Ignition guide got fitting an AFH into a mk2/mk3 on carbs.

Please don’t take this as gospel as this is what worked for me so this is only here to try and help people.

What you need:

Polo mk2 late ignition system. Dizzy, under bonnet loom and the ignition amp.

I replaced the standard coil with a sport version with a 3 ohm resistance as was having problems with the standard coupe s item but you may not have this problem. Also I replaced the standard AFH sparkplugs with NGK BCP7ES as they don’t have the resistor in so kinder on the coil again but again you might not have to do this.

My advice is try it with the standard coupe s coil and the standard AFH plugs and hope it works but if it doesn’t then you know what parts you need to cure the problem.

Fitting the dizzy:

This is probably one of the most difficult things so this show how easy the whole thing is lol.

What you need to do is remove the vacuum advance off the side of the dizzy for no other reason than you cant get it to fit on with it on as it faces down and the water junction gets in the way. Once you remove this you need to somehow hold the arm inside on maximum advance. I used tie wire to hold it in place don’t look to pretty but works well.

The dizzy needs to go on with the connection for the hall sender facing up rather than down so that the timing is correct. Then it’s a case of where to put the ht leads back on the cap. So put the car on TDC and put lead 1 where the rotor arm is pointing then put the other leads on in the firing order of the polo.

Now just connect up the ignition amp and the coil with the standard coupe s wiring loom and then she should start up. The get your timing gun out and time her up.

JOB DONE.

Hope this helps.

nice one heg, can this be pinned please =]

could this be done on a mk5 lupo or polo gti head, or would you need the afh head on the lupo/polo gti bottom end, and then then using the modded dizzy?

A lot of the sport coils I have seen state that they can't be used with OE Ignitions... This this one.

Any reason why?

Did you use the standard AFH timing?

A lot of the sport coils I have seen state that they can't be used with OE Ignitions... This this one.

Any reason why?

haha well it does work as thats the one i have.

Did you use the standard AFH timing?

ye standard AFH timing but once ure on carbs you may wish to tweek it to get the best out of the carbs

oh ye the gap to set the NGK BCP7ES plugs is 0.7mm

Heg123, i am looking into this conversion at the moment, i have removed my AFH and have my mk3 waiting for its engine to be removed, i have a 91 model mk3, would i be able to use this ignition set up or do i definately need the polo coupe S items, can i use any polo or does it have to specifically be the coupe S?

all help appreciated.

thanks in advance.

Rick

Heg123, i am looking into this conversion at the moment, i have removed my AFH and have my mk3 waiting for its engine to be removed, i have a 91 model mk3, would i be able to use this ignition set up or do i definately need the polo coupe S items, can i use any polo or does it have to specifically be the coupe S?

all help appreciated.

thanks in advance.

Rick

As far as I know you need a carb engine set up but any mk2 one would do I think..... maybe.. :)

Polo mk2 late ignition system. Dizzy, under bonnet loom and the ignition amp.

what do you mean by the ignition amp?

any chance of pictures of the items needed.

thanks

Rick

Heg - could you offer some advise please -

i have fitted all the Coupe S ignition system - ign amp, coil and wiring, which left me a red/black wire and two black wire to connect (from memory its black!) but its the + (black wire) from the coil which i gave an iginiton feed, and two earths, one from the TCI unit to the battery and the other from the coil to an earth i chose the gearbox mounting earth point.

but i am not getting a spark, i have a spare tci unit with the same part number and a spare coil i changed both these items and still got no spark. whilst checking for a spark the coil gets very very hot, only with ignition on,

i am aware that the impulse trigger from the dizzy switches the coil to spark at the correct time, and wondered if the problems you had with your coil and plugs is the same as the problem i am having, would you please go into a bit more detail as to what the problems you had, before i have to go buy a new distributor and find i didnt need to.

thanks in advance a very deflated Rick.

i made the mistake of earthing the red/black wire that comes from the coil - this is the rev counter feed and caused me to lose my spark by earthing it, dont make the same mistake as me.

Rick

Just thought id report that you CAN run the vacuum unit,as i have.

You need to drill a second hole in the end of the cam,so you can run the dizzy upside down. This allows it to clear the thermostat housing.

Then you drill the coolant castings on the carbs,run a pipe through daisy-chain style,and use the end one for your vac pipe. This will require some intuition as far as finding suitable pipe and fitting are concerned but i used some airline and something from an industrial hydraulic valve that very closely resembled a football pump adaptor.

