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V1 Ark's City Goblin #187 (2008 SS/TC donor)

Ark :D
Teaser for the fingerprint starter setup.

20240210_135136_small.jpg
 
Ark :D
JBINTX said:
No way!!!!!
That is too cool.
You dang tech guys.
I can’t remember the last time I pulled the key out of the tumbler!!!…..
I smell a group buy brewing for this one Jeremy.
Click to expand...

I do plan to put together a how-to guide with a parts list, but this is nothing custom. Well I guess technically, the ignition adapter is custom, but @bradr made a round of them in 2020. There's a post on this forum about how to make your own, as it was a limited run.
 
Ark :D
2024's new look turned out great! I'll have a finished post up in the next week or two; there's still some offseason items to complete, but here's the coating I went with. Some people I've shown have said "...but it's the same color as before", which is only partially true, in that it's blue. DYC introduced a new glossy topcoat right after I completed my 2023 coat last year, and I wanted to try it with a metallic pearl this year. Plus, blue just feels like the right color for this car, I don't know. Maybe I'll go different next year, maybe I won't.

20240411_123025.jpg
 
Ark :D
2024 Changes

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Here's a 2023 thumbnail, for comparison:

2023_goblin_small.jpg

Changes include:
  • New floor pan - The old one was in really rough shape. It was banged up from my first seat install when I built the car, and it had little holes in it where I installed the old undercar lighting. Additionally, I coated the old floor pan with a rubbery undercar coating (which held up great), but the truck bed liner I used on the top, well ... that did NOT hold up, at all. I had a very slow brake fluid leak back when I built the car, and that crap got in between the tunnel and floor pan, and the rest is history. I cleaned it up as best I could and touched up the coating, but it just would not stick any more and more brake fluid kept seeping out, so I bit the bullet, ripped it off, and replaced it with a new, uncoated 2-section floor pan.
  • New paint - yes, it's blue again, but I went with a deeper, more metallic blue with a glossy topcoat. I think blue looks right on this car, so I went for a semi-repeat I guess. I have next year's look picked out already ... a color I have not done yet, but almost did this past time.
  • New headlights - The old headlights' cans had gotten a little roughed up and one of them had a flicker, so I replaced them. I like the new set a lot.
  • New seats - I hadn't planned on replacing the seats, but I got the new ones for a killer price so I pulled the trigger. The bolstering is a little bit tighter on my buns, but maybe that's good inspiration to slim down those buns a size or two.
  • New racing harnesses - the old ones were great, but they were very bulky and the clasp system made mush out of more than one person's brains, so I switched it up. I removed the submarine belt altogether and stuck with 4-points, with a regular seat-belt-style clasp, rather than the abomination I had before.
  • New backup camera monitor - I did this because the old one was a WEEEE bit too small to be useful. Additionally, the new one has auto-sensing HDMI input, so it's ready for me if I ever decide to actually do a Raspberry Pi gauge setup.
  • Shifter brace - sent to me courtesy of @Robinjo some time back, I finally installed a shifter brace. It makes a massive difference. I advise anyone that's running the stock Cobalt shifter or the group-buy shifter, to install one of these. The difference is night-and-day; do it now.
  • New undercar lighting - the old lighting was a single color (red) and the installation was kind of jank. So I tore it all off and re-did it, with RGB LED strips, cut to size, that should be waterproof enough and can have their color changed by an app on my phone.
  • Painted brake calipers - I decided to repaint the calipers using a glossy black epoxy-style paint. Turned out great.
  • ......oh yeah, and the fingerprint starter setup.
Next year's plans will include a color change, changing the dash lights and courtesy lights to a neutral color, and a subwoofer. I have to build a custom box for the subwoofer, so that will wait a while, since I have to do some cutting/grinding on the frame and redesign the seat mounts to accomplish it. o_Oo_Oo_O

Here's some thumbnails.

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Anks329
Ark :D said:
New backup camera monitor - I did this because the old one was a WEEEE bit too small to be useful. Additionally, the new one has auto-sensing HDMI input, so it's ready for me if I ever decide to actually do a Raspberry Pi gauge setup.
Click to expand...

Can you share details on the backup camera and monitor that your using?
 
Ark :D
Anks329 said:
Can you share details on the backup camera and monitor that your using?
Click to expand...

Sure. The monitor has a composite input via a 3.5mm jack, but I couldn't get it to take the signal from the camera. So, I had to include a small 5v composite-to-HDMI converter. Not ideal.

Monitor: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B06XQJVXHL/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o04_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1
Bar-clamp mount: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B09ZTZ52DP/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o04_s00?ie=UTF8&th=1
Camera: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B074P45P7G/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&psc=1
HDMI converter: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B08W98BD6L?psc=1&ref=ppx_yo2ov_dt_b_product_details
 
Ark :D
Rttoys said:
Birthday drive today? :p
Click to expand...

Unfortunately not. I was so stiff and sore from contorting my body into a pretzel, trying to get the kick panel speakers installed in the Bronco, I didn't have it in me to take the Goblin to work. I'll make up for it later this week!
 
Ark :D
So I've been through 3 wings on this thing now, and none of them have held up over time. The last one was by far the best, but I retired it this morning. They've all ended up cracking under the stress.

A few days ago, I heard a slapping sound while near highway speeds. I thought my speaker wires were slapping against the underside of my engine cover at speed, so I bound them up a bit better. However, the slapping sound didn't go away and was actually worse on my drive yesterday, so I looked into it further and found this:

20240910_062336.jpg


The next wing will either be solid metal, or I won't install another one at all. I still prefer the wing look over the non-wing look, but this is getting silly!
 
OptimizePrime
Yea that sounds incredibly frustrating. Glad it held on just enough to not take flight.

I see it's the passenger side mount that has the brace that runs to the other side. Seems like there's still movement causing it to break free. You think adding a second brace, completing the X, would do it?

The spacer may also be adding stress and leverage for it to be pulled out. When you do pick another wing, see if you can find one that minimizes or removes that spacer (you could put the spacer on the bottom mount, or both top/bottom and split the size between them - you'd need new cross braces).
 
Ark :D
OptimizePrime said:
Yea that sounds incredibly frustrating. Glad it held on just enough to not take flight.

I see it's the passenger side mount that has the brace that runs to the other side. Seems like there's still movement causing it to break free. You think adding a second brace, completing the X, would do it?

The spacer may also be adding stress and leverage for it to be pulled out. When you do pick another wing, see if you can find one that minimizes or removes that spacer (you could put the spacer on the bottom mount, or both top/bottom and split the size between them - you'd need new cross braces).
Click to expand...

When the first one did it, I thought it was a fluke. When the second one did it, it became a trend so I watched this one very closely when I first installed it, for a couple weeks.

From what I could see, there was very little to no lateral movement, even with only one brace. The fact that I could really apply some pressure from outside the car and not move it laterally, seemed to agree. In watching the wings in my side mirrors at near highway speed, there's always been a small amount of tipping forward and leaning back going on, though it was a lot less with this wing than the last one.

I think the reality of it is, it simply comes down to cheap-ass wings. The next one, if there's a next one, won't be a cheap-ass wing.
 
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