Hip
to be Square
I've
got a 1968 VW Squareback, I bought this
from the original family owners, still
with the black and yellow California
plates on it. I grew up in So Cal and
always loved VWs, but sadly never got
one. I hung out with the mini truck
scene and started building mini trucks
instead. Well now, I finally got my
first VW 20 years later, and took some
of my mini truck background and used
it to influence my build with this.
I'll
start with the motor, I tried to keep
the original EFI set up since this was
the first car to feature this new set
up and thought it'd be cool to have
it running still. But after months and
months of messing with it and finding
no hope or light at the end of the tunnel
I ditched it for a set of 34 Weber ICT's.
Drove the 1600 DP motor till it was
finally puking oil and had to do an
upgrade at that point. I took the opportunity
to make a jump up in horsepower and
had a new 1835 built by Geoff Hart Performance
engines.
During
the motor swap I shaved a few of the
unnecessary holes in the engine bay
and made did some trimming to make room
for the oil cooler and fan for the new
full flow oil set up. Due to the air
ride set up being above the transmission
I was limited on where I could mount
the remote oil cooler, and found a spot
it tucked away perfect off to the side
of the motor. Once the motor was built,
I color matched the tins to the original
paint code and bolted it all back together
and tucked it away back up in the rear.
The body of the car is all original
to include a few dings and bumps here
and there. I did a two stage cut and
buff bringing out the original shine
and had one of my local pinstripers
throw down a few lines throughout the
car to set it off. I had to search for
a while to find the 17 inch Escara wheels
to have just the right look. I converted
the rear end to and IRS set up and built
a custom rear air ride set up, the front
has a custom Punch Drunk Customs dual
air bag beam to tuck all four corners
and get this thing on the ground. The
Dakota Digital Air management set up
controls Parker valves and four Slam
Specialties air bags. Up front under
the hood is a set of Viair Compressors,
and a spun aluminum air tank custom
painted by Crash Customs, also with
a little pin stripping on it!
The
interior is still a work in progress,
but so far has had all new headliner,
side panels, carpet, and custom stitched
seats by Crash Customs finished. Working
on the stereo and custom door panels
at the moment. But definitely a big
change since when I acquired it from
the original family.
Jay
Johnston
