V1 RichN City Goblin - 2007 LT donor

[PHerder]

Another question on the "cheap ebay seat brackets"... Just received my set and when I have the front of the bracket against the front chassis bar the rear is kept from sitting on the rear chassis bracket due to the center bar holding the seat bracket up.

The question is what did you do to solve that problem? I.e. cut the seat bracket center supports or put spacers between the chassis and the bracket?

Red arrows point to the rear brackets and there is ~ 1" space between them. Blue arrows shows the center bar that is holding up the bracket.

I can see why you added the front metal to hold UP the bracket (although the floor would hold it up but that is a lot of stress on the aluminum sheet flooring!)

Thanks,

 

[RichN]

I used 4 spacers. I had some lug nuts sitting around that were the perfect thickness. I used bolts and nuts temporary to hold them in until the parts from stage 2 arrive. Looking at the square hole, I would assume that carriage bolts go in so that the floor pan sits flush.
BTW, nice color choice.

 

[PHerder]

Thanks for the update! I am guessing that spacing the front of the seats up to clear the adjustment bar with the added spacing in the rear just about makes the seat bracket level again...

 

[RichN]

The girls and I haven't done much except paint the brakes and suspension. We bolted it all up last night. The tires fit nice. There is almost an inch clearance with the strut.

275/40/R17 mounted on a 9" rim with a 1" spacer to change the bolt pattern to 5 x 120

There is only a little more room with the stock tires.

 

[Silverback]

Looks good. What's the offset on your 9" rims?

 

[RichN]

I bought the rims from SLP in 2002 for my 1998 Camaro SS.
The stock wheels that came on '98-'02 Camaro SS were 17x9" with a 50mm offset.

 

[RichN]

Not too much progress to report. Sandblasted and painted the three other rims. I've tried starting the Goblin a few times and no power to anything.
After watching the build videos, I wanted to start over with a new harness.
So...yesterday we picked up another donor for $200 with a broken steering knuckle and cv shaft. The engine starts and runs.
This time I will take a lot more photos removing the wires.
I will use light grey electrical tape instead of masking tape to identify the plugs and put a zip tie over the tape so it doesn't fall off.
Frank, if you need anything let me know.
The first donor is under the tarp on the trailer, my neighbors must love me.

 

[PHerder]

The first donor is under the tarp on the trailer, my neighbors must love me.


View attachment 624

The time I did that with one of my Fieros, the neighbors sicced the city inspectors on me!

I had to put the car back inside my garage until I could get rid of the remains.

 

[RichN]

The time I did that with one of my Fieros, the neighbors sicced the city inspectors on me!

Per code we are allowed 2 unregistered vehicles.
The first donor is registered and inspected; it was my wife's daily driver until we disassembled it.

 

[RichN]

It looks like I won't be able to use the 05 harness in the 07; different style ECUs, plugs and fuse block mounts.
I suppose I could redo everything to accept the 05, but I will make the 07 work.
So...my brother Ben came over today and removed the harness out of the Goblin.
We laid both next to each other on the table and have started tracing wires to see what my problem is with the 07.
We have found a lot of hidden ground wires that are just taped up and not connected.
Most important; the data wires from the BCM aren't hooked up.
Oh what fun, but I'm glad the 05 is well marked so I can identify the unknown plugs on the 07.

 

[RichN]

Made some progress today.
Installed the horn, vacuum line for the brake booster, floor and floor support bar.
Went through the videos and torqued down the steering rack, all the stuff on the pedal assembly and installed the clamps on the rear brake lines.

 

[RichN]

Yesterday I was working on the front hubs (rears from the Cobalt) and pried off the plastic abs switch because there was no way it was going to fit in the new knuckle. After doing that, I am now looking at the hub bearing. That won't last too long. Then I realized that the whole cap pries off the hub. So I figured I would grab the caps off my 05 donor with 4 lugs. That has abs too. Any one have an idea where I can get caps without abs? I know I can go to a junk yard, but will non-abs fit? Or how do I modify abs ones to fit? Is there a new one that I can get from the parts store. The 2 local stores had no idea what size it was. Thanks for any help.

Adam, can you post a picture of how you mounted all the switches in yours? I wanted to make some kind of panel for mine.

Because of the blizzard FedEx didn't deliver my brake lines or exhaust gasket yesterday. Oh well, something to do this weekend.

 

[RichN]

I found one that fits; a 2004 Malibu has the same 5 lug bolt hub with no abs. I went to AutoZone and verified the cap will work. Guess I'm heading to the local Chevy dealer Monday to see if I can buy just the caps. If not; I will assemble the new knuckle and put a piece of wax paper between the bar and use some JBWeld to make my own cap.

 

[RichN]

Well, I'm unable to find caps from a Malibu. So I figured out something that worked. I bought a pair of trailer hubs from AutoZone and ground down the lip a little so it was snug. Then, I attached the tie rod arm so it pushed the cap in just a bit more. I took the arm back off and filled the gap all the way around with clear RTV to help keep road grime from getting in. I spent some time polishing all the parts while watching TV.

 

[RichN]

I am wondering what this is for:

 

[BAR-AIR]

Automatic shifter extension.

 

[RichN]

Automatic shifter extension.

Thank you, which end? Mine seems to work without it.

 

[SliderR1]

RichN - are you going to use the same wheels for the front? I curious what it looks like with 17s on both ends...

 

[BAR-AIR]

Morning Rich,
That is the part of the shifter that is going to extend through the top tunnel and connect to the forward end of the shifter cable. The kit should have also come with two bolts with stop nuts two spacers and a through bolt. You are going to remove the plastic hinge pin from the donors shifter replace with the spacers to capture your part above in the center of the shifter in the down direction (this is what extends beneath the top tunnel cover). You can then adjust the stop bolts and tighten stop nuts to set travel. I also had to open up the slot on my top tunnel do to interference with that part could not get the transmission all the way into park.
Bruce
Sorry on the road don't have any photos of it...

 

[RichN]

Hi Jaret, first of all welcome to the forums. I plan on running the tire and rim combo front and back. I had the set lying around and bought the spacers to fit. They are very wide and am not sure if there will be a clearance issue.

Bruce, thank you. I haven't installed the tunnel cover yet. Now that makes sense how the cable will route.