V1 Benjy's Track Chassis #007 - 10 SS/TC donor

[benjy]

Hello all! I'm excited to be officially joining the community with a build log. Back in 2010 when I finished my undergrad program, I built a rock crawler. It was a fun way reward myself for all that book work, and create something with my hands. I'm an Accountant, and really need to do something other than stare at a computer screen when I get home from work. It ended up with a 6.0L LQ4, TH400 trans, Atlas 2 speed t-case, D60 front/14B rear, detroits, coilovers, air bumps, custom cage, boatsides, etc. It was a ton of fun to build and play with. I sold that off a few years ago because life changes... it's not a very kid friendly hobby when it gets that extreme.

As I have been wrapping up a master's program, so I thought it would be fun to take on another car project. The goblin checked all the boxes for me. I really didn't want to do a lot of metal fabrication on this project. I love that the goblin is more wrenching than fabbing. I was still toying with the idea when the deal of the century was posted on the forum in February. I sent him a deposit within 2 hours of the ad being listed. I picked it up in early March, driving the donor home 600+ miles from Denver to Southern Utah with the chassis and parts in the back of a friend's truck.

I wrapped up the master's about a month and a half ago, but have had a really hard time finding a groove of when to work on it. I'd wrench most of a Saturday, then feel the wrath of neglecting the family. I have 6 year old twin girls, and have found it a lot harder to come by time to build than my pre-kid life when I built the Jeep. However, week before last I decided to try working on it in the mornings before work, and I think I finally found my groove. I have been getting up at 5am, working for about an hour, then getting off to work. It can be frustrating only getting a little done each day, but being able to consistently work on it, I feel like I'm making steady progress. Just this morning I wrapped up thinning the main harness.

The goal of this build is a fun car for casual drives and fair weather commuting. I live in St. George, Utah, where we have very mild winters, and hot, but short summers. We have a solid 6 months of amazing driving weather. On to the pics!

One of my favorite pics of the Jeep, on Pritchett Canyon in Moab:

Parked at the hotel parking lot in Denver, getting ready to drive the journey home:

Getting tucked away in the garage to wait out the completion of schooling:

After stripping the donor, I found loading it on a trailer was much easier than I anticipated. The rear end was already jacked up, so I just built a heavy duty furniture dolley from 2x6's and caster wheels, backed the trailer up to it, and lifted the front end with an engine hoist and pushed the car onto the trailer, couldn't have been easier:

And the current state of wiring. Which, by the way has been a lot more rewarding than I anticipated. So far I've only been thinning, but I have really enjoyed it.

 

[ctuinstra]

You'll find that after the tear down and clean up and the harness, the build up goes pretty quick and is easy to see a lot of progress in just an hour of time. When you get to that point, you will be over the hump. Keep that goal in mind. You are off to a great start and you will be building in no time. The only issue is you will want to spend more than a hour during the actual build and it will be hard to keep to that limit. As long as you don't bog yourself down with too many customizations. There are some the spend over a year on a build because they are making so many custom plans and parts. That's fine if that's what they want to do, but when limited on time, it sure can slow you down. We spent a lot of time on custom stuff mainly because we were waiting almost six months for our frame (back in the early days of DF).

 

[ctuinstra]

What is your donor? Supercharged?

 

[benjy]

You are off to a great start and you will be building in no time. The only issue is you will want to spend more than a hour during the actual build and it will be hard to keep to that limit.

I agree! Once the build starts rolling and I start seeing real progress, it will be hard to break away after an hour.

What is your donor? Supercharged?

Turbo, updated the title to reflect that.

 

[Murcielago311]

Fellow accountant here, it's been difficult during these work-from-home times not to pop into the garage for awhile...

 

[JBINTX]

Welcome, Benjy.

 

[Briann1177]

IT guy here. I know exactly what you mean about staring at a computer screen all day. Zion and Highway 9 are way up there on my goto list.

Welcome!

 

[benjy]

IT guy here. I know exactly what you mean about staring at a computer screen all day. Zion and Highway 9 are way up there on my goto list.

Welcome!

There are some pretty amazing roads between Zion, Bryce Canyon and Cedar Breaks that would be breathtaking in an open top car. I've considered offering to host a 2021 Goblin meetup. It would be quite a journey for the bulk of builders that seem to be in the midwest, but it would definitely be a worthwhile unforgettable experience.

