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V1 Mayor West's 09 SS/TC Ext. Track Turbo #191 [South Carolina] [Registered] [Sold]

ncgoblin
Ok well I do not feel as bad today cracking my front hood...dang man I could only imagine how you felt after all your hard work but it overall does not look crazy bad.
 
Jcas
Last year I had a close call after one little rain storm and since have been very carefull as to when I poke it. Long of it short is I looked over my right shoulder at the street three times and my left twice before she popped back straight right down the middle of my lane like nothing ever happened but it did and I still have small peak in my seat. Sorry for your loss I do run into cobalts weekly but what you need is not so much donor parts. Hope to see you back here on the rebuild side. Mostly we are glad you are okay.
 
Torchandregdoc
Bummer, but it happens. First rule of sliding, never take your eyes of the road. That's really not that bad. Any descent shop can cut out the damaged members and put new ones in. That upper frame rail is in compression, cut it out and replace it. 4 hour job. $400 tops. Probably lower, especially if you buy the parts from DF and have them ready. Fab'ing new parts is the slowest part. Wish I was closer, we could just whip it out some Friday night.
 
Bajakid1450
OOPS :(
You can add me to the list of people who built a car too spicy for their own good.

Last weekend I (low-speed) hydroplaned my kit into a tree, ripping off the front wheel.
Thankfully, I am 99.994% unharmed physically and only took a mere 700% kick to my ego and feelings.

I was test driving my kit after fixing the e-brake and replacing an axle seal on the transmission that was leaking. After a few minutes of warming it up, I went for a very short cruise because the weather has been absolutely amazing, and this was also my birthday weekend (yay me). I have yet to experience WOT (let alone boost above 2-3 psi) so on a small offshoot road I figured I'd goose it a tad. As expected (hindsight is 20/20) I immediately kicked the back tires out and within a fraction of a second I was sideways into a field beside the road.

I was only going about 25-30mph but because it had rained recently there was a slight soggy puddle I ran in to causing me to hydroplaned across the grass. I missed the road sign but in doing so, sideswiped a tree.

I took a direct hit to the front-right wheel, which was completely removed. I bent the side of my frame a tad and ripped off the front-right a-arm post. I ended up in a ditch, but I was doing fairly slow at this point so I sorta just rolled into it, which cracked my hood a little bit.

Good news is, I'm completely safe. I was wearing my full harness & helmet. Bad news is, I ripped off my front wheel and bent my frame. I had to be towed home.

I wanted to thank @Adam and @Lonny and the rest of the DF crew for building a safe and enjoyable kit car. I hope to work with them in the next year or so in rebuilding/fixing/etc of my kit. I budgeted to build a pretty nice kit car, but not two... so this means I'm gonna be out of the loop for a few months while I figure this out.

Like many others have done in the past, I messed up. The car quickly got the best of me, and thankfully I didn't pay a hefty physical price for my mistakes. Only racking up a hefty bill :(

Please be gentle, I know I'm an ******* sometimes but I really do love this community. My birthday was Monday so this really put a gloomy cloud over my weekend.

Stay tuned for eventual updates: Keep the kit & rebuild it, or part it out and recoup a small percentage of what I have in to it?
WTF!!!!! Well glad you are ok, looks like the frame held up well. Recoup and rebuild
 
Mayor West
Update, I've been working with Adam over the past few months, I've ordered a new frame and replacement parts from the slip-n-slide accident. Adam says they should get picked up by Stewart Transport around October 4th. Looking for a nice fall/winter rebuild and hopefully back 100% by spring.

I don't expect it to take forever but I have two young kids, one on the way, and a day job. Free-time is rare, and I'm spread thin.

Looking forward to getting back into the build scene as I make Version 2.0 of goblin #191, I've been mostly off the forums since mid May, there's a lot of new builders and ideas I need to revisit.

Main things to note:
  • Doing the same frame options, extended track turbo.
  • Likely not doing powder coat for paint this time, I plan on using bed-liner and retaining the ability to fix/weld without having to stress about powder
  • Welding the center tunnel cap, I regret not doing this before.
  • Considering new flooring options, needs something a little thicker and substantial but thicker sheet metal is expensive :(
  • No changes to the engine/transmission, driveline, etc. Replacing 1 wheel but it's going to be of the same cast.
  • Scrapping the original "Space" theme which utilized a shower curtain to "wrap" my hood.
    • I loved the outcome for this idea, it's unique and cool...but since damaging my hood in the accident I don't want to redo that again.
  • Considering doing fixed-plate siding similar to DCMoney.
More to come.
 
