A customer brought us a stalled 1967 VW Squareback conversion. Here's what we found and how it got finished.
This Squareback came to us partway through someone else's conversion. The original shop started the job in 2012, the project stalled, and the owner needed someone to pick it up and finish it properly.
Inheriting a half-finished high voltage build means working with decisions, parts, and wiring you had no hand in. Before touching anything, we did a full inspection. What we found:
- No service disconnects on either battery pack
- No High Voltage Interlock Loop (HVIL)
- HV wiring routed through un-grommeted holes in the chassis, which had caused chafing and created arc risk
- A single BMS mounted in the cabin, requiring HV sense wiring to run through the passenger compartment
None of that is acceptable on a vehicle meant for public roads, so we reworked the system from the ground up:
- Moved to a dual Orion BMS 2 setup, relocated into the battery enclosures themselves
- Removed all HV sense wiring from the cabin
- Added proper grommets and strain relief throughout
- Installed service disconnects on both packs
- Implemented a full HVIL circuit so the system can't be energized with the packs open or improperly secured
The specs
- 32.9 kWh pack, 61 Voltronix V-LYP180Ah prismatic cells in a 61s1p configuration
- Operating range 170V to 244V, 195V nominal
- 26.3 kWh usable at 80% depth of discharge
- Around 65 miles of real-world range, which was surprising for 14 year old cells that had sat unmaintained for over a decade
- Kostov 9" Alpha DC motor paired with an Evnetics Soliton Jr 600A controller
- Eltek onboard charger, with standard J1772 port
The more interesting part of this job was tuning the drivetrain without a modern VCU to orchestrate everything. Getting a DC motor setup to feel predictable and refined without that layer took some careful calibration work on the Soliton's configuration. A custom dashboard rounded out the interior so the owner has clean, useful information without losing the classic character.
It now drives like a finished car rather than a project, which was the goal from the start.
Happy to answer questions if anyone's curious about the build!