Wicked Wagens Aircooled VW blog

Fuel Injection is awesome.

2010-10-10T09:12:00.000-07:00

Hot the EFI up on the laptop and running on a stimulator board. All I can say is that EFI is awesome. You have the ability to look at all of the engine's running parameters at one time. Getting excited to fire this up.

2010-08-14T09:39:00.000-07:00

Well I acquired another project car. It started out as a 72 Bug and has been chopped with a rag top and oval sections, suicide doors, and stretched wheelbase. It is such a blast to drive and gets attention where ever I take it.

2010-08-11T23:58:00.001-07:00

Worked on the Ghia tonight. I was able to add a few bends to the header.

HAN 2010

2010-08-08T18:31:00.000-07:00

Hot August Nights was great. Thousands of cars to see. We hit the main spots and did lots of walking. I got some new ideas for a blowthrough turbo TBI setup.

My long term project

2010-07-25T18:24:00.000-07:00

This is my 68' Karmann Ghia. I have been working on it for quite a few years now. It has a 2276cc, EFI, turbo charged, and intercooled engine. I am hoping it will be able to put out 225-250hp. The EFI is controlled by a Megasquirt fuel injection computer. This controls the fuel and Ford EDIS ignition. I got all of the EFI components from diyautotune.com. You can either build the computer yourself or you can buy one reassembled. It is a great setup and diyautotune provides great support. They have a new book coming out about fuel injection systems and it should be great. It will be out August 3rd, but you can pre-order here.

Digital Cameras

2010-07-25T15:11:00.000-07:00

Cameras have come a long way in the last decade. Here is the first digital picture I have of my car. Everything else before this is on good old fashioned film. Someday I will have to scan them and save them on disc.

My 68'

2010-07-23T17:26:00.000-07:00

Over the next couple years I worked and went to school and spent my free time working on my car. It went through lots of "looks". In 2003 I won the 68' and up class at the Angel's Camp show and it was a highlight for all of the hard work. I had lots of people tell me that I had one of the first primered cars to win a trophy at that show. It always got attention where ever I went.

That car was my daily driver for 7 years, and I never had a major problem with it. It had a 1600cc single port with a stock carb, 1.25 rockers, and a header with custom exhaust. We even drove it about 1000 miles one weekend to go down to a car show in Las Vegas. It always did good and got me home safe.

I was driving around Christmas 2008, doing some shopping when I saw headlights at my drivers door. I tried to turn at the last minute, but there was nothing I could do. I ended up ripping off the whole front end of a Chevy Trailblazer. The damage wasn't to bad to my car. Just a fender, bumper, and wheel. I ended up parking it on the side of the house and haven't driven it since. One of these days I will pull it back out and get it on the road again.

The Blog

2010-07-22T21:38:00.000-07:00

I decided to start a blog about my automotive endeavors so I can try to keep track of all of my crazy projects. I've had quite a few over the past 10 years. Mostly all Volkswagens. They have been a "bad" habit for me, consuming most of my time, money, and space. On the up side they have helped me meet a lot of great people, kept me out of most trouble, and given me some really great memories, so I guess they are not all bad. After these current projects are finished I would like to venture on to some other vehicles, though vintage VWs will always have a special spot in my garage.

It all started in about 2000' when my dad bought me my first car. I still remember when Dad and I went up to Lake Tahoe and found my car. At 15 I was so excited I didn't care what it looked like. It needed quite a bit of work to make it mine and how I wanted, but it would be worth it. I learned quite a bit over the 6 months it took rebuild my 68' Beetle. It went through a big transformation and Dad I touched just about every nut and bolt on that car. It was an experience that I will never forget, Dad and I spent a lot of quality time together.