[J_Pro205]

What 120V welder are you using?

I have a Hobart Handler 140. Been working great for me!

Another Jersey rust bucket! Congratulations! You didnt buy it from a guy named Cervini did you?

We pulled a pair of 70 Mach 1s out of there last spring. We were only able to save a few bits. Its mostly a new car at this point... or atleast a pile of new pieces!

Not the guy I bought from, no. But the guy I bought from had recently acquired it, so it could have been. All I know is he considered it a barn find... Haha sounds to be on par! Only existing pieces here will be the roof and VIN tags, which sounds like might be the same boat you're in!

Do you have plans to control the Voodoo vibrations? I'd imagine there's a bunch of threads about swaps into various vehicles that cover how to dampen that down.

Yes and no. Having no actual experience myself, I plan to install it based on the advice I got from another guy who swapped on into his 67? I think it was a 67. He shared it actually wasn't that bad for him using smaller rubber mounts, so I plan to install and do some tuning to make sure I can isolate as needed. I've searched for threads about this topic, and they seem to be few and those that are out there are more of people making speculations rather than data and facts, so I have come to the assumption I'll be taking the testing approach there.

 

[somethingclever]

Before moving, I decided to clear house of all the old/bad metal that came out of the car. I had retained it all during the repairs in order to reference back or rob certain things if needed. If definitely was handy at times to have the metal around. At this point, I had pretty much replaced all the major issues, so I felt it was the right time to make a trip to the scrap yard after re-assembling the car…
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This picture is mind-blowing.

You can probably apply for a job at Dynacorn if your current gig doesn't work out.

 

[stanger89]

Yep… I’m going to do a VooDoo…

Welcome to the club!

Yes and no. Having no actual experience myself, I plan to install it based on the advice I got from another guy who swapped on into his 67? I think it was a 67. He shared it actually wasn't that bad for him using smaller rubber mounts, so I plan to install and do some tuning to make sure I can isolate as needed. I've searched for threads about this topic, and they seem to be few and those that are out there are more of people making speculations rather than data and facts, so I have come to the assumption I'll be taking the testing approach there.

I'll be interested to see what you do, I found kind of the same thing, lots of folks poo-poo-ing the idea and lots of speculation about vibration and such, but not much real data. Guess we'll both find out if a Voodoo is a mistake one of these days. I always figure worst case, I can just swap to the aluminator cross-plane crank (and cams) if it's really too bad.

 

[jtfx6552]

Welcome to the club!



I'll be interested to see what you do, I found kind of the same thing, lots of folks poo-poo-ing the idea and lots of speculation about vibration and such, but not much real data. Guess we'll both find out if a Voodoo is a mistake one of these days. I always figure worst case, I can just swap to the aluminator cross-plane crank (and cams) if it's really too bad.

I had a 2017 GT350, the Voodoo is awesome, loved that car, regret that I sold it. But I needed the space to finish the 65 so...

 

[Chris Heinis]

Seems like you rebuilt the entire car! Awesome job! The patches came out great. If you round the corners when patching it helps dissipate the hear and create less warpage. When creating a 90 degree on a rounded piece (like your trunk) tuck shrinking or a stretcher can help by moving the metal and saving time by eliminating relief cuts. The car is awesome.
Great work

 

[J_Pro205]

This picture is mind-blowing.

You can probably apply for a job at Dynacorn if your current gig doesn't work out.

Haha! if they need a guy that can kinda build a car up over 3 years, I'm the guy!

Welcome to the club!



I'll be interested to see what you do, I found kind of the same thing, lots of folks poo-poo-ing the idea and lots of speculation about vibration and such, but not much real data. Guess we'll both find out if a Voodoo is a mistake one of these days. I always figure worst case, I can just swap to the aluminator cross-plane crank (and cams) if it's really too bad.

Ooooh man! you and I will have to bounce ideas back and forth!

