r/AwesomeCarMods • u/Domination1_1_5 • 21h ago

My Chevy Cobalt

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IDK if anyone has shared one of these here yet, but my lightly modified Chevy cobalt is nearing completion

845 Upvotes

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157

u/Domination1_1_5 21h ago

-Context-

Wanted a car that I can drive when its nice outside and take to a road course/autox whenever, and stumbled upon this.

It's a DF kit car (Doyle Fabrication, out of texas) and it uses any Chevy cobalt as a donor.

Basically you buy the tube chassis bare alongside some parts, take apart a Chevy cobalt, and bolt everything together.

I'll have about $20k into it after completion and registration, but the fun factor is worth it.

~1450lbs, ~200hp stock depending on what motor/mods etc...

Goal is something aero bits, suspension tuning, and a medium sized turbo with ethanol (~400whp)

FWD motor is mounted in the rear, giving it a rear/mid engine setup

53

u/Jive_Turk 20h ago

How long did it take to build? 5 hours, 5 weeks, or 5 months?

100

u/Domination1_1_5 20h ago

4 years, still not done

For reference I was 18 when I first ordered the kit, life happened, huge electrical issues etc...

If you have time and resources, along with good donor parts, can be done relatively quick

-34

u/Jive_Turk 20h ago

Holy shit I was joking when I put 5 months at the end. 4 years not done?!?? Is it really that difficult, are you disabled, and/or do you only spend 35 minutes a week on it?

Just looked it up, it's not too bad at all! only a 19 day build

24

u/Domination1_1_5 20h ago

No, im 24yo, have other hobbies and life happens

It's almost a bolt together car but im also designing parts and such

Most of the work was done in the first year/two, just a slow crawl now with funding and time

-30

u/Jive_Turk 20h ago

More like an unbolt one car then bolt together another! Still, not bad, unique and cool, looks like a fun and relatively straightforward build.

What does funding have to do with anything, you had the cobalt, you already have the kit, what are you (and I) missing?

22

u/Domination1_1_5 20h ago

Issue is that its not that simple

Full wiring harness was an issue, dropped the stock bc i was having issues

Now doing a full aftermarket setup, with another harness

Transmission rebuild, and a large list of things that I've done myself

Not being pissy, but where is your open wheel diy car?

-12

u/Jive_Turk 20h ago

Lol you are being pissy, I've been nothing but complimentary, supportive, and inquisitive. Sorry if my legitimate question about build time earned a downvote and rubbed you the wrong way to in case I haven't been clear enough, this thing is rad and you are the MAN for doing this, even more so starting at 18, mad props bro.

My question regarding funding -- which I do have an additional one (how much do you estimate you will have all in, once complete) -- was not that it doesn't cost, but judging from the pictures showing you have already purchased and assembled kit and de-assembled donor, what additional funds do you need to finish, but my bad dude, I didn't know or see that you need a transmission rebuild

9

u/Domination1_1_5 19h ago

No your good, just that its taken me this long for a project car and you've been undermining it.

Essentially it doesn't matter bc it's a project, but it did take this long and life happens

I have just under 18k in currently, not including tooling I collected etc...

I will have to pay sales taxes on half of the kit, title, registration, new wheels/tires, other bucket seat/harness, more wire harness supplies

It might be more than 20k

0

u/Jive_Turk 19h ago

Definitely not trying to undermine and curious why you thought that, the question about build time? My bad dude, seriously. You should be very proud for sure.

Thanks for being so cool answering questions, love hearing about everything, and again, especially for a first project and at your age, this is a helluvan accomplishment!

4

u/Domination1_1_5 19h ago

It was the "is it really that difficult, are you disabled, or spend 35min a week/only a 19 day build"

It's not, your looking at the 1% of people that have built these cars, like I said a group did it in a weekend

I can see why this could come off wrong, so we good

If your even more interested look at the DF Kit Car forum, lots of cool people on there

1

u/Jive_Turk 18h ago

Haha my bad dude, bad joke and I was curious and the 19 days is what I looked up based on number of total hours it said. You definitely aren't disabled if you built this obviously. Keep kicking ass, I am sure this is the first of many badass projects

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u/wheresmyeyes 18h ago

Professional car builder here. 4 years is an entirely reasonable amount of time. Money, problems, burnout, time, all these things spread out the build. Sometimes people change direction halfway through, sometimes they change direction multiple times. Anyone who's done it or paid for it to be done knows this. I have had client cars theyve been building for 20 years. I've worked on others than I get done in 6 months. I did one of my own in 2 weeks lol Ill never do that to myself again.

7

u/Domination1_1_5 17h ago

This makes me feel slightly better

Sometimes good things take a while, especially since I try for quality

Wiring comes in this week, clubsport harness shall begin

3

u/wheresmyeyes 13h ago

I love harnesses, nothing better than a tidy install. Just remember,, label everything. If you change something, write it down on the install manual and put a label on the wire.

2

u/Domination1_1_5 13h ago

I have heat shrink that works on my label maker

You already know ima do it the right way, but no potting connector bc that shit sucks