V1 Seb's Goblin #454 (2008 SS/TC donor) - Registered

[Sebnuts]

I received my invoice today, so figured I would start up a thread and introduce myself.
I purchased a salvage 2008 donor with around 165k miles roughly 2 years ago from a Copart auction - this was not a great experience, but got through it anyway. The car was in a front end collision, it was completely missing the front bumper and factory intercooler. The hood and driver side fender were damaged beyond repair.
I found color matching hood, fender and bumper off of a G5 from a local pick and pull junk yard and put a ZZP intercooler on to get the car titled and street legal.
After getting it licensed, I replaced the timing chain and put a Z54 turbo on it, and had ZZP do their remote tune. It's currently running around 24-25PSI of boost. I haven't had it on an actual dyno but it looks like similar builds are putting down around 330-350WHP with this combo. I'm thinking I want to run E85 with a 5th injector when it's all said and done with so I may take it up to ZZP for a dyno tune when the goblin is complete.

As soon as I get the chassis I will be doing a deep dive into the suspension geometry. At a minimum, I'll be building a set of rear lower control arms and change the angle of the strut if needed to get some anti-squat adjustability.

I just realized I don't have many pics of the donor, so I'll be sure to get a few more before I start tearing it down.

 

[Desert Sasqwatch]

Welcome. Sounds like you have a good start to your build, always good to have a running donor before starting. As far as the rear suspension, DF has a new, but not yet released, rear suspension and subframe that corrects some of the geometry issue inherent to the Cobalt suspension - which is optimized for a FWD. Keep in mind that a McPherson strut doesn't lend itself to much geometry tweaking for anti-squat - the springs carry all of the weight with minor vectoring of weight into the LCA
or camber gain which is limited by LCA length and strut angle.

 

[Sebnuts]

As far as the rear suspension, DF has a new, but not yet released, rear suspension and subframe that corrects some of the geometry issue inherent to the Cobalt suspension - which is optimized for a FWD.

I purchased this kit as a 40th birthday present to myself. I've been following the "Adjustable Rear Suspension" thread, seems like I would have had to wait until my 45th birthday if I wanted the DF version LOL!
I'm a professional mechanical engineer (not automotive mind you) and amateur fabricator that likes to tinker with stuff like this anyway. There's a good chance I'll end up building a tubular subframe similar to the one DF posted up, if needed.

Struts are definitely not ideal in terms of performance, mostly curious to see what can be done to optimize with the least effort to start with. I purchased a license of susprog3d to help with this, so a full analysis of the "stock" setup will be the first thing on my list to get a baseline.

 

[Desert Sasqwatch]

In case your interest, start reading through my build log from this point. I've already been down the road you are just starting. Let me know if you have any questions.

Desert Sasqwatch #155 Track (mods) - 08 SS/TC crate LNF F40

I play pickleball with the wife all the time……………….I’m not sure if we are talking about the same thing though. We play inside where it’s a comfortable 74*. :D

dfkitcar.com

 

[Sebnuts]

I took a week of vacation last week. Between holiday stuff and some insanely cold weather, I managed to get the majority of the donor stripped down, I think all that's left is to drop the engine and fuel tank, followed by a LOT of cleanup and organization.
I managed to break the plastic elbow for the hose that connects the brake reservoir to the clutch, so I'll have to source a new one if it gets used on the goblin.

 

[Sebnuts]

I borrowed a 3D scanner from work to scan the stock subframe, control arm, bearing and wheel.

I'll be scanning the frame and other suspension components when I receive them.

 

[Desert Sasqwatch]

I took a week of vacation last week. Between holiday stuff and some insanely cold weather, I managed to get the majority of the donor stripped down, I think all that's left is to drop the engine and fuel tank, followed by a LOT of cleanup and organization.















I managed to break the plastic elbow for the hose that connects the brake reservoir to the clutch, so I'll have to source a new one if it gets used on the goblin.

The hard plastic hose? I think it gets replaced with a nylon hose, but not certain if this connector is still used with a stub off of it to connect to the nylon hose?

 

[Ross]

I borrowed a 3D scanner from work to scan the stock subframe, control arm, bearing and wheel.
View attachment 37511
I'll be scanning the frame and other suspension components when I receive them.

Wow, that looks like some nice scans. Would you be willing to share them? Some of us like modeling in CAD.

 

[Rttoys]

This piece here? You’ll need that, but there may be options to get around it if need be.

 

[Sebnuts]

This piece here? You’ll need that, but there may be options to get around it if need be.
View attachment 37514

That's the one. I think it's equivalent to a 3/8"/9.49mm Fuel Quick Connect, just need to verify the hose size.

 

[Sebnuts]

Wow, that looks like some nice scans. Would you be willing to share them? Some of us like modeling in CAD.

Yea, no problem. What CAD software do you use? If Solidworks, I can provide those files as they've already been aligned with some best fit geometry, otherwise I can just shoot you .stl files of the meshes and .step files for the geometry.

 

[Ross]

I use Rhino 7 which is an off shoot of autocad. It can read a bunch (20 or 30) of different types of files... but I don't really know the differences between them. [email protected]

 

[Sebnuts]

Finished stripping the donor today. Pulled all the glass and chopped the top. Will be quartering up what's left to make it easier to dispose of.
Next up - get the harnesses shipped off to DF for the rework service and LOTS of cleanup.

 

[enjost]

I took a week of vacation last week. Between holiday stuff and some insanely cold weather, I managed to get the majority of the donor stripped down, I think all that's left is to drop the engine and fuel tank, followed by a LOT of cleanup and organization.
I managed to break the plastic elbow for the hose that connects the brake reservoir to the clutch, so I'll have to source a new one if it gets used on the goblin.
View attachment 37506

I broke this piece on my build too. Let me know if you find a good replacement please.

 

[Sebnuts]

I broke this piece on my build too. Let me know if you find a good replacement please.

X AUTOHAUX 3/8 9.49mm SAE to 5/16 8mm 90 Degree Fuel Line Hose Quick Release Connector Disconnect Hose Nylon 1 Pair https://a.co/d/bKT21OB

 

[Sebnuts]

Kit was delivered this weekend! Dropped off by Stewart Transport. They were good to deal with and got it unloaded with no issues.


I knew it was small but you just don't realize how small until it's next to the donor LOL.

 

[Robinjo]

I knew it was small but you just don't realize how small until it's next to the donor LOL.

I never got to see my kit next to the Cobalt donor, but it is really small (and fun).

 

[Sebnuts]

I made a little progress this weekend. Bent and coped some tubes and tacked up the new subframe.

And then bolted up the motor and trans so I could measure the clearance between the subframe and axle.

With that out of the way, I'll be able to finalize the suspension design and start fabbing up the mounts.

 

[Desert Sasqwatch]

Great progress on your new subframe! The design looks very familiar , but it is common sense for the triangulation to accommodate the stiffness for the LCA mounts. Get those front and rear transmission mounts fabbed up!

 

[Sebnuts]

Get those front and rear transmission mounts fabbed up!

Good Idea! I think I got all the fab work on the subframe finished up this weekend (except grinding ugly welds LOL).

All of my control arm joints and hardware are supposed to arrive this week, so I should be able to get rolling on the rear control arms this weekend