Here's a pic of the fitting for the vac pipe..

This pic i took to show the links between carbs for the vac,as it goes through one to the next in said daisy-chain style,but the black poly pipe is shadowed right underneath..

And here's the dizzy,positioned upside down. Note the multiplug only just clears the coolant breather pipe,though if you find this a problem you can get an '03 Golf thermostat housing which doesn't have this pipe,and use a MK2 radiator for its breather outlet instead..

could this be done on a mk5 lupo or polo gti head, or would you need the afh head on the lupo/polo gti bottom end, and then then using the modded dizzy?

At least on the later 16v heads with twin cambelts,such as the Polo MK3F 1.4 16v and Golf MK4 1.4/1.6,yes. Though the cam doesnt have a deep enough hole in the middle for the dizzy shaft,so this has to be drilled out a bit. It may need a spacer too,as i dont know if the dizzy will go all the way in,and sit flush with the head - doesnt look as deep,but that's fractional.

I dont know about the GTi's though - aren't they chain driven with VVT? I've not worked with one.

Also I replaced the standard AFH sparkplugs with NGK BCP7ES as they don’t have the resistor in so kinder on the coil again but again you might not have to do this.

Are these plugs used on any other VW cars, wondering if i could get them through work?

Also I replaced the standard AFH sparkplugs with NGK BCP7ES as they don’t have the resistor in so kinder on the coil again but again you might not have to do this.

Are these plugs used on any other VW cars, wondering if i could get them through work?

I dont know what cars they're intended for either,Golf/Jetta MK2 1.8 16v GTi maybe? Wont be any 8v's.

If not,probably other marques. They'll probably be for a Citroen XM V6 or some other obsoletion-impending reject..

I'm unable to see pics as I'm at work, but i used the vac advance with my AFH and didnt need to drill any holes on the cam, it may be self explanatory when i see pics, but i just spun dizzy round so the vac advance was at the top and job done, i used the original AFH inlet manifold and took the vac advance from one of the injector holes along with my servo feed.

when i sort my PC out ill get pics up. crude, but it works!

Pics would be good,id like to see what you've done. I considered the AFH manifold adaptor section for the carbs but figured the oval ports gave me no advantage for the work involved.

I've heard that taking vac from only one port can break hall senders but never tried it myself. Still,you could use all four - i can see it being worth using for cars with brake servos,using the four injector ports as vac terminals. Id never considered this,though i did consider drilling into the head itself and tapping into the port through the wall. Not sure how much metal's there,though..

I did try just running with the dizzy upside down and ignition leads moved to suit,and it still makes sense that it should work,yet i couldn't get it to time up. It really shouldn't matter as long as the firing order is correct but it wasnt happening for me. Soon as i drilled the cam and moved the leads round 180,off it went. Not sure what i did wrong there,then.

i have used number 1 cylinder injector on its own for servo and vac advance and i think its giving it a slight rough idle, just slightly, so i may try it using all four injector holes in the future, i couldnt afford the the bogg brothers manifold and figured i would have a go with the standard manifold, it certainly works, but was very very fiddly to get the carbs to fit the inlet and i had to use additional sealnt around the carb mounting rubbers, but it sealed and seems fine, starts on the button and idles around 500Rpm for about 20 seconds then pics up and is fine afterwards, MPG is doing well as well.

promise ill try and get pics up tonight.

hey guys, any one has done this but with the 8v 1.3 spi that comes with the 6n ? i have a set of carbs here at home, but still not sure what i have to do though, i have the bogs bros article. did you do the exact steps?

cheers

can you steer me into the right direction =)

so what your saying is you have removed the vac advance .............so why swap the dizzy?? the vac advance is there for a reason

so what your saying is you have removed the vac advance .............so why swap the dizzy?? the vac advance is there for a reason

/\ /\ /\ me? no, i have kept the vac unit with the mk2 polo dizzy i have used.

so you are saying that if you dont want to use vac advance then there is no need to change dizzy over even if the car is an injection model to begin with?

ANT

some rubbsih pics to try and explain what i did!

the inlet fitted, think you can just see the injector holes where i have fitted some turned ally.

servo hooked up to no.1 with vac advance taken from the servo pipe as well.

crude, but it works!

sorry for the rubbish pictures.

editted for missed picture!

Edited 29 August, 200916 yr by humer

so you are saying that if you dont want to use vac advance then there is no need to change dizzy over even if the car is an injection model to begin with?

ANT

why not?