I guess this isn't the car for me.

[Prop Job]

Thanks guys. Yea I've been looking around on FB Marketplace and you guys are right, that's where the cars are. I've found several within 500 miles that look like possibles. I'm hesitant to buy the "just needs blah blah" cars because my thoughts are it's more likely than not they don't know what's actually wrong with the car and are just making something up. I've reached out to a few sellers on FB. We'll see how it goes.

 

[ncgoblin]

I've been trying to buy an LNF donor from the auction sites but every car I've bid on had sold for $3500-$4000. After fees and shipping I'd be looking at $5500+ for a wrecked car! On top of that I can't get DF to answer my emails. I really want to build this car but this is really killing my motivation. Maybe this is just the covid effect trickling into the wrecked market. I don't know, I'm pretty down about it and am very jealous of you guys that have been able to make this happen. Maybe I'll give it another shot once the world is back to normal.

Any recommendations on how to actually make this work would be greatly appreciated.

take a look at Cobalt Nation Buy/Sell/Trade on facebook they usually have decent deals.

 

[ncgoblin]

Thank you for all the replies guys.

And Adam, thank you for addressing my questions here. I thought I had seen what looked like a stockpile of cars behind you guys shop in a video or two so I was hoping that maybe you guys bought up good donors as you found them to sell to new builders. I was also hoping that maybe I could buy a crate motor and ebay trans and you guys used that stockpile to provide parts kits. But I understand now neither of those cases are true.

I had originally considered building a GTM about two years ago but decided against it after pricing it all out and reading about all the bodywork issues with it. With that car you can get a parts kit from several sellers so I was crossing my fingers that the same might be true here.

I had also looked at building the Goblin a little over a year ago but decided against it at that time because I just wasn't crazy about the looks of the bodywork. So I bought an old C5 Z06 instead and built it up. Well I've got that car where I want it now and I'm ready for the next project. Hopefully that little delay didn't cause me to miss the boat.

Recently I came across a few pictures and videos of naked Goblins with different headlights and fell in love with the Goblin again. That is exactly how I plan to build it if the stars will ever align for me. I plan to build the car primarily for the track. I currently track my C7 Z06 and going fast at 3500 lbs is just getting too expensive. New tires and brake pads every 4 days and rotors every 8 days is getting old. I think 300 hp and 1500 lbs sounds just right for track duty. Hopefully it'll be a little easier on the consumables.

My C7Z is currently 4.1 lb/hp and I'd like the Goblin to not be too far off of that. Looks like the best way forward may be to just try for an LSJ car for now with a turbo swap down the road.

Thanks again for all the replies guys. You've given me enough motivation to keep the search alive. I look forward to joining your ranks.

Alex

LSJ, 2.9 Pulley, #80 injectors, springs/seals, neutral balancers, and e85 you will be close if not 300WHP. Price varies on a ton of factors I gave up and focused on reliability and fun. I buy something new every few months that is what seperates this kit from other cars it never ends.

 

[dastrups]

Thank you for all the replies guys.

And Adam, thank you for addressing my questions here. I thought I had seen what looked like a stockpile of cars behind you guys shop in a video or two so I was hoping that maybe you guys bought up good donors as you found them to sell to new builders. I was also hoping that maybe I could buy a crate motor and ebay trans and you guys used that stockpile to provide parts kits. But I understand now neither of those cases are true.

I had originally considered building a GTM about two years ago but decided against it after pricing it all out and reading about all the bodywork issues with it. With that car you can get a parts kit from several sellers so I was crossing my fingers that the same might be true here.

I had also looked at building the Goblin a little over a year ago but decided against it at that time because I just wasn't crazy about the looks of the bodywork. So I bought an old C5 Z06 instead and built it up. Well I've got that car where I want it now and I'm ready for the next project. Hopefully that little delay didn't cause me to miss the boat.

Recently I came across a few pictures and videos of naked Goblins with different headlights and fell in love with the Goblin again. That is exactly how I plan to build it if the stars will ever align for me. I plan to build the car primarily for the track. I currently track my C7 Z06 and going fast at 3500 lbs is just getting too expensive. New tires and brake pads every 4 days and rotors every 8 days is getting old. I think 300 hp and 1500 lbs sounds just right for track duty. Hopefully it'll be a little easier on the consumables.

My C7Z is currently 4.1 lb/hp and I'd like the Goblin to not be too far off of that. Looks like the best way forward may be to just try for an LSJ car for now with a turbo swap down the road.

Thanks again for all the replies guys. You've given me enough motivation to keep the search alive. I look forward to joining your ranks.

Alex

I feel your pain on the challenge of finding an LNF. After 2 months of looking, I finally decided to look on facebook marketplace all over the U.S. with the intention of buying one with a blown motor and buying a crate LNF from ATK performance and a fresh F35 from DF. Not a cheap route but has worked out so far.

I had a C5 corvette before the build and loved it but for similar reasons I wanted something better/cheaper on the track. Wish you the best of luck and hope we can be of help.

 

[Brian74]

I feel your pain on the challenge of finding an LNF. After 2 months of looking, I finally decided to look on facebook marketplace all over the U.S. with the intention of buying one with a blown motor and buying a crate LNF from ATK performance and a fresh F35 from DF. Not a cheap route but has worked out so far.

I had a C5 corvette before the build and loved it but for similar reasons I wanted something better/cheaper on the track. Wish you the best of luck and hope we can be of help.

This is honestly a great route to go if you are dead set on a direct injected turbo. I bought my LDK crate engine before the prices even went lower (as there is still a decent surplus of European gen 3 LDK crate engines out there).

Another good option is to turbo an LSJ. LSJ Cobalts are much easier to find and MUCH simpler to tune, disable VATS, ect.

The (Delphi ?) PCM on the LSJ is much simpler than the Bosch E69 of the LNF, as well as the wiring harness and much of the components. Of course, you will incur the cost of a good engine rebuild as well and a turbo kit going this route, but you can easily make every bit of power from a turbo LSJ as you can from the direct injected VVT LNF/LDK. All the LSJ really lacks is the low end torque advantage of the LNF/LDK’s variable valve timing. On a 1600 lb. kit car, that is insignificant. I personally would have gone that route in hindsight because I prefer that simplicity.

Do your dilligent research first and don’t let anyone talk you into what they think is better or worse. That was my biggest mistake in my initial decision on what donor to go with.

 

[Vwsaabvt]

They pop up all over the place.

 

[comegetjoe]

You could always buy a parts lot, perhaps a car thats already been torn down and just needs picked up.

 

[Rauq]

Hey @Prop Job still looking for a donor? As others have mentioned, an SS/SC powered Goblin isn't slow, and an LSJ with a pulley is even faster. Plus if you're looking for stupid power, you're probably better off starting with an LSJ than an LNF anyway.

I'm assuming "east of Dallas" is "within 8 hours of central AR" but I'll leave that part to you.

 

[Dale E]

In the last two weeks there have been two Cobalt's sold at impound auction here. Both sold for under 500 dollars. But naturally they were the evidently undesirable 2.2 automatics the Goblin folks want. Are Cobalt's getting hard to come by?? Perhaps buy a donor now, get up and running, enjoy the ride and experience the build, then build to higher power later. Otherwise continue to be patient and diligently search for the exact one you desire.