AhBNormal said:In reply to AngryCorvair (Forum Supporter) :
Thanks Man, It was a tough road.
Hope things turned out positive, but tough road either way.
Working nights up near Detroit at the moment, but gotta drive down to Cincinnati after work Friday night for a wake. John and I had been friends since 13 years old. Sucks.
In reply to 03Panther :
There is never enough hours with the ones we Love and helped us be who we are today! So remind those children out there to do IT now, make a plan and don't put off much! Tomorrow will come soon, ready or not! I wish I had some relevant pix but we are still just trying to clear the runway to the lift and organize stuff! Plus I picked up another donor/shredder car(08 4 door no motor.) to clean the garage detritus up into. I've got to pull that apart as well. Just saving ft clip, wiring, sub frame, misc suspension parts and wheels. Then jam it full of garage junk/ bent body parts.
Monday, 29 April. Almost the end of the month.
The scrap Cobalt is gone, it was cheap (no engine/trans). It provided another set of r. axle pivot brackets, a huge chunk of floor from over the gas tank to raise the tank area. Fuel tank will be in the original location just raised about 4". It also donated another sub-frame w/ struts and 5 lug hubs; plus a front bumper cover and hood for unit #2.
I cut out a big chunk across the firewall from strut top to strut top. Shawn hopes to weld this into body #1 just behind and under the rear package tray/deck. I hope to get #1 up on the lift on Wednesday, drop the power train and install the front dummy sub-frame. Also correcting the wheelbase, our original position was 3/4" too far back!(it was in there square, just 3/4" too far back. Shawn is being a perfectionist on this point, for reasons he has not shared. Be a wise man, don't fight with your Chassis Guru unless you want to find a new Chassis Guru!)
Also hope to have the L&R engine mounts secured into the body before setting it on the ground again. I think I can do almost all the rest on jack stands. Dropping the rear sub-frame and installing another sub-frame with power train installed just requires raising the body about 4' using an engine hoist and having the drive line package on a low furniture dolly.
As this is not my shop I help Shawn with his builds which sometimes are time sensitive, so they come first. Our REAL "Dead Line" is 9 June, the start of Hot Rod Power Tour in Bowling Green, KY.
I sure hope we don't end up finishing this car on our drive to Kentucky!! I hate last minute stuff!
AhBNormal said:Dropping the rear sub-frame and installing another sub-frame with power train installed just requires raising the body about 4' using an engine hoist and having the drive line package on a low furniture dolly.
That sounds like VERY good planning. Get some pics from the lift if you get the time, love seeing a good plan taking shape
Photos PLEASE ! !
These pix are pretty boring but I'll post them later today. I may even get a shot of grinding sparks and a little welding! I am having very little welding on this project. Mostly cutting and removing.
The lump. 
rear view, right rear corner. We are redoing all 4 frame pickup points. As you can see, the welder was trying to quit and we were just trying to get it to the point where it would roll during my 9 months away on the road. That gray thing is the back of the temp driver seat. 
Looking inside the former trunk. Strut tops(white things) will now be welded in with proper bracing. 
The front now devoid of drive lump. Hung the rad back in its original position and have stripped out the last A/C lines. As soon as it rolls again I will reinstall the bumper and cover and lights. So once again it will return to its inglorous appearance of un loved, well worn used car (possibly abandoned). Removing the rear window and the quarter triangle glass should cause observers to notice there is something different going on with this old derelict auto. 
Pre- transition to mid engine car. Just another hunk of old transportation. Nothing special.
There are no boring pics. Just visual helpers for us following the progress from afar.
Piguin, Note, you are welcome! I'm afeared I've been tinkering on this so long that none of it surprises me in any way, so photo journalism of this build falls off the to do list. I do stuff and don't think about pix until the next day or never. I shall post more photo dumps, may they at least entertain or maybe even spark your imagination! We imagine and We dream, then we DO!
Part of the allure of posting on this forum is to find answers, sometime to questions we did not realize we had! Cars and electrification! You just may have the answers to my electric A/C questions!! This car has a 2.2L motor and obviously a belt driven compressor. I would like to use the majority of the OEM system grafting in an electric A/C compressor. An advantage on my side is that the finished GOB-BALT will be a 2 seater with greatly reduced interior volume, probably on order of a 45% reduction. Where I remove the compressor I could possibly add a "dedicated A/C alternator"? I had considered running an A/C compressor off one of the abandoned front drive cv axles. The problem is that A/C usage really goes up when sitting in traffic!! Maybe run the A/C alternator that way?? (You do know that NASCAR racers run a belt drive alternator off the pinion yoke on their rear end, hidden tech.)
So, a "stand alone" electric A/C compressor? Any thoughts, experiments, OEM apps or ideas will be warmly welcomed!
In reply to AhBNormal :
Toyota Prius uses an electric A/C compressor, although I think they need more volts than just your standard Auto 12V.
Also, Happy Birthday.
In reply to Indy - Guy :
Thanks for the Birthday greetings! I was born in 62 and am now 62.
More volts? As in 120V? or more on the order of 48V?
I'm thinking of running an alternator off the now abandoned front right half shaft, a converter and a deep cycle battery, maybe? Alternators can be converted to output more volts, I just have to have a input voltage and amp requirement to give to my auto electrics guru! I'll also have to figure shaft speed to not over speed the alternator?
