V1 ToothMagician's Full Cage Country Goblin #493 - '06 SS LSJ Turbo donor

[ToothMagician]

One more... I couldn't find this one on alldata, I need to verify it's the brake pedal connector. It has a purple wire tagged dash C3 purple brake pedal switch and a pink going to the BCM multiplug. It says to cut the brake pedal connector wires but it looks like the video has a connector with brown? Yellow and white wires. I dont have any connector that matches that

 

[Ross]

Post 55 of this thread has my harness videos... that brake pedal connector is in the 2nd video. Both brake pedal connectors have 2 wires.

 

[ToothMagician]

Post 55 of this thread has my harness videos... that brake pedal connector is in the 2nd video. Both brake pedal connectors have 2 wires.

Found them, thanks didn't realize there was a second connector

 

[ToothMagician]

Today's dilemma: there's a part in video 10 where you grab the knotted grey, pink, white, tan, and orange wire group them together. Then you're supposed to add a cut green/white or pink with green/white for early model donors, which I have, but I don't have these wires. The only green/white I have goes to the drivers information center connector...

 

[Ross]

You are doing the Info and Return buttons for the drivers information center?
The info wire is pink, the return wire is green with a white stripe.

 

[ToothMagician]

Yes, they're connected already to the info center connector. Was told NOT to cut this connector out and have been treating it as a second cluster connector. Should I clip it and add it to the small bundle of knotted wires?

 

[Ross]

You need that connector if you are keeping the Cobalt info & return buttons, like I did.
If you are running the DF button panels, follow Lonny's directions for his button panel. He mentions you may be able to use the 8 wire connector from the passenger seat. Some builders just solder directly to the panel buttons, some like a connector.

 

[ToothMagician]

You need that connector if you are keeping the Cobalt info & return buttons, like I did.
If you are running the DF button panels, follow Lonny's directions for his button panel. He mentions you may be able to use the 8 wire connector from the passenger seat. Some builders just solder directly to the panel buttons, some like a connector.

Super helpful as always! Thanks

 

[ToothMagician]

You need that connector if you are keeping the Cobalt info & return buttons, like I did.
If you are running the DF button panels, follow Lonny's directions for his button panel. He mentions you may be able to use the 8 wire connector from the passenger seat. Some builders just solder directly to the panel buttons, some like a connector.

Ok been spending some time on alldata. The DIC connector will be removed including the grey wire, and 2 grounds. The remaining green/white and pink wire will be added with a new ground to the bundle of knotted wires for the switches.

Almost done with this part of wiring. I have 3 extra wires... one tan that was extended from the fuel pump wires. This will be capped as it is not the B6 wire that needed to be extended. One pink wire that's for the intercooler pump, not needed for my application, also gonna be capped, And one orange with a black stripe coming from the BCM is the trunk lamp control I'm pretty sure. Don't think I need this and not sure how it ended up in the saved wires instead of being thinned...

Big shout out to Mr. Ross for helping throughout the wiring harness rework. I learned a lot and am super grateful. Thanks

 

[ToothMagician]

Here's the rest of the wiring harness, learned quite a bit and have more confidence in my electrical systems ability. That being said... I am so glad that part is over, here are the last wiring harness videos, I'm going to be changing the format to make it more fun to create the videos and hopefully make for a better watch as well.

I've moved on to cleaning the donor parts, some of the bushings on the control arms are bad, so I'll need to get new ones. I'm testing some ways to remove the road grime from the donor parts. Tried gunk engine cleaner foaming and original with a power washer. That was ok with removing most of it, but didn't get the caked on stuff or tight spaces. I have the heavy-duty gel but haven't used it yet. I also tried O'Riley's brake cleaner with a wire brush set which went well but used a ton of product and substantial elbow grease to get just one part 95% clean. It also smelled atrocious. Now I'm trying Goo-Gone and wiping with rags on the subframe. It's very effective in removing the stuck on grime, leaves a clean shine and smells good, but I'll have to wipe the part down well with alcohol before I paint it.

Any tips on paint prep would be appreciated. Have most just painted over a cleaned part, or are y'all taking it down to bare metal before primer?

I also have the rear calipers from the SS. Do I need to clean these for the build, or are they not used?

 

[Rttoys]

I’m lazy. I cleaned stuff and just painted them.

not needed. Df supplied the calipers.

 

[Robinjo]

I think I cleaned mine a bit with acetone and then painted. Calipers can be cleaned to be sold.
I fondly remember being done with my harness. After doing the first one I didn’t think it was that bad. $1k from DF is a steal on labor compared to how long it took me to do the harness.

 

[ToothMagician]

Doing some housekeeping and getting the donor stuff prepped for paint. Pretty sure the wheel speed sensors from the hubs can go, not really sure about the sway bar though. I'm not too pumped about painting, but I know it'll go fine. I changed how I make the videos to make them less painful to watch, lemme know if y'all see anything from/in the video I need to change. I'm starting to feel a little under the weather, so not sure if I'll be able to get anything done this weekend, but here's to hoping:

 

[ah.b.normal]

New control arms! CAUTION! Your car uses different steering knuckles! The ball joint stud hole is 20.5mm and the standard ball joint is smaller, about 19.5mm!(Don't quote me on the numbers!) No Interchange! Most folks have had to buy the larger(SS Only) ball joints separately! I think OTTP is the last source?
You mentioned painting parts with "flat black". I must caution that "real" flat black shows dirt even better than the common low gloss black used in most automotive engine compartments. My paint advice on engine/suspension stuff is stay away from either very flat or very gloss. Semi gloss colors seem most forgiving.

 

[Ark :D]

The larger ball joints are LNF ONLY. Tooth's donor is a turbo-swapped LSJ.

 

[ah.b.normal]

The larger ball joints are LNF ONLY. Tooth's donor is a turbo-swapped LSJ.

Great catch! I've read too many scary stories and now there's monsters under my bed, though I sleep on the floor.

 

[ToothMagician]

Ok so my local powdercoat guy (who's the only one in my area) only has a 10 ft oven. The goblins about 11 ft tip to tail. How worried about rust from rock chips should I be if I end up painting the frame instead?

 

[Ross]

I painted because I want to easily weld on my frame. Paint isn't as tough as powder coat, but both will get chips with usage. My paint is easy to repair because Rustoleum white is available and a consistent color. 4 years old now, and I'm not too worried about rust, as the car is stored in a garage, and generally I avoid driving in the wet or treated winter roads. Do you live in a humid area or near the ocean? Then maybe it would be more of a concern.

 

[ToothMagician]

Took the front radiator support off, and it just fit into the 10 ft oven. I'm in a pretty dry place and store it in a garage. I'm just paranoid about it.

 

[ToothMagician]

Would y'all help with part identification? I broke this when removing it and am hoping I can trash it. I can't find it in the cobalt service manual...