Cutting the fat

[Iwanttogofast]

Please bear with me here. Newbie alert!

I have been kicking around the idea of building a DF Goblin for a while now, and I’m pulling the trigger in the next week, or so. Extended frame, open cage (city), easy entry side. I finally talked the wife into proceeding, but promised to be as frugal as possible with the build. There are some things [extended frame (6’1” 250#), hood, rear wing, etc.] that I will not do without. And I’m not skimping on the engine – which will most likely be an L61 upgraded with forged rods, forged pistons, and a big fat turbo.

Here’s my question… Where are the best areas where I can trim some fat? For example – stuff like aftermarket performance strut assemblies ($100) instead of a $725 rear coilover option. Or the Malibu 5-lug hubs ($110) instead of a $420 5-lug hub option. Reusing factory SS seats, but re-covering them in $150 neoprene seat covers instead of a $1100 seat option. Stuff like that.

What are your recommendations for areas where junkyard parts can be cleaned up and reused, or auto part store parts can be used in place of costly options? Trying real hard to stay under $25K all-in, if possible.

Thanks in advance!!

 

[ctuinstra]

You pretty much hit the major highlights of keeping the cost down. Paint instead of powder coating. Use the OE wheels, hubs, seats, shifter, etc. That will easily keep you away from the $25K. If it weren't for the engine performance parts, you could easily stay around $12K.

 

[Ross]

I got on the road for $11K... with the stock Cobalt wheels and no body panels. 25K seems like a reasonable budget for this project.

If you do your own wiring harness, that can save you some bucks, but it is a bit of work. You can source your own lights if you want pick a custom look, maybe save some bucks. The L61 should make getting a donor car cheaper. Buy a crunched one for even more savings.

 

[TheNuker]

I came in around 25k with all brand new parts including engine,transmission etc, So I could not believe a more budget build would not be less than 15k.

Nuker-

 

[Ark :D]

I'm at about 19k into mine. Pretty stock SS/TC with all the extras other than the city/standard frame.

I didn't want to use the SS seats, and I didn't want to spend $1200 on the Corbeau seats, so I bought cheap no-namers off eBay for $290. They're comfortable, they recline, and they're holding up so far. Very happy with them.

 

[Iwanttogofast]

I'm at $13K just for the kit already. And that's doing the harness myself and before shipping, donor, engine work, engine parts...

Maybe prices were lower when you guys did yours?

 

[Iwanttogofast]

That's why I'm looking to reuse what I can and save $ wherever I can - within reason. I'm NOT going to build a piece of junk to save a buck. But any suggestions on where I can save some dough while still having function and form would be very appreciated...

 

[r3drckt]

The all new forged internals and engine rebuild is where the money is coming in, also turboing the L61 instead of starting with the LNF. I’m sitting at 7-8k just into the engine on an LSJ rebuild and turbo swap. I’d assume the L61 build would be about the same.

 

[95Blitz]

I'm at $13K just for the kit already. And that's doing the harness myself and before shipping, donor, engine work, engine parts...

Maybe prices were lower when you guys did yours?

Prices went up in January.

 

[Ross]

I'm at $13K just for the kit already. And that's doing the harness myself and before shipping, donor, engine work, engine parts...

Maybe prices were lower when you guys did yours?

What choices do you have selected? Extended frame and hood is mentioned so that adds a bit, but there must be more choices than that.

 

[Desert Sasqwatch]

I got on the road for $11K... with the stock Cobalt wheels and no body panels. 25K seems like a reasonable budget for this project.
View attachment 24829 If you do your own wiring harness, that can save you some bucks, but it is a bit of work. You can source your own lights if you want pick a custom look, maybe save some bucks. The L61 should make getting a donor car cheaper. Buy a crunched one for even more savings.

Ross, you may want to discuss the extended city frame with easy entry quirk you experienced with @Iwanttogofast before he places his order. Big HP in this chassis choice should be reconsidered.

 

[Fozda]

So you want to make a ton of power and then cheap out on all the handling and safety equipment to keep the cost down? That sounds like a bad idea to me. I'd skimp on making more power and spend it on making the car safe and drivable.

 

[Towerdog]

I'm going to have to agree with Fozda on the safety thing. The only part of the donors drivetrain I reused was the steering rack and front uprights. And I took Lonny's advice to drive it stock the first year to get used to it. It is plenty of a handful while getting used to the characteristics of the car.

 

[Rauq]

I'd skimp on making more power and spend it on making the car safe and drivable.

Honestly not a bad idea, the slowest Goblin is still probably faster than most cars on the road, and speed can be added in later easier than frame.

