Toyotec's How to install an ABF engine in your Mk2 Golf. Revisit of KJet car 180610

Ben S · Dec 22, 2010

don't forget the fuel lines and the throttle/clutch/speedo cables

doddy182 · Dec 22, 2010

Awesome thanks guys. More than i was expecting but at least i have a to-take off list!

Mike_H · Dec 22, 2010

Do the engine mounts last. Less chance of dropping the engine on your head that way.

arnau · Dec 22, 2010

is it easier to pull the engine out with the 4-2 section of the manifold still attached to the head (but away from the downpipe)... or leaving the 4-2 attached to the downpipe and away from the head?

rubjonny · Dec 22, 2010

depends if the nuts come undone. might end up having to leave the manifold on, in that case i would split the downpipe from the front silencer and drag it out with the manifold and downpipe still attached.

arnau · Dec 22, 2010

thanks!!

Toyotec · Dec 22, 2010

It's all on post 1 folks...

"Procedure.

Remove the KR engine and gearbox complete by disconnecting, cooling system, slam panel, intake supply piping, the engine WUR/injector lines from metering head, electrical wiring, exhaust downpipe. CV heat shield and inner CV joints."

Based on some of the questions, for a moment I thought it was not clearly stated...

doddy182 · Jan 3, 2011

Currently got all the ancillaries and pipes off the engine but bolts holding the wishbone in are so rusted up I can't shift them. Will attack them with the grinder at the weekend! All turning out to be harder than I thought

chrismc · Jan 3, 2011

doddy182 said: ↑

Currently got all the ancillaries and pipes off the engine but bolts holding the wishbone in are so rusted up I can't shift them. Will attack them with the grinder at the weekend! All turning out to be harder than I thought
Click to expand...

Why do you need to remove the wishbones?

I just removed the driveshafts when I did my swap...

andyholli · Jan 30, 2011

Coolant snag

Inspired by this thread and following Toyotec's lead I'm part way through my KR replacement fun.
I listened to Rubj's advice on the auxiliary drive and have switched over to the ABF set up but am keeping my kjet fueling (for now).

The snag I've hit is that of the two choices for coolant outlet from the front of the head (KR or ABF) neither seem quite right. - The ABF version kinks to clear the aux drive tensioner spring but looks to send the coolant pipe off too far from the top of the radiator's inlet and could clash with the inlet manifold (I've not tried it yet).

The KR type coolant exit sits snug up against the tensioner spring with no space for the pipe.

Hmmm.

I think there's enough meat on the spring housing to allow a water pipe's thickness to be ground away and if so that could be the neatest option.

- But I wanted to check with you guys before I break out the Dremel.

Cheers in advance.

websifus · Jan 30, 2011

Toyotec said: ↑

All I did was to adjust the flap pivot with 5mm allen driver and thats it.
Click to expand...

Hi to everybody and my compliments to this fantastic forum! The way you treat the technical questions here reveals a lot of dedication and love for the details
I'm following different topics here since a few month and found a lot of interesting stuff. Especially when it comes to solutions that are in most parts of continental Europe simply illegal like the combination of an ABF-Engine with standard KR K-Jet.

As a German I don't understand every single technical detail from the beginning so I had to learn most technical vocabulary first before I could start to post. Nonetheless some things remain mysterious like the following part:

"Flap pivot - 5mm allen driver?"
@ Toyotec: Are you talking about the CO-adjustment-screw at the airflow sensor plate? That has an allen-screw, but of 3 and not 5 mm
In Germany no one believes that the standard KR-Injection shall be sufficient to run a 2.0L-block without leaning out.

Cheers

Ben S · Jan 31, 2011

webifus, The guys in Germany should look at this then:

Toyotec said: ↑

Introduction and baseline method

The original comparison, performed on the 5th or Oct should have included a vehicle fitted with an ABF engine and controlled by a K-Jet system. This is the original vehicle that was used in the How to ABF your Mark 2 Golf thread.
Finally this vehicle became available and to ensure the results generated were comparative, the red Digifant 3.2 vehicle was sourced as a control to the exercise.
First the Digifant vehicle was run up and the results in terms of atmospheric conditions were accounted for so that the result could be compared to the original comparison. The result which was within 2% of the original test and was considered to be transparent. With a reliable baseline established, the K jet car was then strapped on the rolls and ramped up.
As the two vehicles had different methods for picking up rpm, dyno overlays were not possible. Instead a spreadsheet used to display differences captured.

