The deposits you see are because I am using a flux core mig wire without shielding gas, it does the same thing on all steel I weld with it. The welds look fairly decent up close, I will post a pic soon and can assure you that it is not conduit; it is 1.5X .95 mild.
The car is a unibody-frame hybrid. I have huge support bars (2x4x1/4") integrated into the frame tunnels, they are also a mount for the primary hoop of the cage, connect to a cradle that supports the engine, and where the tubes of the nose attach under the car. The top of the nose section was integrated into a section of the roll cage but will have additionally pieces added soon.