V1 LaunchPad's technology demonstrator -08 SS/TC donor- #109 registered

[LaunchPad]

I am in a super small town (pop ~240) in Nebraska south of Omaha about 35 minutes and East of Lincoln about 35 minutes called Avoca.

Lots of frustration with this car so far. Mostly locating parts or purchasing the parts multiple times because the car had been sitting for years when i bought it at an estate sale and missing a bunch then but also was initially being assembled at a friends shop until it moved to my business shop and parts went missing again.

i need this car done for my sanity but also because it is now holding up my business. other than a few minutes here and there i won't have time to work on it much either because i have other cars and a race trailer to prep for Goblinfest. No way on earth to get this one done and the paperwork in time so it sits out this year.

 

[pisco]

I am in a super small town (pop ~240) in Nebraska south of Omaha about 35 minutes and East of Lincoln about 35 minutes called Avoca.

Lots of frustration with this car so far. Mostly locating parts or purchasing the parts multiple times because the car had been sitting for years when i bought it at an estate sale and missing a bunch then but also was initially being assembled at a friends shop until it moved to my business shop and parts went missing again.

i need this car done for my sanity but also because it is now holding up my business. other than a few minutes here and there i won't have time to work on it much either because i have other cars and a race trailer to prep for Goblinfest. No way on earth to get this one done and the paperwork in time so it sits out this year.

If you are interested I can probably cruise down in my Goblin this weekend sometime and go over a few things that are holding you up...

 

[LaunchPad]

If you are interested I can probably cruise down in my Goblin this weekend sometime and go over a few things that are holding you up...

That would be super cool- if nothing even gets done just to meet another local car guy. I can vector my business partner to some day during the week other than Saturday for his little project and hold Saturday for just Goblin stuff.

I gotta warn ya though ahead of time there are a LOT of irons in the fire down here right now with car show season, prepping the race trailer for 2 cars and for the long haul to Goblinfest, moving the wife and daughter down, remodeling the house, prepping for a major shop expansion, and several of my buddies in their 80's fully retiring and dropping stuff off at my place! if you are old enough to remember the tv show. . .it is starting to look like Sanford and sons out here and it is driving me nuts and going to be a very tall order to get everything back inside by snowfall this year. ah well busy is good for character development I suppose.

i can DM you the actual address. . .but place is EZ to find. Only paved driveway out on the entire highway. lol

 

[ah.b.normal]

That would be super cool- if nothing even gets done just to meet another local car guy. I can vector my business partner to some day during the week other than Saturday for his little project and hold Saturday for just Goblin stuff.

I gotta warn ya though ahead of time there are a LOT of irons in the fire down here right now with car show season, prepping the race trailer for 2 cars and for the long haul to Goblinfest, moving the wife and daughter down, remodeling the house, prepping for a major shop expansion, and several of my buddies in their 80's fully retiring and dropping stuff off at my place! if you are old enough to remember the tv show. . .it is starting to look like Sanford and sons out here and it is driving me nuts and going to be a very tall order to get everything back inside by snowfall this year. ah well busy is good for character development I suppose.

i can DM you the actual address. . .but place is EZ to find. Only paved driveway out on the entire highway. lol

Only paved driveway off the entire Highway? What are you?, the poster child for "western civilization" or something?

 

[LaunchPad]

Only paved driveway off the entire Highway? What are you?, the poster child for "western civilization" or something?

Well so far the only one. LOL It is trying to revert to gravel after all these years but former owners of the property must have worked a super good possibly shady deal with the highway department to use up several spare truckloads of asphalt. I know I couldn't afford something like that. . .well maybe rather wouldn't afford something like that because I have plenty of other things to spend my limited funds on before I would go down that road (punny). It is very nice out in a super rural area with my nice cars to not have to drive down gravel to get to the hwy. A great many of pieces of property out here are corn/soybean farmers. last I checked I have a full mile between my place and any neighbor's structure. there have been some new places going in. . .but they are still a long way off.

right now I just grow some hay and a bunch of car bodies. LOL

 

[LaunchPad]

This morning lookin at Goblin i got some fitment questions:

#1- for the Goblin parking brake kit- Adam's pictures show the handbrake mount hard against the rear frame member. like here:

so on my car- if i did that there would be a 3inch plus gap between the shifter tunnel cover and parking brake tunnel cover. .. what did ya all do for the gap?

 

[LaunchPad]

so Question #2 has to do with the Goblin shifter kit on a turbo car. Sorry I cant never remember the transmission designation. i simply deal with too many. i may write it in sharpie on the dang transmission next time i confirm it.

my shifter cables seem to be orders of magnitude too long! if you compare above pic of shifter and this one, there really isn't anywhere for the sheath to go. any pointers?

i did find THIS pic on the forum but after a lot of studying it- it really seems to be a whole different transmission:

 

[Rauq]

The bottom pic is an F23, base model trans. You have an F35, which is found in the SS/SC and SS/TC.

You are missing a mount piece, the original shift cable mount bracket which you have is disassembled and the new mount piece is attached on top. Decent pictures here and in the post below.

