V1 Bryan's Extended Track Goblin- 2009 Cobalt SS

[BryanJohnson02]

First Off, I am Bryan, I am from North Alabama, I work at the Toyota Engine Plant in Huntsville. I have owned several race cars (drag) and several bikes.

My Goblin story begins with a new hire here at work. We hired a guy who has been fantasizing about building a goblin for some time. He had brought it up in conversation some... I would dismiss it with oh like an aerial atom. I have never really looked at the curves as a four wheel deal. Well he sent me a YouTube video about a build and i looked at it a little more in debt, The video was of some Animal Vet on a ranch that has some cool cars... well he raced a GTR in the video and i was like... hum they really are quick, having raced a few on my bike. I spent a little time doing some homework, scanning through here looking at pictures and the builds of some of you. In November I had someone make me an offer on my bike i couldn't refuse. Thus the Goblin build came up. I spent some time cruising copart and even bid on a few... but at the time all the 09/10 SS turbocharged were really far off... or more than i wanted to spend. I kept an eye on Facebook Marketplace and Craigslist for all of the SS cobalts i could find in my area... and even looked at a HHR SS with a turbo. Then i found a Cobalt SS in the Nashville area for 1000 more than my max. I wrote the guy a few emails and ended it with a I am willing to give X for it site unseen... i have cash in hand... you can sift through emails for weeks and maybe find someone that will give you more... but youre also going to get a lot of time wasters and tire kickers... if you get ready to take this amount let me know and i will set up a time to come get it... 2 weeks pass and i had already given up on that one when the guy calls and says if you can get it this weekend and have cash i will accept your offer. So i run up and get the car (It did have some issues) and drove it home. The car sat in my back yard for the next month. After the new year i pulled it in the garage the week of the 14th to begin to strip it down. I spent one evening stripping out the interior and the bumpers with some help. Then Ordered my Kit from DF on the 18th. I will be Chassis #127. There are a Lot of things I plan on trying or doing to this. It will be mainly used as a curvy mountain road cruiser. Hopefully it will cure my motorcycle itch for some time. I will update any process and try to keep a picture log of the build

 

[JERMzSS]

Looking forward to your build and congrats! You won't be disappointed. These are amazing.

 

[ctuinstra]

Congratulations on the find. Nice write up so far. One question, how does the employee feel about you stealing his idea and running with it?

I think you will really enjoy the car, especially if you like bikes and like the openness. Looking forward to the rest of your build.

 

[JSATX]

I also came from bikes. Don’t regret it one bit. Passengers have a little more fun too when they aren’t having to hang on for dear life all the time.

 

[JeffsGoblin]

I also came from bikes. Don’t regret it one bit. Passengers have a little more fun too when they aren’t having to hang on for dear life all the time.

Yeah... it sounds so much better asking another guy "You wanna take a spin in the Goblin?" as compared to asking him, "You wanna ride b!tch on the back of my motorcycle?" ... at least that is what I told my friend when he asked me about the Goblin... "Why don't you just buy a bike? They're just as fast."

 

[DCMoney]

Welcome! I also come from bikes as well. Sold off all my race and street bikes after suffering a bad off during a race. Was talking about getting another bike when a friend of mine sent me a link to a Goblin and I was sold!

 

[BryanJohnson02]

how does the employee feel about you stealing his idea and running with it?

He is pretty excited about it. He is also helping with the build, gives him the chance to learn before he does it.

 

[BryanJohnson02]

Here are a couple of quick pix, Almost finished with the 2nd video. I had some serious issues with the front lug nuts. they were gone... had to beat a 3/4 6 point on there and use the jack handle as a pry bar. then beat the lug out of the socket. It was a lot of fun. Also located a place to do powder coat and ordered some powdercoat samples. Going to try to get the Cowl off, wiper stuff out, side skirts off and trunk off sometime this week... maybe even hop on the dash.

I do have some questions, I am going to cruise the forum and see if i can figure it out. I am wanting to change the Hubs out to run a bigger lug pattern, I havent got to far into it, but i assume that i can just order a hub and they all bolt basically the same way? I just want to get away from the 5x110... I would really like to go to 5x120.6 because i have a set of those wheels in the shop that would look killer if they aren't to wide.

 

[Briann1177]

The TC axles have a different spline count and diameter on the hub site than all of the other Cobalts. You might be able to find another vehicle make/model that MIGHT be able to bolt right up, but I highly doubt it. I don't even know what might. I think about the only option you have is to re drill.

 

[Briann1177]

If you want to go the other direction and use a 4 lug pattern, your best option would be to replace the TC axles with SC axles. The spline and diameter on the transmission side should be the same on both the SCs and TCs.

 

[JSATX]

Yeah you pretty much need to redrill. But since those sizes are so close I don’t know how that would work. The disk brakes are the first thing that come to mind. Everything needs to line up with the calibers and axle splines

 

[Tony]

DF offers a service to redrill the brakes and hubs to 5x114.3 (aka 5x4.5), and then you can get adapter spacers pretty easily to jump it up to 5x4.75 (which might help if they are too wide as you fear).

 

[BryanJohnson02]

these are what i have. 2012 corvette grandsport wheels, Front 18″ diameter, 9.5″ width; rear 19″ diameter, 12″ width. I think the rears are to wide... and i most likely will have to just buy a set of wheels just for it.... or use the stockers and have them powdercoated

I do really want the wide tire look... i just like the way it looks...

 

[Tony]

Yeah, that's definitely too big. Even with the turbo, you're better off with 17" or less. You can probably get a set of 16 or 17 inch wheels with good tires for less $ than a decent set of tires for those monsters haha

 

[BryanJohnson02]

from what i am seeing everyone seems to be running a 245ish tire.

 

[Briann1177]

For the TCs, I would go out on a limb and say that a 235 should be the bare minimum. However, that depends on a lot of other factors too.

 

[JeffsGoblin]

May want to try spacer converters from 5x110 to 5x120.6 if they can make them for you. That big of a wheel up front may rub control arms or frame during turns.

 

[Tony]

from what i am seeing everyone seems to be running a 245ish tire.

I have a 245 on the back on a 16" wheel, but there's not a huge selection for that combination, especially with the 5-lug hubs. There are way more options with the 4-lug (aka RPF-1 lol).

 

[IDRVSLO]

I am running 17x9.5s with a 5mm offset. They do not rub the front on full lock left or right. Offset will be much more important to pay attention to when you are looking for something wider.

275/40/17s on all 4 corners

 

[BryanJohnson02]

thats really the look i am going for, I was going to try to fit a 325 in the rear though


So i stalked your build thread, I noticed you have the wing mounts but not the wing? can you tell me the distance between the two mounts and the height from the chassis to the end of the bracket?