 

[Desert Sasqwatch]

Ben, welcome to the Goblin family. A southern Utah meet would be fantastic, there are plenty of Arizona builders who may want to make the drive up your way. It is beautiful country around St. George and points east. Depending upon when this could be scheduled, I will attend pending the completion of my Goblin.

 

[Rttoys]

Hello all! I'm excited to be officially joining the community with a build log. Back in 2010 when I finished my undergrad program, I built a rock crawler. It was a fun way reward myself for all that book work, and create something with my hands. I'm an Accountant, and really need to do something other than stare at a computer screen when I get home from work. It ended up with a 6.0L LQ4, TH400 trans, Atlas 2 speed t-case, D60 front/14B rear, detroits, coilovers, air bumps, custom cage, boatsides, etc. It was a ton of fun to build and play with. I sold that off a few years ago because life changes... it's not a very kid friendly hobby when it gets that extreme.

One of my favorite pics of the Jeep, on Pritchett Canyon in Moab:

View attachment 14322

cool rig. I was into the rock crawl’n stuff For a good while, but as always, things change. I still play off road a little bit, but it’s mostly farm related, so not nearly as fun.

Since you are way closer than me, have you been to KOH?

 

[WYGoblin]

There are some pretty amazing roads between Zion, Bryce Canyon and Cedar Breaks that would be breathtaking in an open top car. I've considered offering to host a 2021 Goblin meetup. It would be quite a journey for the bulk of builders that seem to be in the midwest, but it would definitely be a worthwhile unforgettable experience.

If you ever do plan a meet up in southern Utah I would be up for that. I live in SW Wyoming and the midwest meet ups I would love to go to but they are a little far away for me. Maybe one of these days.

 

[benjy]

Since you are way closer than me, have you been to KOH?

Nope, never attended. I've had a few friends compete, and I used to follow it closely, super cool event. A few weeks after I sold my Jeep, the guy that bought it from me sent me a video of him going up backdoor I always wanted to wheel at the hammers

 

[Rttoys]

Nope, never attended. I've had a few friends compete, and I used to follow it closely, super cool event. A few weeks after I sold my Jeep, the guy that bought it from me sent me a video of him going up backdoor I always wanted to wheel at the hammers

Lol. That sucks. I enjoy watching the backdoor challenge, but now it that other one, that seems like a total shitshow. It was a pretty good KOH this year. **** that thing is grueling. I’d like to make it out there sometime, but logically I can’t see it happening for me.

 

[benjy]

Wiring has been going smoothly so far! I'm on video 9 and I have loved the step by step instructions.

I have a friend in town that wanted to lend a hand, so I skipped ahead a few steps Pulling the hose through was a pain, but we got 'er done. I've heard heat helps, and my garage was over 90* all day.

 

[benjy]

Wiring harness complete

Unloaded the carcass today after getting the title back from the dmv, that felt almost as good as finishing the harness!

I’m also feeling the pain of building an older kit that has been moved a couple times. I had to fab up a floor support that I didn’t have, luckily I had some 3/16 strap laying around. And so far I’ve had some missing hardware, luckily I pass by an ace hardware and Napa on my commute home, I may become a regular at both places.

 

[Desert Sasqwatch]

Watching the donor carcass leave is a major milestone in the process, one of the first big ones. Sorry to hear you're missing hardware, but hey, gives you the chance to do some mods/upgrades.

 

[benjy]

I’m only getting about half a turn on the master cylinder reservoir relocation thingy before it binds up. This is on both holes, using all 4 brass barbs I have available. The other two went into the cylinder with no binding. Normal? Using a wrench seems like it will lead me to calling Adam on Monday morning to order a new one

Also, what is this?

 

[Ross]

Those threads look like pipe threads, which are designed to get bigger as you thread them in. They bind, and seal with torque.
That red bar is your rear fixed rack. Since the rear of the Goblin doesn't need to steer like the Cobalt front did, they use a fixed rack to hold the wheels in one direction (straight ahead).

 

[Lonny]

Wow, that's an old one.

You need to install them with some red, blue or green loctite to seal the threads.
Put the block in a vise or clamp it to a table and use a crescent wrench on the brass fitting. As long as you can get a couple of full turns they will be great.

 

[benjy]

Got it in, thanks guys!

That red bar is your rear fixed rack. Since the rear of the Goblin doesn't need to steer like the Cobalt front did, they use a fixed rack to hold the wheels in one direction (straight ahead).

Thanks Ross, I knew I would probably figure it out sooner or later, but it has been driving me crazy this weekend that I haven't been able to figure it out.

Wow, that's an old one.

I'm building a vintage kit!