VooDoo Vega Pro Street v2

[sinisterblue]

In September 2014 I took ownership of the VooDoo Child Vega built by Danny Mercantini. You can view the work he did on another thread (viewtopic.php?f=20&t=31601 ). I have continued to post on that thread from time to time just to keep everyone updated on the car. Up until now, I have only done minor changes to the car. I upgraded the cooling system, the charging system and the exhaust. I decided to start a new thread because the car is undergoing a major transformation for the first time since she has been mine.

Current situation: The front doghouse has been removed, pulled the massive blown big block out (temporarily) and have removed all of the front suspension. The windshield should be out today and then we start the changes. It has an 8 point roll cage currently and that is being upgraded to a 12 point (however I am not putting in door bars because I hat them). The front bars will actually run in through the dash not in front of it. Everything will be tied and connected. The main reason for this was the amount of stress we noticed on the front frame rails after disassembly. This along with some strengthening gussets on the frame rails should prevent the car from having any frame issues down the road. Upgrading the steering box and linkage as over the last several years the steering got so loose it was becoming dangerous. Danny did an awesome job smoothing the firewall and we are enhancing that a bit. Rerouting the electrical and ignition so that no wires will be visible coming through the firewall to give it a very neat clean look. The firewall is currently painted Plymouth Prowler Copper/ Orange. That color just isn't for me so it is getting painted (as well as the whole car eventually) House of Kolors China Candy Blue. This is a three coat system with the base coat being Andrameda Silver, the midcoat the blue with clear and the top coat being clear. Should look very deep and really shine in the sun and under lights.

Going to swap out the speedometer with an Autometer GPS speedo and reseal and gasket the engine. All the aluminum has been removed and we have been spending weeks polishing it all, so the car will sparkle! Also made the tough decision to remove the windshield wiper motor. While its cool to have working wipers on the car, I have never used them one time in three years! I would keep them but the ugly wiper motor is a true eyesore when looking at the engine bay. Target date to have the car back on the street is May 1st so we are thrashing to get it back on the road... if there is a plus to the crazy winter that won't seem to go away, is that we have had no warm sunny weather that would frustrate me that the car is down and undriveable. I will post pics of the ongoing process, but first here is the car before I tore it down two weeks ago.

[sinisterblue]

some pics of the tear down...

[sinisterblue]

Roll cage finished out (minus paint). Bars are tucked deep into the dash and follow the pillar line almost perfectly. Did not have to modify the hydro dipped custom dash panel at all. Will have to do a slight notch to the dash pad, but other than that the bars are TIGHT to the roof and pillars so hopefully I won't bonk my noggin every time I get in and out of the car. Now the whole cage front to back are tied together and the car should be much stiffer and safer. Next up is painting the cage, dash and firewall. Then reassembly. Bought a new Flaming River steering box to hopefully fix the horrible loose steering the car had developed. Engine is getting re-sealed and gaskets and fresh paint. All aluminum has been hand polished (probably 80+ hours of work) and is mirror finish shiny. Also putting in a brand new windshield (found a company in Ohio that has the license to sell OEM windshields). I am running almost two months behind schedule so my new target date is having the car back together and on the road for a local show on June 22nd. Fingers crossed.....

[sinisterblue]

VooDoo's new color.... House of Kolors Kandy Asia Blue (tri coat: base coat, Andromeda Silver, mid coat Kandy Asia Blue, top coat, clear. Looks killer inside cant wait to see it in the sun!

[sinisterblue]

I haven't logged on in a long time so I thought I would do an update.... I took VooDoo off the road for all of 2018 to do some much needed upgrades and repair. The front frame section was very stressed and was twisting and the steering was dangerous. I ended up taking it down to the frame, fixing the frame, adding some strength to it, new Flaming River steering box. Added more cage with front down tubes going into the dash so its tucked in nicely along the pillars and not in the way. Added cross bracing underneath and then ground the frame smooth and painted it. Filled all the holes in the firewall and smoothed it as well then had the firewall and downtubes painted in the color the whole car will be eventually... House of Kolors Oriental Blue. It really looks like it is still wet paint it is so slick. Next came a quick engine reseal and gasket... no need to rebuild so just sealed it up good! Polished every piece of aluminum and put $1000 worth of new braided lines and ends. Two new carbs (sent the old ones back to Danny the original owner of the car, so he could use them on his new project. Finally lowered the front end (probably too low as the oil pan is about 2" off the ground... but man does it look great). First time out I took it to a local car show that had about 130 cars and it was a big hit. I won 1st place in the Pro Street category and also won Best Engine. Finally I won Best of Show! Not bad... three trophies on its first outing....

[vegastre]

Congrats on a job well done...

Updates and improvements are costly but well worth it. Btw, great pic of the car with the Texaco in the background.

[sinisterblue]

its been a long minute since I posted any updates on the car. After 10 years wearing satin black, VooDoo has gone blue and shiny!

[astre75]

awesome looking ride I assume it moves along quite nice.