Brett
Great to hear that you are rebuilding.

I know what you mean about kids. I have two (7 & 11) and they keep me busy all week. Especially now that school is starting to be somewhat "normal". I keep looking at my new frame and thinking I need to get to it but time is short.

For flooring, I chose to use the supplied flooring and put rubber horse stall mates cut to fit in the necessary spaces. Really felt solid.

Good luck on 2.0 :)

Brett
 
Ark :D
Glad you're on the path back.

I'd seriously think about whether you actually want to weld the tunnel cap on, though. Just as soon as you do, you'll need to get in there for some reason. At least, that's how life works for me, lol.
 
jamesm
One consideration for the tunnel cap is Lonny's new shifter will use a different cap style ( a 2 piece) if you are considering that upgrade once it's available.
 
Mayor West
regarding the tunnel cap, I’d cut it into 3 sections and weld the shifter portion, with the rest being removable. The idea is to stiffen the oem shifter but still make it easy enough to route through.

I haven’t seen the new shifter from DF but I’ve heard of it.
 
OptimizePrime
One consideration for the tunnel cap is Lonny's new shifter will use a different cap style ( a 2 piece) if you are considering that upgrade once it's available.

Kinda curious if the new tunnel will still allow for cutting it into three pieces as I find it to be a really nice convenience.

regarding the tunnel cap, I’d cut it into 3 sections and weld the shifter portion, with the rest being removable. The idea is to stiffen the oem shifter but still make it easy enough to route through.

I haven’t seen the new shifter from DF but I’ve heard of it.

There's a rib/divider in the center of the channel on the shifter section that makes it a PITA to pull the harness through once the channel is welded, if you can remember to remove this rib you'll save yourself a few trips to the swear jar.

edit: Dis here
27232


welcome-back-good-to-have-you-back.gif
 
Mayor West
There's a rib/divider in the center of the channel on the shifter section that makes it a PITA to pull the harness through once the channel is welded, if you can remember to remove this rib you'll save yourself a few trips to the swear jar.

Yeah I remember that, I wasn't able to remove it on my old one with the tools in my shop so I may have to get creative or something.
 
jamesm
One consideration for the tunnel cap is Lonny's new shifter will use a different cap style ( a 2 piece) if you are considering that upgrade once it's available.

regarding the tunnel cap, I’d cut it into 3 sections and weld the shifter portion, with the rest being removable. The idea is to stiffen the oem shifter but still make it easy enough to route through.

I haven’t seen the new shifter from DF but I’ve heard of it.

I stand corrected, the new tunnel cap is still one piece. I'm not sure where I got it in my head that it was two... sorry for the mix up. Here's a pic of the shifter and cap.

 
Rauq
Yeah I remember that, I wasn't able to remove it on my old one with the tools in my shop so I may have to get creative or something.
Can you just ask DF to omit from fabrication?

I stand corrected, the new tunnel cap is still one piece. I'm not sure where I got it in my head that it was two... sorry for the mix up. Here's a pic of the shifter and cap.

I asked if it was possible to split into two in that thread, don't think they ever answered it.
 
Brett
Yeah I remember that, I wasn't able to remove it on my old one with the tools in my shop so I may have to get creative or something.
If the frame hasnt been built yet, let DF know and they can omit the dividers. They are for the automatic transmission builds. I asked and they were kind enough to omit them for me.

Also, if you are not using the cobalt seat belts, you could ask about omitting the mounts for them. I forgot about this and kind of wish I did.
 
Mayor West
When I asked Adam about this, he said it depends on when asked because a lot of their parts are banged out in groups so individual requests need to be done before they pop out the next batch or something. I'm not going to bother asking him about that, I'll figure something out.
 
KSLunsfo
For the extended frames with the additional square tube beneath the shifter plate. A welded threaded post on each side with corresponding bolt through the shifter plate.

Rock solid AND removable.

27246
 
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