I will entitle this post: "I'm Dumb and I'm Grateful"
I bought this car in 2021 so it's been with me almost 3 years. During those 3 years I've worked on it sporadically while family commitments and work largely overtook my entire life (I'm a CompSci guy and lead DevOps for a Fortune 300 insurance company headquartered in the Midwest). Being too busy has sucked, but a recent role change at work has given me some extra time back. That, and my daughter leaving for college in August and wanting to drive the Goblin on track before she goes has raised my sense of urgency on getting this done.
DUMB
All that is precursor for saying that I've solved and re-solved the same problem(s) a couple times over the past 36 months. After posting about the missing MAF tube, I started to think "I've solved this before". I recalled an email conversation with Adam about some 3rd party intercooler parts I was going to buy to make sure they were compatible.
In my garage I have one of those 6 foot tall wire rack shelves from Costco, on which lives all the Goblin parts not yet on the car. Last night I set up a table in the garage bay next to "your stupid racecar bay" and laid out all the parts related to the intercooler: the intercooler itself, the heat exchanger and fan, shroud for the NACA ducts in the nose, Bosch pump that attaches to the engine block, etc. Then I saw The Box from DF on the bottom shelf and I said "Hmmm I think that's the solution to my MAF/MAP issues". Sure enough, back in October 2021 I ordered ALL the bits from DF needed to fully plumb the intake system and intercooler, short of the some piping to get outside air through the filter and to the engine.....
So: I'M AN IDIOT for forgetting all this! The lesson for n00b builders like myself, be they building relatively simple Goblins, or more complex cars like Factory Fives: Create an inventory of everything. Use spreadsheets or similar and identify all your parts by area of functionality, part number, reference to documentation (YouTube videos from DF in this case), etc. Number the boxes and connect those numbers to the parts in your spreadsheet. Photograph everything when you receive it, and keep the photos in a separate album.
So I have a massive list of parts that I've bought elsewhere and sourced from DF to complete the engine and turbo plumbing. I just need to figure out where all the pieces/parts go. Fortunately,
Adam has a photo album dedicated to turbo plumbing, and I think most of the information I need is there, plus the photos you all have shared so far.
GRATEFUL
When the news broke a few weeks back about "Goblin v2" based on German running gear, I had a mini freak-out about support for Gen-1 hardware, and I mentioned in that thread about needing to purchase bodywork. Somebody here on the Forum (and they can identify themselves if they want) reached out to me privately and offered me a very good deal on a set of bodywork they were not going to use. I jumped on that deal, arranged shipping via uShip, and the hood and engine cover arrived here in Massachusetts on Friday. I laid the hood on the front of the car last night after my parts inventorying session, and wow everything sure looks different now:
I am really grateful to the seller for making me a great deal on this bodywork, and for being super encouraging and supportive as I push through this build. And I'm very grateful to the entire DF Goblin community here and on Facebook for answering all my questions, and generally telling me to keep going.
Folks here who have built these cars in 2-3 weeks and have crazy skills probably don't what I'm talking about, but this has been a real challenge for me because I am learning everything (and I mean EVERYTHING) in real time. It's been a great experience so far - now I need to get 'er done.
I'm gonna go wrench. Thanks guys.....