Dirt track build

[Jordan Welding]

Started on this two months ago, I'll have to find my before pictures. Some pics are classified. More to come as I progress.

[Jordan Welding]

This was an ex police car. In the end Im going for the look of a Nascar style car. Since nobody makes roll cages for a Ford I had to buy one for a Impala and make a few mods.

[Jordan Welding]

I have a dummy block and trans in these pics, I moved the motor back so the #1 plug is almost in line with the balljoint. The rules state that it can be in line, so I stopped just a little short just to be safe. The only problem is I have to rebuild my firewall.

[willy]

Lookin' good

What class are you running and where you from? Heres a pic of our car a few years ago...love the dirt tracks

[Jordan Welding]

Nice car willy, I'd like to step up to one of those one day. Im going to run street stock. Im in Paducah Ky. Dale Jr, Stewart, And Schrader own a track here in town. Some people say dirt is for farmers, hard to beat sliding sideways at about 70 or 80 though.

[c wagner]

Make sure to keep posting progress pics, I like the way this build is going!!!

[aametalmaster]

Nice job from a Ford man at heart...Bob

[m.k.swelding]

looks good. Is the tubing a speical kind for the roll cage?

[Jordan Welding]

MK The tubing is.095 (EWT) tubing or Electrically Welded Tubing. It is supposed to be stronger than just regular black pipe because the seam is welded. Im not sure about the exact weights but the roll cage tubing seems to weigh about half as much as say schedule 40 1 1/4" black pipe. It's probably twice as much though. I bought a kit that included everything around the drivers seat, door bars, A post, B post, and Halo. The door bars came pre-bent and notched already, all I had to do was weld them up. I would like to get a tubing bender some day and try to do all that bending, that looks like an art in itself.

[Scott Hightower]

Proper Tubing

For safety it is imperative that you use DOM tubing.

DOM stands for drawn over mandrel. It looks like it has a seam but it won't split like standard tubing.

DO NOT use black pipe
DO NOT use standard tubing

Trust me, you will appreciate this advice after the first crash. As a 20 year veteran of the sport I have seen the BAD results of using the wrong material.

FYI:
Here is a good little machine by Miller for the task:
http://www.welders360.com/brand/lmil...40-mig-welder/
Scott

[AKAUTOMATION]

Nice Job, How long did it take you to fit and fab this all together? How much weight does this add to the car? Nice Build--Keep the Pictures coming.

[Jordan Welding]

Thanks AKAUTOMATION It took about a week to fit and weld all the roll cage, afternoons and one weekend. Nobody made a kit for a Ford, besides the mustang, so I had to buy one for a Impala, and cut, chop, and add here and there to make it work. Im not sure yet how much weight it added, after I add the motor I will scale the car. That's a good question though, I will see how much the pipe weighs and let you know.

[dcmetalwerks]

Hey man car looks good. I am from paducah also. I used to run a crate late, but now I am building a modified. When ever you get your car done if you need somebody to letter it for I might be able to help you out. Good luck.

[Rickochet55]

Thanks AKAUTOMATION It took about a week to fit and weld all the roll cage, afternoons and one weekend. Nobody made a kit for a Ford, besides the mustang, so I had to buy one for a Impala, and cut, chop, and add here and there to make it work. Im not sure yet how much weight it added, after I add the motor I will scale the car. That's a good question though, I will see how much the pipe weighs and let you know.

They don't make roll cages for Fords, because they don't make race cars! I had to throw that one in.... Outstanding job! We have been wanting to visit your track sometime. We live about 45 minutes from Eldora... what a sweet track that is! Keep us posted with the progress!

[Vegas Racer]

For safety it is imperative that you use DOM tubing.

DOM stands for drawn over mandrel. It looks like it has a seam but it won't split like standard tubing.

Most commercial stock car chassis and cages are built using REW and not DOM. Lefthander is a good example. A few sanctions, NHRA and SCCA or NASA require DOM in some instances but NASCAR and ASA don't. A properly designed and built REW cage will be perfectly safe.