Yea, and I have been writing that off quickly because, opinions are fine, but not always facts. There's a user on here whos been driving his voodoo swap for years. I had a chance to speak with him about it over the phone and he was very open about it and it seemed to be a non issue for him. I think he was just using the AJE front subframe and normal sized rubber mounts, which isn't too abnormal so I think I can find a solution if a problem comes up. Exactly! Worse case any cross plane engine can drop in and run with a firing order change wire side and tune.

I had a 2017 GT350, the Voodoo is awesome, loved that car, regret that I sold it. But I needed the space to finish the 65 so...

Soooo combine the two?

Seems like you rebuilt the entire car! Awesome job! The patches came out great. If you round the corners when patching it helps dissipate the hear and create less warpage. When creating a 90 degree on a rounded piece (like your trunk) tuck shrinking or a stretcher can help by moving the metal and saving time by eliminating relief cuts. The car is awesome.
Great work

If I haven't, I'm sure close! Thank you! I'll have to try some of those tricks. How much would you round them? just a small bit I'd assume? I want to learn with more of the dedicated tools one day, just need to find the right person who has them and has the time to teach. That would be awesome!

 

[Jetfixer6]

Optima Ultimate Street car comes to mind with your build. Are you considering a more serious path on the track with the designated track car you are co-building? How does one control the Voodoo? I know MARS has the turn key pallet.

 

[J_Pro205]

Optima Ultimate Street car comes to mind with your build. Are you considering a more serious path on the track with the designated track car you are co-building? How does one control the Voodoo? I know MARS has the turn key pallet.

That is a series I'd be interested to try out. A good friend also suggested the mustang would be a good fit for a MotorState Challenge Event he's gone to. I've already co-built a pretty wild track car with the same guy, this next one will be a bit tamer and for wheel to wheel/endurance racing for us. As far as controlling the voodoo, the guy who did his said he spent a lot of time talking with Ford engineers and tracing the wires himself before finding that the control pack for a gen 2 with a re-pinned firing order to match the voodoo worked for him. He just flashed a 350 tune on it and ran (this is all from memory, I'd have ask him again or reference back to my notes from the phone call about a year ago). I think any of the part guys that sell the pallets just do a break out ECU with the stock harness. That is also an option, but in the chance that I can't run the cross plane crank, I don't know how well that harness would play with a different firing order and engine. Good alternative to consider though!

 

[J_Pro205]

Metal Fabrication/Replacement:

Next step was to begin on another aspect that is somewhat controversial, an integrated cage/structure. I mentioned the uses of the car earlier in the thread, and, to me, it was important to protect for anything that can be thrown at it while not pigeon holing the car into a track car that can be street driven. I have read many posts, threads, articles, etc… on cages in street cars and I agree they pose a risk for someone sans helmet. I stumbled upon a single thread quite a long ways back that showed an older Nova (I think it was a Nova) with an integrated cage INSIDE the existing structure. Cue the creative juices and some quick eyeballing told me I could get pretty darn close to replicating. I took a lot of photos and sketched up my plan in Microsoft paint, aka my hobbyist AutoCAD. The main objectives were:

• Strengthen the upper structure
• Tie front and rear together more rigidly
• Protect for rollover/accident
• Still allow for 4 passengers on street safely

To do this, I did not plan a sanctioned cage, rather a cage like structure for the car. This system will be considered 6 point inside with ties to the front tubular suspension at the firewall. I am not planning a dash bar or door bars, but will have a removable rear down bar cross brace and harness bar for track use. All other bars are planned to be tucked into the existing structure or have panels built around them to remove a single point of impact in the unlikely event of an incident (things like the Main hoop top section at the roof and Main hoop vertical runs.

As far as material, I am only planning to run this car in SCCA and other comparable rule events. Due to that, I spec’ed the materials from SCCA’s rulebook, and a 1.5 OD .120 wall DOM tube is allowable for 3000+lb cars. My guess is when I’m done I will fall right at that mark, so I wanted to protect for that possibility. This also allowed for a 4.5 center line bend radius, which was preferred in this application.