AC is actually a side project on this car!! It has yet to go down the road!
I can't pinpoint where I went wrong but it seems I missed a very important point. The butt end of the F23 trans juts out further to the left than the automatics. the result, I must reconfigure a section of uni body frame, clearance-ing/raising that section up about 4". This could be convoluted. This is going to take some work and welding.
Hope to remember to take some pix. I have thrown some sparks with the grinder/cutter wheels lately but usually when holding on with both hands, I do not have a Photog on staff.
I think you are going to find that electric AC is going to be a nightmare to get it to work properly. It will need some type of controller I believe.
I would just run the normal belt driven compressor if possible.
Also, why would you still have half shafts in the front? Just use the outer stub in the hub and remove the rest of the shaft. Running something off of that would be a nightmare I would think.
In reply to wvumtnbkr :
That all was just a rabbit hole. A/C is waaay down the list. Will hook up heat though, helps defog. Remember the engine is in the back so A/C hoses would be custom and long!
Yea....48V AC with 176,594 sensor inputs is what the pure EV cars use. Good luck with that.
Are you using off the shelf Chevy RWD knuckles?
GOB-BALT is using the same sub frame and suspension front and rear. Much of my inspiration comes from a kit car. DF Goblin. DF Goblin constructs a front knuckle and use the rear hubs on the front. The thought of using the same sub frame front and rear came from the MG(British) mid engine roadster from the early 2000's. I believe all they changed was the spindle/steering knuckle. So I am using all front hubs.
Empty front cavity. The Lump has a new mailing address. Though still not fully moved in. 
Here is the trimming needed to fit the lump back here. More work than expected! Then again what plan ever survived direct contact with reality?
The quarter window glass out of a Cobalt coupe. Glued in like glue is free, factory used plenty! Next I'll remove the back glass. Measuring for clutch plumbing and shifter cables today. Hope to get those side projects knocked out while I help my Sister with her life changes after losing her hubby. A car guy and Airline pilot. He Loved to show me his latest car! A brand new Porsche Turbo in chrome Yello. But he also liked cutting his grass. So I suspect he was a little crazy as well. Aint We All??
26 May I get back to the shop! Then it is a mad thrash to 9 June and the Start(Bowling Green, KY) of Hot Rod magazine's Power Tour on which I promised to see some folks and show the car to the public.
IF GOB-BALT is not finished/running by the start day, I believe I'll leave off the front bumper cover and get a tow bar to flat tow it to the venues(no trailer!) I'll work on it every stop! IF/When I get it going during the tour I'll let one of our riders follow me in the truck(or leave truck in a safe place.) and drive GOB-BALT as much as possible!(IF GOB-BALT fails this road testing, back to "plan B" and working on it at every stop.)
Wish me luck, I'm gonna need all of that I can get!!
We cut away way more in this area than we needed to. This is why I expect I will build the second one right. We will be reinforcing this area crudely. I have clearance to weld bars across the bottom area. And maybe some square tube across the top?
So Power Tour was fun but GOB-BALT was not allowed to attend. They claimed no trailered/towed cars(then did not enforce that rule) GOB-BALT was too far from FULL function to drag it around anyway! I have only 6 more days before I head back onto the road, until next spring! 
Still in Australia. I think I can see Antarctica from this hotel room!!(JK) moving to NZ on Wednesday. Driving left is interesting, I hate city traffic. But the drivers put Canadian Drivers into 2nd place for courtesy. Very nice folks!
In New Zealand! South Island has been as visited as we could muster! Saw a glacier near Mt Cook. Almost get trapped ata very nice Hotel by the largest spring snowfall in recent history. We left a day early for the the coast and avoided the snowy fun!
Visited Invercargill, home of the World's Fastest Indian. Great museum/hardware store! Burt Monroe had a friend/sponsor that owned the store. They were riding buddies to the end! It would have taken a second movie to cover their exploits! A couple of far from average guys in a far from average place on the edge of the world! Inspiring! The effort it took them to do all they did with Summit Racing, Etc 8000 miles and 30 years from them in the future. And he dared to cross an ocean to race at Bonneville and show us how they do it in NZ!
On our way to NZ north island and more adventure! I'm not trolling for sympathy, just understanding. Many miles and days separate me from my project and I am anxious to get restarted! When I left it rolled! I have wiring to finalize, cooling pipes to the front, build a bulkhead, reinstall interior, fuel filler neck to design, exhaust(though I bought a Goblin exhaust off a friend in Arkansas, thanks!), air box and tube routing, rear brake line routing, and many shifter bugs to be found and to combated into submission!!
And MAYBE I get to buy some land and start on a home base! I sure love what I'm doing, but I am missing car work as well.
What are you doing that involves such travels?
In reply to TurboFource :
We are retired and can travel so we do. My wife is an amazing computer programmer. Retired from 30 years with Coke. We live full time in a class A motor home towing a wrangler.
I wish I could just work on my project every day but our days of being on the road and independent are numbered. Reality is more obvious to you after 60!
Thank you for your interest and I will be back at it soon! It confuses many folks I am building this car just for fun. If it turns into more that would be cool too! Remember to have fun!
I get it! I am not young either ..... maybe at heart though!
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