My 1983 Golf CL AFH conversion

I'll pulled a lot of info of the forum over the years, thought it's time to join. American living in Germany bought a car in The Netherlands a few years ago…
Initially I was going to put a 9a 2 liter in it before I know what a small block was. Small blocks don't exist in the US so it was all new to me. So the 9A won't go without moving a motor mount so off to the web. I stumbled across the AFH, shortly after I found one on ebay and it began. Now  on may second AFH after leaning out and popping the first one. First some pics

Early on






More current, CWV trans (have an 8P and 8N lying around)Running Weber 40 DCOE 151s now (27s in pic, dbilias manifold, MSD 6AL-2 Programmable ignition with the factory AFH distributor, Vacuum pump of a new Polo for the brake booster, Huco self regulating pump, 4-2-1 header and 60mm group A resonated exhaust. KW coilovers BBS RA with 185/45R15s and a bunch of extra wiring a fuse block relays and such to power this extra mess

















Vid before a sheared teeth off the flywheel




 

Sweet!

I'm currently undergoing the AFH conversion in my small block car.

Quick do a massive build thread and help me out with the all the ignition stuff!  

Oh and welcome to the club mate  

 

Ian

borednow said

… help me out with the all the ignition stuff!

Depends on your budget really. I'm running an MSD 6AL-2 programmable (part number 6530). They're a bit pricey but it was the easiest way to get what I wanted. It can be wired directly to the factory AFH distributor, that was a bit plus to me.

Software looks like this:

Friendly bit of advice… If your running dual Weber 40s like I am, they need a lot of timing advance at idle to run right. About 10-12 degrees. That combined with a lightened flywheel doesn't work well. It creates a high cylinder pressure situation at start up. The lack of inertia from the like flywheel causes it to slow down when a cylinder starts it's compression stroke and the ignition fires early. Then as the starter wants to turn faster, the flywheel slows down… I've broke a starter and ate the flywheel twice to learn this.

EEK!

Yummy fly wheels        

Thanks for the info on the ignition stuff. I'm going with other polo stuff as I'm out of money!

Great looking car. Love the bbs ra's. The afh engine looks great in a mk1 bay  

Matt

Thanks, The BBS are coming off soon. Not a big fan of them, any flavor BBS is just overdone, you see them on every old VW now. I have something a little different in the works.

Fully agree about the overplayed bbs alloys, but feel it's mainly the rs's and rm's. Think the ra's are still quite rare. Interested to see you new choice  

Matt

Don't ge me started on flaming BBS wheels and the 'rarity' of them! Boils my brake fluid all that tosh!

Be interested to see which way you go with wheels  

Ian

Nothing wrong with bbs wheels guys timeless classics. Interesting about the carbs and flywheel though, been contemplating getting mine lightened recently. How light was your fly wheel exactly?

Epytec has two lightened flywheels. One is about a third of the original, the other is about half the original. I've tried both with the same result. It'd be about €80 each to repair the ones I have. I'm willing to sell lol.

Refurbished wheels ready…

Yup they are different!

Much likiness from me  

Ian

Lovely looking wheels  

Matt

Motor is back in and running. I reset the carb float levels and went up a venturi size while I had the carbs off. Installed a new gearbox mount, of course it was rubbing on the lower radiator hose. No problem right? The radiator can be moved over one position. Now my cooling fan shroud touches the exhaust. No problem…  Removed it entirely and ordered a universal fan that I can install on the other side of the radiator as a pusher.

A quick test drive showed the float level adjustment made a huge difference, it's on the lean side of power but otherwise I have some minor jetting changes to iron out a flat spot… I'll try to get my YouTube account in order and post some links. More to follow…

VW Golf 1, 1.4 AFH conversion - YouTube

Can someone let me know if this link works?

yes it works fine  

https://youtu.be/sE6Vs0IkhJ0

Here's a link to my youtube. I added a couple videos just driving around checking jetting and timing settings.

Should have gone twin carbs with mine. Ummed and Ahhhed but went with bike carbs in the end.

Currently on the 2nd set………. at least this set isn't just allowing all the fuel out the top seal and onto the ground like the first set did!

I too used a push fan. seems to work ok on idle, I haven't been anywhere yet but comes on and cools ok just sat on the drive.

What rear mount have you gone with?

Ian