Long-winded introduction

[Brian74]

Hi everybody, New here.
I'm a gearhead. Back when I was younger, I made a living building engines and occasional custom cars and looked forward to the day I could ever afford the time, money and garage space build my own as a hobby.

My current toys are a dual sport buggy with a Honda 3.5 V6, and a 1999 Yamaha Exciter jetboat; both are meticulously maintained and have had many hours of garage attention to get them where they are. I feel it is time for a new project.

I've always wanted to build a nice street kit. I first looked into doing a Miata with a Honda 3.5 V6 conversion, and also the Miata kit cars, but once I stumbled across the DF Goblin website, I fell in love. This build just makes WAY more sense than anything else out there to me, in overall simplicity, cost, performance-wise and appearance-wise.

I've read every thread in the forum and watched every youtube video.

I'm currently on the fence on chosing a donor car for this build. I have decided on two potential routes:

1. A low mileage Turbo/SC from a salvage auction that would more or less be a drop-in.

2. A higher mileage 2.4 car with manual transmission. I would rebuild the LE5 with forged pistons and rods, eliminating the weak points, and add an M62 factory supercharger using the ZZP kit.

This car will be my daily driver, once completed. I also plan to do some weekend SCCA racing (Overall I think a S/C version may be a better option for that. )

I'm in no hurry to complete this build. The build and the planning is half of the fun of it all.

I notice the T/C cars are pretty rare.

There is currently a 2009 turbo with 85000 miles and very light rear end damage awaiting title for auction through IAAI in Phoenix (70 miles from me). Someone correct me if I'm wrong, but as I can tell it is a public auction in this state, which means if I pay IAAI the $200 fee, I can bid on the vehicle. I am not sure what this car would sell for. Should I take a day off work and go bid in person? I'd gladly put up to $2,000 on it. No idea what the bid would end up at.

Am I on the right track? Would love to hear some insight that anyone has to offer.

 

[EcoRich]

Turbo FWD Ecotecs can be found not only in Cobalt SS, but also in Saturn ION Redline, Buick Regal GS Turbo, and Cadillac ATS. The latter two are post-2010 later model cars , and are going to be higher in cost from salvage.

Being the pool of S/C and T/C engines is only so large (lot of other car enthusiasts are going after the same ones we want for the Goblin), it might not be a bad idea to get accustomed to just taking the N/A engines and modifying to suit.

I would prefer a forged steel crank though in any T/C or S/C build.

Richard

 

[DanPerryy]

I tried to buy several cars on IAAI, I'm not sure if you can private bid on salvage vehicles in Arizona (you can in Texas).

The problem I had with IAAI is that it is a live bid and the live bidders get final option to bid. Copart is not like that. It is all online bidding.
Good luck, a Goblin is a blast to drive and nearly as fun to build. Buying a non-Cobalt is fine for the engine (as far as I know) but so much of the donor Cobalt is used for the rest of the build, engine cradle frame, steering rack, shaft, rear spindles, power steering, gauge panel, pedal box, ECM, BCM, coolant tank, fuel pump on and on. I doubt that parts from another donor would fit. If I were going to do it again, I would buy a real cheap wrecked or blown engine base Cobalt and then just find an alternate engine.

 

[Brian74]

That's good to know about IAAI, Dan. Since their yard is a 1 1/2 hour drive from my house, I may just go bid in person. As I understand, they also let the bidders browse the auction cars the Monday prior to auction.

I am most intent on just finding one donor car that is in good enough condition and damage-free enough that I can pull all the kit required parts I need from it, as that would simplify things overall.