My thoughts on Digifant vs K-Jet results .

Digi 3.2

Dav's ABF digi car is a very well kept and serviced example of the this conversion. It was good to see after so many years after the conversion, this powerplant was still pulling very strong. As the vehicle was left with me over night I can report it had excellent cold starting performance and in traffic the car behaved as any modern Golf.
We have seen on rare occasions more powerful "std" Digifant ABF engines on this rolls for various reasons, but this example is typical of your average good working ABF Digifant unit. Having driven the vehicle to the dyno I could confirm it felt the same as the last comparison run. With the throttle set to WOT this vehicle pulled very urgently from 2500rpm and gathered plenty of pace when the revs rose to 4000rpm. In top gears this urgency would dampen slightly as the 6950 cut out was approached. So how did this factory example fair when re-baselined?

This is what I would expect nominally, from an ABF engine w/VW Digifant on these rolls.

K-JET

Don's ABF KJet car surprised me. I knew it was aggressive when the throttle was flattened but did not expect the engine to achieve these strong torque readings. In these WOT conditions, it had a more obvious torque dip at 3500rpm which was not as noticeable on the Digifant vehicle. It should be pointed out that this "dip" never dropped under 138lbft in this vehicle. Surprisingly this engine did not rev to 7200rpm as first thought but to 6800rpm. This was double checked with the dynometer pickup. This 6.8K rev limit threshold was later associated with the early 16v ignition modules in MY 86-89, mentioned in this forum before. Not that it had to rev any harder. Still defiantly this was much stronger in terms of max torque 156lbft compared to the max 142odd lbft from the Digifant vehicle and trust me you would feel that! In gear acceleration was pretty fierce with the engine really pulled the car urgently was the revs got to 4500rpm, then it seemed to want to accelerate at the same pace right to the soft rev cut out similar to a KR engine just with much stronger acceleration. No doubt in top gears, a tail off in acceleration may be felt, but rather than try to attempt on public roads, lets see how the dyno measured this sensation.

Not bad for an old head and block purchased from Steven's VW dismantlers years ago and limited to many iterations of 5mm Allen key and 10mm ring spanner adjustment!

By capturing the WOT performance for two engines hardware types installed in conversions, we now have and upper and lower torque profiles that can be used to assess other similar engines performance.

ABF Digifant 3.x vs ABF K-Jet plot

Applying these dyno numbers to real life and using Tesla's GTECH accelometer, it can be demonstrated, these two MK2 vehicles can accelerate to 60mph in the very low 7secs range for the digi 3.x or slightly less than 6.8secs for the K-Jet, which on OE 020 gearing and tyres is much faster then when 16v MK2 cars left the factory.

What custom mapping can do.

The ABF Digifant 3.X vehicle in the above example has good part load performance. The mapping strategy is much more improved than the old Digifant 2 GTI 8v cars. There are no nasty torque transitions between idle loads, part load and full load conditions, a topic that many an enthusiast has complained about, as there are many bodges and workarounds for the 8v Digifant 2. Idle accessory loads are compensated for via fast path ignition scatter as well as slow path ISCV. The transition from a point of part load to full load is very progressive too. Unlike what has been witnessed and experimented with in Digifant 2, the ABF 3.x fuel calibration tends to maintain a robust stoich up to a rpm and part load threshold and then runs a richer mixture. With work already on the way to remap one of these modules, but with the understanding of what is happening with the ECU logic, the results as displayed when and aftermarket controllers are installed can be repeated with the OE controls. I plan to demonstrate this soon in another thread using a MK3 16v and another vehicle with an aftermarket controller both mapped for maximum performance and response dyno and vehicle time dependant. The research into the STD Digifant 3.x ECU shows it can even be used in turbo applications.
Ben_S MS 16v car, when tested on it's first dyno baseline already started to show typical characteristics an ABF engine that has accessible engine controls with a good enough road cal. In his case the two established baselines shared in this thread show what limited (K-Jet) or no easy adjustment (Digifant 3.x) to fuel and spark controls can achieve. With his car already displaying a good trace albeit with less torque than the K-Jet vehicle, I am sure with further mapping, the traits of the K-jet and the Digifant can be further combined. After sharing the above information, Ben has been working on his cal to increase and flatten is WOT torque, response to various throttle and load positions and drivability in part load and we will see how it all come tougher in future updates. Once the new road cal is re-evaluated for drive improvements, dyno time will be purchased to perform more work on the WOT curve. What the final product will measure we will wait to see.
In the case of Mike and the 9A on MS again with more mapping time on the dyno I am sure the torque profile can be improved to superseded that of the Digifant ABF vehicle, but not match the torque profile of either the MS vehicle or the K-Jet vehicle. Again dyno time dependant we will wait to see what happens.