 

[Rauq]

Also here. If memory serves, on later kits that bracket was tweaked to get angles a little straighter, but probably between kits 220 as pictured and 240 which was mine and had the better bracket.

 

[pisco]

Also here. If memory serves, on later kits that bracket was tweaked to get angles a little straighter, but probably between kits 220 as pictured and 240 which was mine and had the better bracket.

220 can’t really be used as an example in time. My build had a 4 year pause between stages so most of my hardware past stage 1 order is the updated components.

@LaunchPad I will snap a picture of my tunnel for you shortly here.

 

[Rauq]

I take that back, per Ross's posting both cable brackets previously pictured are the new design, Ross shows the older one. Point stands, though, Launchpad's probably got the older design, if it is present anywhere.

 

[LaunchPad]

I take that back, per Ross's posting both cable brackets previously pictured are the new design, Ross shows the older one. Point stands, though, Launchpad's probably got the older design, if it is present anywhere.

Ahhhh yes 100% missing that bracket. No where in any of the parts or ever seen before when when the car was at one of the other locations. Sooooo. . . . . does anyone have a tracing to share of the bracket? I am a metal fabricator. Pretty sure it would be simple if I knew the offsets. Else I have cardboard and an ArcDroid. The factory one was looking a little bad anyway and the sand blaster is down. lol.

My car is #109. . . so pretty early chassis and I bet that bracket was misplace long before I bought the kit. I also found out I am missing a tab on the frame for the fuse box thing- lots of little differences. no worries. Another bracket to fab up I suppose.

I've been in the shop the last two days trying to sort out the dang ramps in my race trailer so I can hopefully stack and haul 2 cars to Goblinfest. Else the wife will nip that trip in the bud. We are getting pretty dang close to my deadline as it is and the marker lights still foobar too!!! I have a big show on the 21st for the Stalker so need to free up that day to not be in the shop. Just a wee bit up to my eyeballs. Good thing I am self employed!

 

[LaunchPad]

So this is what i came up with if someone can confirm my guestimate.

I measured 2.75 needed for the shifter cables to move back from the factor mount location. I disassembled the shifter cable 2 piece bracket and turned some new mounts on the lathe. if I weld in the little 1.5 in bar stock the set back should be acceptable. so use your imagination because I couldn't set up all 5 pieces in 3d space without welding them one at a time, and this is upside down.

 

[comegetjoe]

Did you tack it together and fit it up?

 

[LaunchPad]

not yet i was hoping for a bit of feedback on the distances needed. if i am off on the 2.75 it will get a bit ugly to cut up and make different i think.

 

[comegetjoe]

not yet i was hoping for a bit of feedback on the distances needed. if i am off on the 2.75 it will get a bit ugly to cut up and make different i think.

You said it, you fabricate. Make it happen.
None came with my kit either, just because.

I modified a plate of aluminum, washers and factory brackets to get mine where it needs to be. I had to bring mine back the distance you see between the two sets of parallel holes in aluminum plate, like 2.5 to 2.75" iirc. Id like them to be up about 1" higher, but they work for now.

Let me motivate you by saying dont hesitate, just do it. If it works, its probably not wrong or you can call up DF and order a plate and move on to the next step, they probably have one in stock waiting to ship out.

 

[LaunchPad]

You said it, you fabricate. Make it happen.
None came with my kit either, just because.

I think this will work. bit tight to wrench on but can be pulled out to tighten up. Too humid to paint today so got to pull it back out and make it "purtier"

 

[LaunchPad]

As of this afternoon my Goblin has a real Nebraska VIN number and the plate is attached to the "firewall". woot woot. Calvin and Hobbes happy dance goes here! This has always been the long pole in the tent as they say.

Thank you! thank you and thank you again Adam and Lonnie for coordinating and bringing the paperwork to Goblinfest!

Next step is title/taxes, insurance and plates- I guess Monday. Kind of all going to be together due to the driving distances involved. My regular insurance guy was on a trip and the fill-in guy was having a difficult time with the "KIT CAR" aspect. Legally it IS a car now so even if it won't be driven until spring I want it covered incase something bad happens. Most insurances do NOT cover car parts and uninsured vehicles should a house or garage burn down or get blown away by a tornado, so I've already been operating at a risk of sorts.

 

[LaunchPad]

this is my goofy way to align the rear wheels. i took a seat out and use 2 straight edges to measure to the tunnel from a 1x1 tube clamped to the disk. when the numbers on the straight edges match the wheel "should" be in line with the center of the car. . . .

 

[LaunchPad]

i need to spend some serious time searching the forums for suggested front suspension set up. . . .but this has worked on all my other project cars. . .

There are both digital and bubble levels involved in setting this up but the upside down T's usually bungie to a rim and the rubber coated set screws hold it off the actual metal rim. in this case it would be super cumbersome to lift whole wheel and tire, rim and brake to turn out a rod end so i clamped it directly to the disc and leveled on the ground with shims. slots in the bottom bar hold my tapes.

the order of what you "tune" for is important. . . .CASTOR, Camber, toe. get these out of order and you go round and round and round.