Ah. B. Normal: GOB-BALT build has Started!

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Some may recall that last summer I helped “Josh09” get his Goblin going. He is north of Fort Worth, TX. I found Josh when he put out a post for help.
Life is funny. Another Goblin builder posted a similar call for help about a week ago. The “New Guy” is about 6 miles from “Josh09” house! Josh is confident that he can finish this guy’s Goblin with that owner’s help and me on speed dial! (Pay no attention to the little man behind the curtain, I Am The Great and Powerful OZ!!!)

What is the likelihood they’d be neighbors? I had to drive an hour each way each day to help Josh out. Worth every mile! Couple of lucky Goblin builders! I’ll be meeting both of them over Christmas vacation. Hoping to see 2 running Goblin’s that I had a hand (or at least a consult) in making run! I’ll be in Ft Worth for Christmas with my 2 Grand Sons, this is gonna be one great vacation!

 

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Travel log: We have arrived in Galveston. I'm ready to sit still for a while! My wife is decorating the inside of the RV. We have a cute little tree up on the dash area. Decorations are slowly appearing in it's boughs! I'm gonna put the star on it tomorrow. I have a string of lights draped from side mirror to side mirror, looking very festive! Lighted/cute Snowmen in the side windows and festive bits strewn all about our home! It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas around here! BUT our real Christmas will be in Ft. Worth with TWO Grand Sons! I'll be visiting those two Goblins and their owners in the week after Christmas and may get a ride in each? Wishing I could be in my garage working but this seems to be a pretty good trade off in life.

 

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We left our RV in the KOA and drove our Jeep JK to Ft. Worth. Spent about 2 weeks there playing with Grand sons, 3 y/o and 7 month old.

I got to Visit Josh09 and ride in his Goblin! I almost couldn't get my stiff old bones back out! I wasn't helped by his passenger seat positioning. It is about 3" forward of the driver's; the shoulder wings on both seats force the passenger seat forward, that combined with the fact I'm a fat old man with no Goblin exiting practice + gravity, it all conspired to trap me. Unfortunately for me, my extraction was probably caught on his security system. I'm hoping it gets overwritten before he gets a chance to post it on the web!

 

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Almost through January! Galveston is a nice place to hang out but it has not been warm enough! Persistently chilly here. Lows of freezing and highs usually around 50*. Wishin' we were in Cabo!

Getting one more Grand Baby visit in before heading back east! expect to arrive at the shop April 1. I have mucho work to be ready to do Hot Rod Power Tour June 10 starting in Bowling Green, KY. I had hoped to get further on the project last spring and Drive GOB-BALT on PT 2023, that Didn't Happen! Things got in the way and stuff rarely goes to plan, injuries and balky old welders. I'm not playing a round of golf, I'm Goblin(ing) a Cobalt and I am in "Terra Incognito" here! Though I expect once I have built one, a second one will be a breeze! I just can't seem to take on the same project twice lately! Plus I need to buy land and start some building building! Geez! it just keeps getting deeper. (Plus we will be out of the country from Labor Day to Dec 1!) I'm not complaining, just splainin' the schedule I'm working under. LIFE!, it's complicated.

 

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Spring Update
Happy Easter Everyone! Well I finally return to my work site on Lavender Hill Farm on April 6. Much junk awaits my attention.
I discovered an old friend back in ATL has gone and bought a pro sized welder! He is now itching to show off his new skills by working on GOB-BALT(he calls it "The Latter Day Fiero") He has several old hotrods an a 70's Yamaha Chopper, 2 Fieros and a daily driver Golf. His wife drives a 56 Pontiac wagon. After this experience he may Ecotec a Fiero. I've got a 2.2/auto I'd give him with wiring.
Things are looking up!
I also have a 2000 C1500 with a "bent 6" I have to LS/V8 swap this spring as well. It is my "Grandpa truck".
The Plan is to have GOB-BALT running and ready to drive on Hot Rod Power Tour starting June 10 in Bowling Green, KY. We shall see!