So there we have it.
4 types of EA827 2.0 16v engines.
4 very different traits.
3 different methods of controlling them.
All MK2 vehicles.
Tested using a very controlled process.
Dyno Dynamics 450DS machine used to measure power runs.

My conclusion based on this exercise and testing many more 16v engines.

9A/6A/ACE engines are very good upgrades to replace your worn out KR lump. As in my How thread you can get them to perform better than std, but it involves more work due to replacing intake cams, getting the cam to crank phasing right was well as transferring components, for 6A/ACE, that make the head and block a transverse application. It is more involved and in the end you will end up with a combination that is quicker than a well fettled KR engine or just slightly short or about even with performance of a factory transplanted ABF on VW Digifant. My data and experience so far suggests for a 9A or otherwise to be significantly quicker, component modifications will have to be undertaken at increasing cost.
When an ABF engine is used as a swap engine in a MK2, the vehicle acceleration characteristics seem to change significantly right from the onset if for example the old engine was a KR 16v. Why does one ask. Plus simple, well thought out improvements can extract further power and torque in a way that could be quite expensive if the base engine was a 9A or otherwise.
Let us review some facts we know about the base ABF engine code.
The ABF engine is already a transverse application found in a host of pre 97 Seats, 3A chassis Passats and The 1H0 Golf MK3. In the search for more performance for little outlay, the base long engine does not have to be opened to swap internal components. NVH improvements can also be noted as seen by the use of an aluminium oil pan and various brackets to link to the block to the gearbox in addition to lower block reinforcements. There is the use of pistons with thinner rings and a shorter skirt, for reducing internal friction and when coupled to longer 159mm rods, transmits more piston force to the 92.8mm crank pin for longer durations. The block is capped off with an improved cylinder head with less valve shrouding, around the 27mm exhaust valves as well as more flow around the exhaust valves helped by higher lifting cams. It is my belief that these combined improvements are what gives this engine the edge as a factory unit when swapped in a conversion vs a 9A/6A or ACE variant. This view becomes stronger as more and more 16v engines are tested and validated on the dyno and show similar patterns to what is being described. Unless this data trend changes the conversion to NASP ABF power will be one I will always recommend over the other 16v options when you are about to freshen up your older Golf from that aging 16v and even 8v lump.

Acknowledgements

Many thanks to Garage Streamline for use of their DD 450 2400BHP machine.
Davinder for the red ABF Digi at short notice again
Chandrin for GerTIe the ABF K-Jet,
Mike for his 9A MS vehicle and
Ben for his cherished 1.6 driver w/ABF MS fury.
And to those who perfer to remain unnamed for making this comparison happen.

Regards
Toyotec.
Click to expand...

K-Jet fueling pretty good in this example!

Toyotec · Jan 31, 2011

websifus said: ↑

"Flap pivot - 5mm allen driver?"
@ Toyotec: Are you talking about the CO-adjustment-screw at the airflow sensor plate? That has an allen-screw, but of 3 and not 5 mm
In Germany no one believes that the standard KR-Injection shall be sufficient to run a 2.0L-block without leaning out.

Cheers
Click to expand...

Hi websifus,
You are right the size is 3mm as is seen in my picture alongside my Craftsman 10mm combi spanner, when the vehicle was revisited for a drive evaluation

There is a difference between "no one believes" and "no one has tried"

We are fortunate in the UK that the law on older vehicles does not prohibit such swaps/modifications as yet.
Hence the reason for this type of engne swap to be very common and even cost effective if your vehicle was already a KR 16v. There are also various ways we get around the lean out issue on K-Jet, at higher that factory outputs, which is discussed around the forum.
There are many 2.0 16v ABF, 9A or ACE engines that have all been run on mechanical CIS, at high engine loads and speed with λ even less than 0.80*. The system is still crude compared to EFI, but can be made to deliver the required fuel if you know what you are doing.
*During development 0.8 λ has been seen at WOT and near max engine speed and should not be assumed to be L.B.T. in this example.
Regards

rubjonny · Jan 31, 2011

andyholli said: ↑

Inspired by this thread and following Toyotec's lead I'm part way through my KR replacement fun.
I listened to Rubj's advice on the auxiliary drive and have switched over to the ABF set up but am keeping my kjet fueling (for now).

