Hi all, My mk2 was originally a 1.3 and I put an ABF in it running Kawasaki ZX10 carbs. Without having to add any other wiring I was able to get it started and running acceptably ok with very advanced timing for about 6 months. Obviously this isn’t a great thing to do to the engine and I wanted it to be much smoother anyway so I bought 16V KR ECU with the loom. I’m having plenty of issues to get it going now honestly but the main question on here is how have people got around the throttle switch as my engine with the carb conversion doesn’t have anywhere to plug this into? Hopefully I can get the solution on here and I might be able to get it to start. I’ve got many more questions to come too!!
I’m by no means an expert as I haven’t done it myself bug I would assume you were only going to need the ignition side of the KR management I.e. the ignition module, coil and wiring and probably the KR distributor and not the other basic ECU it has?
We’re using the other basic ECU in place of the one I had for the 1.3 as I believe they were both the same. The reason I’ve upgraded the loom is due to not having any electronic timing
yeah you either use the kr ecu and loom, or fit some kind of vacuum/weights advance dizzy, or aftermarket ignition ecu. the usual ones are 1.9 pug dizzy, saab etc
Thanks! I’m using the KR loom and ECU. What do I do with the throttle switch as there’s obviously nowhere to plug it in on the carbs?
just ignore it, most dont bother with the vacuum line to ecu either but can try with and without see how you go
Ok well it’s still not starting as it is without a vacuum line or without the throttle switch connected. I’ve been told it could be a faulty ignition amplifier and I have the original one from when it was a 1.3 which I know works so I’ll swap that out and see if I have any luck.
yeah non-start wouldnt be caused by vacuum or idle switch, be another issue somewhere. does the rev counter jiggle while cranking? if so that tells you the ecu and spark module are at least trying to spark it up. I take it you used the KR dizzy and just plugged in the old 1.3 spark loom without any ignition advance control, and you just cant get the new ecu to spark up? one thing, if it has a 3 or 4 pin plug near ecu its from a corrado, and you need to feed the extra black/white wire with ignition live as thats the ecu power wire. the red/yellow is your fuel pump relay trigger, I would wire that up then ecu can control your pump relay. If you still have a purple/black wire floating around which used to go to one of the 1.3 carb coolant thermoswitches you can tap it there and fit a 67/80/167 fuel relay to fusebox and ecu can trigger it just need to wire your fuel pump to the fuel relay power on fusebox jobs a goodun
Thanks for this dude, really useful information! The engine was running in another mk2 before I bought it and whilst I was using it initially so I’m pretty sure the dizzy is right and I know for certain that the loom is KR so it sounds like I’m doing the right sort of thing. Next thing, like I say, is to swap the ignition amplifier and see if that gives me any luck. By the sounds of it everything else is right! Any more questions I know who to speak to!
