|
I don't know how familiar everyone is here with the DF Goblin, it's basically a kit car made out of a scrapped Chevy Cobalt and a purchased frame. The majority of them are track and street cars, but there is also an All Terrain model. I stumbled on this one night while browsing the internet. I've always wanted to build a dune buggy, but lacked the knowledge on where to start. The A/T Goblin was my answer. I went to work on some budgeting and cost estimating, got a personal loan, joined up on Copart.com which is an auction site for wrecked cars, and went to work.  I ended up purchasing an ugly yellow donor of Copart for 1150, in early January. which for anyone else in Michigan knows isn't the best time of year to be working on cars. It ran when I got it, but had a dead battery and a leaky fuel line, which got way worse as soon as I crawled under it and touched the rusty spot (it essentially disintegrated and dumped fuel all over my barn floor). It took another month or so to get a car hauler trailer, as the pandemic apparently made everyone want to buy those, but once I got that I was able to get the donor on it and take it in to get the refrigerant pulled out of the AC system, and then got to work tearing it apart.  Wasn't long before I had a pile of parts and the husk of a car.  Which brought me up to the wiring harness. I watched all the video's first, and tried very hard to be careful and follow instructions, but man oh man did I screw that up. I ended up cutting out and thinning out all the wires from one of the ECM plugs, thinking that I was working with a ABS connector.. Lonny (one of the DF Kit Cars staff) came to my rescue and sent me a spare harness that he had laying around for an LT fortunately. Lesson learned there, LABEL EVERYTHING! I'm pretty hard headed and the only way I seem to learn is the hard way, but I get there eventually.   So then the kit arrived:  Got it unpacked and the frame off to powder coat, and while I waited for that I changed the water pump and timing kit on the motor:  Then the frame came back from powder coat and I got to work  Assembly went pretty well, aside from missing some suspension pieces for the rear, which the DF crew got shipped out to me quickly.    But then I ran into a major problem. I had inadvertently broken the anti theft system when I was disassembling the steering column. So after getting everything put together, the car was locked into anti-theft mode and wouldn't start. I ended up having to load it up and take it to a dealership to get a new module installed and programed, a process that my dog found to be very exciting.   After that, I junked out the crappy donor wheels and tires, and put some good all terrains on it:   Then my seats finally arrived towards the end of July. After that it has been a long series of trouble shooting electrical problems, (eventually resulting in replacing the ECM and starter, as well as correcting a bunch of sub-par grounds), but the goblin lives!   https://imgur.com/Fts61hN I have only a couple minor things to tie up, then I have to schedule an inspection appointment to start the process of getting it street legal. It already has a buyer lined up as well, I look forward to tieing a bow around this car and shipping it off, making room in the barn for the next project. Rubber Ducky fucked around with this message at 02:27 on Sep 13, 2021 |
#
?
Sep 13, 2021 02:24
|
|
|
|
| # ? Apr 28, 2024 04:46 |
|
|
Good dog and good project. I've never heard of one of these and it looks like a great way to repurpose lovely Deltas. It's almost unfair to the rest of us to start a project thread where it gets "finished" in the first post. 
|
|
#
?
Sep 13, 2021 02:31
|
|
|
Cool little project. Why are you selling it so quickly after finishing it?
|
|
#
?
Sep 13, 2021 02:35
|
|
|
Seat Safety Switch posted:Good dog and good project. I've never heard of one of these and it looks like a great way to repurpose lovely Deltas. Thank you! And sorry for the one post project. I'm not much for making posts on media of any type, but I have been reading these forums for years so I figured I should contribute finally.
|
|
#
?
Sep 13, 2021 02:37
|
|
|
sharkytm posted:Cool little project. Why are you selling it so quickly after finishing it? Mostly because I got an offer, the offer will pay off the loan I took to do the project, and put some more in the bank on top of that. I'm already planning the next project, and selling this one will both help finance it and make space in the barn for it to happen. For the next one I want to build my own frame.
|
|
#
?
Sep 13, 2021 02:39
|
|
|
Rubber Ducky posted:Mostly because I got an offer, the offer will pay off the loan I took to do the project, and put some more in the bank on top of that. I'm already planning the next project, and selling this one will both help finance it and make space in the barn for it to happen. For the next one I want to build my own frame. Awesome. I didn't realize you had borrowed for this one, so that totally makes sense. Puts, the build is 80% of the fun IMHO. Please post your next one!
|
|
#
?
Sep 13, 2021 02:40
|
|
|
Rubber Ducky posted:For the next one I want to build my own frame. Locost? locostusa.com/
|
|
#
?
Sep 13, 2021 09:01
|
|
|
Something more along the lines of a baja truck, although I am aiming for mid engine at the moment. I'm sure this will evolve as it goes, but similar to below:
|
|
#
?
Sep 13, 2021 11:13
|
|
|
Awesome little project OP. Looks like it would be a riot on fire roads. Definitely build a baja truck next. 
|
|
#
?
Sep 13, 2021 16:57
|
|
|
So I took it up to Silver Lake today, which if you are ever in western Michigan give it a go, it's the only ORV sand dune area east of the Mississippi river, and its pretty fun.  Anyway, the car did alright, if I was keeping it there are definitely some things I would change, to start with I'd be putting pinned castle nuts on the control arms... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c9b5wL7CJBI  Fortunately it wasn't real busy out there today, and I was able to walk my tracks until I found the nut.  I moved it before I took this picture as I didn't want to lose it forever. It was buried in the sand about 4 inches to the left of the tire track, with just one facet of the hex exposed.  I didn't have any tools on the dunes with me, left everything in my truck in the parking lot, so I threaded it on as tight as I could with my fingers and drove slowly and with as few turns as possible off the dunes. I had to stop once along the way to get out and tighten it again, but we made it. Now I just need to vacuum about 50 pounds of sand out of the thing. Rubber Ducky fucked around with this message at 23:33 on Sep 13, 2021 |
|
#
?
Sep 13, 2021 23:29
|
|
|
If you build a Baja truck and don't post about it I'm gonna be sad. Neat little kit car though!
|
|
#
?
Sep 14, 2021 13:44
|
|
|
Rubber Ducky posted:So I took it up to Silver Lake today, which if you are ever in western Michigan give it a go, it's the only ORV sand dune area east of the Mississippi river, and its pretty fun. That is not a use case for a nyloc, lol.
|
|
#
?
Sep 14, 2021 14:40
|
|
|
that thing is neat, never heard of it! thanks for posting it.
|
|
#
?
Sep 14, 2021 15:18
|
|
|
Odds of you finding that nut were slim to none good job. Looks like a fun little toy!
|
|
#
?
Sep 14, 2021 16:18
|
|
|
How the gently caress did you find that?
|
|
#
?
Sep 15, 2021 22:10
|
|
|
|
| # ? Apr 28, 2024 04:46 |
|
|
What a cool project and toy.
|
|
#
?
Sep 18, 2021 13:02
|
|
EVERYWHERE 