The snag I've hit is that of the two choices for coolant outlet from the front of the head (KR or ABF) neither seem quite right. - The ABF version kinks to clear the aux drive tensioner spring but looks to send the coolant pipe off too far from the top of the radiator's inlet and could clash with the inlet manifold (I've not tried it yet).

The KR type coolant exit sits snug up against the tensioner spring with no space for the pipe.

Hmmm.

I think there's enough meat on the spring housing to allow a water pipe's thickness to be ground away and if so that could be the neatest option.

- But I wanted to check with you guys before I break out the Dremel.

Cheers in advance.
Click to expand...

usae the abf flange, the kr one wont work as the inlet wont bolt back on. with the abf one you just have to trim the pipe slightly so it fits the radiator, once its bolted on and you mock the pipe up you'll see what needs to be done

andyholli · Feb 1, 2011

Coolant flanges

- Absolutely right (again) John.

So for anyone planning this set up the ABF flange and water pipe to connect it to the pump and cooler will be needed (the KR pipe is too short to reach the flange outlet).
Cheers
Andy

chrismc · Feb 3, 2011

With the ABF on kjet car in question- was the idle CO set to pass the MOT? (less than 3.5%)

Whilst adjusting idle co shifts the entire fuel window is not adjusting the fuelling via the WUR a better method for adjustment through the rev range?

An MOT friendly idle mixture can be maintained & lower fuel control pressure set via WUR to keep the top end rich?

Remember reading elsewhere where you stated a 5-6% idle co% gave the best results with ABFs on kjet...??

andyholli · Feb 9, 2011

KR to ABF weight differences

As I pulled the two lumps apart, some of the differences in weight made me ask 'how much difference is there exactly?' - so I broke out the scales:

Sticking with 020 box versus 02A: 31.7 V 39.91 (including slave, 'cradle' and bolts) gave 8.2kg
Clutch and flywheel assemblies differed by (a rotating) 1.5kg (10.1 V 11.6)
Inlet manifold/plenums/throttle bodies were 0.2kg (7.3 V 7.5)
Heat shields on ABF (omitted by me as they were cracked) but optional, came to 2.3kg

- I ignored fuel rail V Kjet lines and injector weights and the bracketry for alternators and PAS

giving a total available weight saving of about 12.2kg - and some of that has to be spun up and down too.

Errr, so what?

Food for thought if you are torn between 020 and 02A options, as I was.

In my view 12 kilos up front is significant... what do you think?

arnau · Feb 9, 2011

andyholli said: ↑

As I pulled the two lumps apart, some of the differences in weight made me ask 'how much difference is there exactly?' - so I broke out the scales:

Sticking with 020 box versus 02A: 31.7 V 39.91 (including slave, 'cradle' and bolts) gave 8.2kg
Clutch and flywheel assemblies differed by (a rotating) 1.5kg (10.1 V 11.6)
Inlet manifold/plenums/throttle bodies were 0.2kg (7.3 V 7.5)
Heat shields on ABF (omitted by me as they were cracked) but optional, came to 2.3kg

- I ignored fuel rail V Kjet lines and injector weights and the bracketry for alternators and PAS

giving a total available weight saving of about 12.2kg - and some of that has to be spun up and down too.

Errr, so what?

Food for thought if you are torn between 020 and 02A options, as I was.

In my view 12 kilos up front is significant... what do you think?
Click to expand...

I think that these 1.5Kg off the flywheel is a good thing!!

arnau · Feb 11, 2011

quick one:
I'm going to fit an abf into my kr corrado. I'll be fittin corrado's kr flywheel in the ABF. Will the kr flywheel bolts be the same as the ABF ones? What size are their heads (they're 12* ones, like a star, am I right?) ?

arnau · Feb 13, 2011

yet more quick questions:

which thermostat housing should I use with ABF engine using KR water pump, kr or abf one? if abf, which one (there are two)? any adapters needed to match kr radiator lower pipe?

kr coolant flange (front of engine) has 3 "exits" (engine, cooler, radiator), as well as abf flange. but in etka's cooling system picture, the flange isn't the one that is needed for this conversion, so the coolant pipe (flange-cooler-pump) isn't the correct one. Anyone got a part number? Or could KR pipe be reused?

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