah I was thinking the same thing when I asked Lonnie about the boost gauge. I did find the plug for it in the a pillar though. I think I am going to try to find a stock boost gauge to put in. I have seen a couple as here that look like mine. Not sure if they were turbocharged or n/a though. I was thinking the same with the turbo upgrade and opal injectors. Maybe the upgraded coils too. I still want to drive it first and have some fun with it. Maybe next winter would be a good time to do it if I get to drive it next summer. If I make good progress this winter it might get drove in freezing temps cause it would be hard for me to wait for spring lol.
 

Christopher Sanchez

Well-Known Member
I drove mine yesterday to work and I know it doesn’t compare to the weather you see but the 30mile commute home in 34degree weather was a bit rough. Still fun despite “0” traction.
 

WYGoblin

Well-Known Member
Well I got the rest of the car stripped today. Started to load the car back up with the pieces I do not need to keep or sell. I was debating on putting the doors back on but not sure if I need all the bolts out of the door hinges. I looked at selling the extra parts but there is not a market for them where I am at, so to the scrap yard it goes :(. Glad I did get it done today as tomorrow the high is supposed to be 9 deg with a low of -5. Now comes the clean and organize all the parts so I can find them when I go back together. (I know I will be losing something, always seems to happen to me lol).
 

Christopher Sanchez

Well-Known Member
Just be sure to save your shift cables and parking brake assembly. DF supplies new shift cables but you will re use the cobalts shift cable connectors. If you purchase DF’s parking brake kit you will reuse the lever and cables.. The tear down is definitely fun but now comes the exciting part!
 
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