I spent quite a bit of time planning and discussing with the people I’ve built other cars with to make sure my thoughts weren’t pipe dreams and began fabricating. I started by running a piece of tape under the roof between the inner structure taught to get a measure of the roofs curvature (at least a 10 point representation, and then translated that inner shape to cardboard as a template (at least half the car).

 

[J_Pro205]

Metal Fabrication/Replacement:

From this point, I sucked it up and started bending. First shot didn’t go perfectly, and had the last bend slip in the die and kink, so 1 stick was kind of wasted. I learned my lesson to clean the tubing better and cut the middle section out to spot check the fit to the roof. I altered the structure a little and bent the real one up. I also made 2 landing plates for the main hoop on top of the rear torque boxes.

I somehow did a terrible job getting a picture of the just main hoop tacked in, but I promise it’ll be shown in the rest of the pictures as progress moves. With the main hoop done and tacked in, I moved onto the most complicated bars, the Forward A pillar bars. I wanted to tuck them in the structure running above the doors and inside the kick panels, the only exposed areas would be right at the hoop and along the A pillars. I had already learned my lesson practicing on DOM, so I bought some 1.25” conduit piping which has a 1.51” OD and was perfect for doing my first bends. My math always got me close, but never perfect on the first shot, so this saved me a lot of money in DOM tubing. I can’t take credit for that trick either, it was another internet find.

I cannot guarantee all of the math above is right, my notes quickly become a nightmare and various iterations with no real flow. If there is open white space, I’ll use it! The A pillar bars do have multi-plane bends. I know this is not the strongest structure that can be made, but again, I was taking some concessions to still stiffen up the body and help protect in some way. I would NOT build a cage like this for a dedicated track car that would see 10/10ths. – Disclaimer over.

I made more landing pads for the A pillar bars on the front inner convertible rockers. I had to trim the edge of the rocker to lay it flat.

 

[J_Pro205]

Metal Fabrication/Replacement:

With the passenger side done, I moved on and repeated the process on the driver side.

Once both A pillar supports were done, I moved onto the front upper halo bar to connect the 2 A pillar bars. This bar will be mostly tucked in the front upper “clam-shell” structure. It will need some modifications to fit back on, but should be easy work.

Next up was one of the tubes I was excited to see if I could make work, and that was the main hoop down bars to the rear frame rails. I wanted these to run entirely in the sail panel and have cross support under the rear window panel between the trunk lid and window. I used some string and math to figure out what angle I would need and where I would need the tube to run.

 

[J_Pro205]

Metal Fabrication/Replacement:

Peak my set of helping hands photo bombing! She’s a mechanical engineer as well, so thankfully she’s really interested in my project and progress and super supportive!

I did as before, and moved to the other side. Rinse and repeat.

With both rear down bars made, I turned my focus to making the cross support bar right at the bends. I actually plan to make this bar the trunk latch support and open up the rear tray. This way I can work on integrating the rear GT350 seats and have a true pass through for daily use.

 

[J_Pro205]

Metal Fabrication/Replacement:

With the inner structure holding itself in with 2 tack welds at the main hoop, I was pretty happy so far! I decided to tackle the 1 spot that worried me the most; making the front upper shock mount. Cortex showed me a really cool option for their upper shock mounts, a jack screw that will adjust ride height independent of spring preload. The only tricky part with this is it comes as just a threaded collar that I have to support in space with tubes. Cortex was again great to work with and they gave me some advice to get me close at first, and then nail it (I hope) on a small revision after having conversations with Rick about some questions I had.

To get close, I made a jig based on their recommendations that references the K member already installed. I then made a bar that mounted on the LCA location to show the angle of the shock when installed. This would help dictate the angle of the adjustment jack so that the motion was 1:1. I started using string to replicate parts, which turned out to be really helpful visually. I also installed the upper control arm as the shock passes through. Rick re-confirmed the suspicion I had that passing through the UCA in the middle was more critical that matching the location of their jig, so that lead to a small revision as I had gotten ahead of myself and just went with the jig location my first go round. Thankfully I didn’t have to remake tubing, just alter it.