 

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Actually on the ground in Greenville now! And it is pouring rain. I emptied a 2.2 block to use as a mock up. It came with an 09 4 door that had been hacked up, turbo'd and wrung out! Split the bore on #3. I found a load of broken roller rocker bits as well. I have no info about the moment it let go, (working like Dr. Quincy M.E. on this one). The bottom end seemed tight and pistons were in tact! No busted ring lands or obviously broken rings. Rust in the cylinders made disassembly go slowly. I did not see any bent valves but the valves on one cylinder are stuck open, probably due to being held open by the cams to rust on the stems.
Searching for an empty F23 case to use as a mock up dummy as well. I may pull apart that 09 trans as it was obviously abused some but my junk yard training says if the engine is grenaded likely the trans is fine.
I have spent hours re-gathering my bits and pieces out of storage.(I am apparently more organized than I give myself credit for.)
We are first addressing the exact positioning of the rear frame. I believe we are moving all 4 bolt points about 1" forward. We reused the bolt on rear swing axle pivot points with chunks of 3/8' steel welded on to them with a captured nut on top. The rear frame mount points are a simple crossbar welded to the uniframe with 2, ~5'' steel tube drops making the rear frame mounts. The crossbar is just tacked onto the frame, so a little grinding and it should slide forward easily. Securing the upper strut mounts has been rattling around in Shawn's imagination for a year. He imagines he has a method figured out.
Re-attach the subframe with the mock motor and trans bits bolted to it with the DF solid trans mounts and we will be able to place/construct the R/L driveline top mounts.
We will have to raise the fuel tank about 3". We will reuse the original tank with the fill port relocated to the top of the tank. A second option is possibly the Fiero tank?, more research yet. The fill cap will be in the right triangle window opening. I am removing all three pieces of glass on the back. I hope to make a Lexan rear window/louvers for the big opening. Triangle openings may get clear NACA ducts.
Now if it would just stop raining.

 

[Markm]

what do you plan on doing under the front hood? A place for the gas tank up there?

 

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what do you plan on doing under the front hood? A place for the gas tank up there?

Well, the battery and spare go up front. I will probably duct the radiator flow out through the hood.
Since there will be no rear seat I was hoping to keep the tank near it's original location, under the back seat cushion area. I expect I will be raising the tank up 3" to clear the front sub frame mount points.
I will construct a firewall behind the front seats (like on a Pantera) with Lexan at the top for rear view. The little triangle windows I hope to replace with NACA ducts in clear plastic(a product I have seen on NASCAR builds) and the fill neck in the triangle on the right side.
Hoping to replace the rear window with molded, 4"-6" wide, clear plastic window louvers like some of the RED Italian mid engine cars use. That should make it appear insect like.

 

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The past few days have been spent disassembling another donor, too cheap to pass up! 08 silver more door. Sadly all it needed was this 2.2 I pulled out of an HHR, but I am not in the business of resurrecting the rolling stock for a 2006 airport rental fleet. "Igor! Whose Brain was this?" "Abby someone....er." "ABBY WHO!?" "A strange name that, Abby Normal, I believe..."

 

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Rain and other chores keeping me busy. Next weeks priority starts with a shredder car, fill it and haul it, which aligns with organization, keeping my shop owner happy. Roll Call: The herd currently is the original Black 06 coupe and a Black 07 coupe. (Both have titles which is worth as much as the scrap steel lately.) This week will mostly be attacking position of the strut tops and their stability.
Shop owner Shawn is investigating using Cobalt P/S systems in old rides and other apps. The steel skeleton of the dash orients the column to the firewall at the brake booster, it always helps to have a starting place vs just a column hanging in space. Every time I've started with a column hanging in space from a rope we've had to modify the design twice. Photos!: Imagine a couple of pix of a black coupe with some pinestraw build up and storage scum on the front and a second black coupe with a silver hood and bumper cover sitting in the open, so very little pinestraw build up on that one. They still look like a pair of escapees from a used car lot. Nothing to see here, move along.

 

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Not that any progress shows, but this is the pile at the moment. Looking at these pix again I realize I may be a hoarder? I blame it on my unrequited childhood Lego Lust, I only saw Lego’s at friend’s houses. I like to build with adequate materials on hand. These two principally share the trait of having a title! Oh and not rusty or wrecked. We have cut more steel out of another donor. A segment of the strut towers and some of the structure across the back of the dash. Monday I hope to get some lift time and Shawn will be seriously attacking welding in the mounts for the strut tops and then L &R motor mounts. After which it will be a rolling, steering shell that I can fit out without using a lift. Fitting wiring, rear brakes and reconfiguring the fronts as needed, reinstall drive line and build exhaust. Fuel system and cooling extension. Wish my project a speedy recovery!

 

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On the lift we will also be attacking the fact that our original sub frame placement has the wheel base 3/4 of an inch too long.(You will recall I was up against my time limit and had to depart.) Fortunately we built the front mounts off of the removable pivot pocket for the original Cobalt beam R axle, so we can remove those pockets and further modify them on the bench and re-install. The rear mounts are designed like a pair of T's connected across the top, we have initially tacked into place. We will cut it loose from the unibody frame they span and move forward as needed, weld it back in.