V1 Brian's City Goblin-06/Crate MotorTC #61

[ctuinstra]

Those are the very same buttons I used only I didn't know anyone could customize them. Very nice indeed!

 

[KJP]

I can't wait to see the dash together those look nice

 

[Brian74]

I went on the Prismatic Powders website to start looking at powder coat colors for my frame. Great website, but talk about overwhelming! I plan to do either a silver or metallic black, or chrome with anodized blue topcoat. I ordered over 40 swatches, as they were only .20 each plus shipping.

 

[Brian74]

Swatches came in with all of the powedercoat colors. To really see them, I had to go outside in the sunlight. This will not be an easy decision.

 

[BaltimoreHokie]

Swatches came in with all of the powedercoat colors. To really see them, I had to go outside in the sunlight. This will not be an easy decision.

View attachment 3490

Yes. It's very hard. I spent a lot of time going back and forth. I should have ordered swatches like you did. But I feel good with what I ended up going with.

 

[Brian74]

Bummer...Looks like I am boned on getting the original theft deterrent module from LKQ. Since those modules were recalled by GM, LKQ removes & destroys them as soon as the cars hit their lot. (EDIT: Its only the ign switch that was recalled but they just trash the entire assembly, including the module.)

I will have to buy a new GM SPO theft deterrent module and have it programmed to my PCM’s VIN # over at the stealership with a GM-networked Tech II for $140 labor. I will buy a few extra keys (they’re cheap) and have them cut to match my original key.

It was questionable if I would have been able to get things working with the original module; at least I know for a fact that this method will work.

 

[Brian74]

I called LKQ and talked to the manager about the theft deterrent module issue. Apparently they screwed up in Kansas and still did have that original module from my donor ECM/BCM car. They will be sending that module to me free of charge now. I’m skeptical, but we’ll see.

Hopefully after all of this I will be able to answer many of the VATS questions people may come across in the future.

I got another 25 powdercoat swatches from Prismatic. I am down to alloy metallic, a 2-part anodized light blue that makes the steel look like aluminum, or a black base with blue pearl flake overlay for the frame color.

I strongly recommend ordering the swatches. For the what little they cost in price they will give you a great idea of the final result.

I will be calling a couple waterjet cnc places today to see about getting my switch panels cut.

My project is going to slow down for me a bit for the next few months as it is now boating season and getting way too hot (>100) to enjoyably work in the garage. I will instead spend the summer hoarding the rest of the parts I need for my build.

 

[Brian74]

After beating around with 6 or 7 freeware CAD design programs (I have no CAD experience) I tried to figure out how to get my switch panels drawn up as .dxf files without much luck. I did find a waterjet company out of New Jersey that provides free 2-D software that appears to be super easy to use. You can draw up the part using their software, pick the material you want it cut from, and submit it. I drew up a very generic template by hand in less than 5 minutes. I’ll make better templates and redewraw with exact measurements and then get a quote. If their cost is reasonable enough I’ll just go through them.

One thing to be mindful of is to add a few thousandths on any inside switch/button/gauge holes to make up for powdercoat.

 

[Brian74]

I designed my switch panels today. This CAD program is phenomenal; SUPER easy. Draw up a design, pick the material, and order it on the spot. These will cost me about $200. The price goes way down for quantity orders. Very happy with my results.

 

[Briann1177]

$200 to cut out your design? Seems pricey. Will it be laser cut out of sheet metal?

 

[Brian74]

$200 to cut out your design? Seems pricey. Will it be laser cut out of sheet metal?

Waterjet cut out of steel including material and the two 35 degree bends. Price is actually slightly cheaper than what I was quoted locally. Most the cost is in them setting up the machine.

 

[Brian74]

My third brake light came in today. Looks very solid and its even DOT marked. Also got my 4 blue LED projectors that I will be using for the footwell & side upper courtesy lamps.

Next step will be designing the weld-on brackets for these.

 

[KJP]

My third brake light came in today. Looks very solid and its even DOT marked. Also got my 4 blue LED projectors that I will be using for the footwell & side upper courtesy lamps.

View attachment 3611

Next step will be designing the weld-on brackets for these.

Does the brake light have a resistor built in or are you going to add one in line to keep the cruise working?

 

[Brian74]

Does the brake light have a resistor built in or are you going to add one in line to keep the cruise working?

This doesn’t have a resistor so I will need to add one. It was the only smaller size light I could find, though.

 

[ctuinstra]

This doesn’t have a resistor so I will need to add one. It was the only smaller size light I could find, though.

It's odd about the resistor, I don't even have a third brake light connected and my cruise works fine. We used it the other night. However, I'm sure different donor cars are different.

 

[Brian74]

It's odd about the resistor, I don't even have a third brake light connected and my cruise works fine. We used it the other night. However, I'm sure different donor cars are different.

I’m not quite sure about it myself; it was info Lonnie had put out a while back.

The cruise control cancel & CHMSL circuit is different in the 08-10 than it is in the 05-07 but I haven’t looked it over thorougly yet to make heads or tails of it.

 

[Brian74]

Not much going on lately. I will get the frame powdercoated in August. I mocked up one of my LED courtesy lamps today. These things look awesome. Aimed properly, they totally conceal the light source but still nice and bright. Will mount one centered on the hoop, one on each side rail, and one in each footwell.

 

[Brian74]

Still not too much going on over here lately as I’m in summer hibernation (garage is hitting around 100 degrees daily until September ). I am eyeballing one of those nice Honeywell portable coolers for the garage, but I hate spending any money that could would otherwise defer the Goblin project and I refuse to fund this project with debt.

I did buy a welding mask and gloves and sourced some free metal scrap in preparation of my future endeavors of adding all of my optional brackets to my frame. My friend is going to loan me his MIG and tanks.

I am in no hurry. I will soon be ordering all of my waterjet cut parts, heat exchanger, HE resorvior and fabricating any additional brackets.

In the meantime I’ve been curbing my go fast cravings with my racing simulator in air conditioned comfort. RFactor 2 just came out with some very nicely done gokart addons and a couple of the best looking tracks I’ve ever seen, and it was all on sale last weekend.

 

[Karter2026]

Still not too much going on over here lately as I’m in summer hibernation (garage is hitting around 100 degrees daily until September ).

I understand the hot garage. A few years back I painted a buddy's Mustang. It was 97 degrees in the shop that evening. I did not want to do it that day but he was out of town and I did not want him hanging over my shoulder watching my every move. I never stopped moving when I started the clear coat. By the time I made one pass around the car it was tacked up enough for the next coat no so called flash time needed between coats. I think I lost 20 lbs that night .

 

[Brian74]

Still at a slowdown. Its over 100 in the garage and my work schedule has been insane. I just sold my RV and paid off my credit card, so I will be going into a parts-buying frenzy next week.

Next purchase will be my Liquid to air heat exchanger system, which I am going total overkill on. I will be upgrading to 3/4” coolant lines and running a Derale Atomic Cool 10x12 heat exchanger with a Varimax CTS-V brushless soft start pump that flows better than the Bosch unit. I will also be mounting an aluminum reservoir up high to automatically eliminate any air in the system. The HE will be mounted low behind the driver seat firewall facing outward with the puller fan drawing fresh air from the outside. I can then mock up & weld all required brackets for the HE and resorvior prior to powder coat. Need to order my PCV oil catch can and find a mounting location for it. Still have a ton of custom terminal block/electrical panels to mock up.