At the end of the day, though, you do you- you're the only one who knows your prioritization of safety and budget.

 

[Iwanttogofast]

Ross – I do have some other options selected for now, but I need to speak with Adam about a couple of them before proceeding. Planning on doing that today. I was going to select the Manual SS/TC option, but not sure that I will be proceeding with that. I’m probably going to have to make do with a manual / 2.2 for a donor, as the SS cars that I’ve seen go fast and for high $. Not sure yet if the Manual SS/TC option in the kit is right for a built 2.2L with aftermarket turbo. ?

Desert Squatch – I wouldn’t think that there would be any issues with a quality frame like this handling 300HP from a 4cyl. Especially with all that power being contained within the rear of the car (i.e. no horizontal frame twist like front engine, rear drive). Even being an extended city frame with easy entry. Maybe I’m wrong. ?

Fozda – Where am I skimping on safety? Because I’m not getting the Corbeau seats with 5-point harness? This will be a 99% street driven vehicle that I need to be comfortable. Just because I am planning on using other options and reusing some parts that others have chosen not to does not mean that I am being unsafe at all. Is the car not already pretty “safe and driveable” with an exoskeletal fully welded frame? If not, then maybe I need to rethink my build. I’ve owned and built a 500HP Corvette that was a street / track car, and a Mustang GT that was a high 11-second car. I understand and realize the importance of safety, but that doesn’t mean that I need to pay for every option offered. I was simply asking for some advice on where $ can be saved. Like used motorcycle side mirrors, etc.

 

[jennam]

As others have mentioned, using as much of the donor as possible will definitely cut down on the cost. You can always add/upgrade parts after the initial build as the budget allows.

If you are starting with a base model donor/L61, I don't know if I'd order the SS option as there are a number of differences. You mentioned a custom turbo setup so you'll probably need to source some additional parts that DF wouldn't normally provide.

The extended city with easy entry is the "loosest" chassis. That doesn't mean that isn't not a good chassis, it just means that it has the least amount of structural members. Ross had an odd wheel hop that was due to his frame flexing. He runs a pretty big tire compared to the other folks and most folks don't have that issue.

The cars are as safe as you make them. I personally wouldn't want to drive mine without the multi-point harnesses but that's a personal preference. Lots of folks run the stock seats and seatbelts and don't have any problems. If you do your due diligence with used parts, clean/inspect/rebuild/etc, then you'll be fine.

 

[Gtstorey]

"Where am I skimping on safety?"
I would consider a high HP car with easy entry city frame to be less safe than the race chassis with extra door bars.

"Lots of folks run the stock seats and seatbelts and don't have any problems." It will be interesting to see how the numbers play out as more people have wrecks. Most people would have been fine without seatbelts since they haven't been in a wreck.

 

[k.rollin]

Select the chassis option that corresponds to your donor; it'll keep cost down and minimize confusion.

Use OEM take off sportbike mirrors (or buy cheap aftermarket replacements if you want to replace them regularly because they're typically garbage).

Source your own headlights and taillights. You can use the same ones spec'd as the kit option, purchased elsewhere and save a bit.

Find a running/driving 07 or 08 donor (because you want an L61 and those years have an ECU compatible with HPTuners). Build stock, then add power later.

 

[OptimizePrime]

Wheels. You'll beat yourself up balancing price/weight/offset/bolt pattern/brand/color/looks etc just to find out you get to purchase hub/lug centric spacers that aren't cheap either. During the build, I'd focus on getting her on the road with the idea you can get the juicy wheel / tire setup later.

Look into Dip Your Car for the hood (if you get one) as opposed to wrapping / typical paint. It's incredibly novice friendly and stupid simple to take off and change colors. The full dyc kit is significantly less than a wrap job.

You'll be tempted by maintenance items while the engine is out. You can save a lot of time and cost by not doing anything at the potential expense of having to do it later

Don't mess with your control arm bushings if they look good.

Use Steel-it or Raptor liner on your frame as opposed to traditional powder. Raptor liner is very easy to spray with great results and can be retouched if need be.

Front headlights and tails can be exorbitantly expensive (Rigid I'm looking at you). Going LED can be a bit of a headache, getting some cheap non LEDs would be your easiest best but probably not your most aesthetic.

=====

Unsolicited advice, if it were me I'd go with either the city frame without easy entry or track w/ easy entry and shy away from the city with easy entry purely out of safety.

 

[JBINTX]

The Goblin is NOTHING like any Vette / Mustang / Camaro out there.
Totally different realm in handling, response, accel, decel.