With the forward bars in, I moved on to planning the support and triangulation back to the firewall. It was really important to me that I retain or improve on the load support with the shock towers removed. I decided on a solid bar back to the outer section of the firewall where it would be directly across from a plate inside tying the inner structure to the front suspension. I also decided on a rear hoop that dropped on top of the UCA tube support. Once done, I will make a removable cross brace that will mount on the middle of the firewall.

 

[J_Pro205]

Metal Fabrication/Replacement:

Once the main supports were in, I then made some supports between the front upper tubular support and the UCA tubular support to triangulate between the bends.

With the front suspension bars tacked in, I moved back inside to make a bar on either side of the car to connect the A pillar supports to the firewall at the same spot as the front suspension supports. I welded landing plates to the firewall, cut the kick panels for clearance, and made the tubes.

 

[J_Pro205]

Metal Fabrication/Replacement:

With all of the permanent tubes made, I decided to mock in the front suspension and make sure things were correct from my installation. This was where I noticed the shocks were not very centered from my first go, and a quick conversation with Rick helped re-direct some work and I modified the tubes to re-center the shocks correctly.

With the suspension in and mocked up, I threw on some half wheels and the fenders to see something that represents a car!

 

[rpm]

Hot damn! I looove the Cortex stuff, especially the front spindles. I started out liking this build, now I love it.

 

[J_Pro205]

Hot damn! I looove the Cortex stuff, especially the front spindles. I started out liking this build, now I love it.

Right? They were an early contender on my list, and after talking with them for so long I decided I'm only building this car once, or at least that's my plan! Thank you! I'm glad you enjoy it!

 

[J_Pro205]

Metal Fabrication/Replacement:

With the inner structure and front suspension work pretty much done, I moved on to addressing some more rust areas, particularly on the driver side. I started with the A pillar on the driver side as there was a section in the window channel that was pretty rotten.

This also started the work needed for another modification I had planned that others don’t always agree with; trimming the drip rails. A few bits of thought went into this decision, rot, personal preference, and planned use were the main ones though. To remove, I had read online to do it in small section as to not let the roof pop, so I marked the drip rail in 2 inch segments and worked that way.

With the driver side drip rail removed, I focused my attention on the roof and inner structure in the driver side sail panel. The damage here was not as obvious as the passenger side, but both the roof and the inner structure had some significant rust and very thinned metal due to rust. The rear of the drip rail roof shape was rotten as well, so I marked a section of the roof to be removed as I did the passenger side.

 

[J_Pro205]

Metal Fabrication/Replacement:

I used poster board again to make a template and move it to metal. I skipped some pictures, and definitely didn’t make a pretty panel, but the new metal was installed and ready for clean up and POR15.

With the inner structure repaired, I moved to the roof patch panel. Once again, used some poster board and transferred to metal. I bent this panel up the same way I did the other side, using some pipe, locking pliers, my knee, and hands.

 

[J_Pro205]

Metal Fabrication/Replacement:

After tacking in this patch, I moved to the passenger side to remove the drip rail in the same fashion as the driver side. This time, I didn’t take any pictures of the process, just the roughly ground down end result.

All of this had to be done before moving to what I was originally trying to do, and that was POR15 the inner structure where all of the bars would run since it would be next to impossible to get to those areas once the tubes were welded in.

Fitting that post #100 brings us up to date! Next steps are to paint the back side of the inner structure with some sort of paint before re-installing all the bars and full welding, just need to determine what to coat with and how. A friend who does some good paint and body work recommended using some PPE Cre x21 epoxy, so that might be my next step. Updates may come with some longer breaks now, especially as I figured out our new schedule with our new born, but hoping to get out in the garage on a regular basis still to keep knocking things out.