Re: How does the electronic ignition look?

[T Berk <tberk@mindspring.com>]

Morten T Nielsen wrote:
> 
> Hi
> 
> OK - I have read a few walk troughs on how to convert to electronic ignition. And it seems pretty straight forward so I thought i'd do it!
> First of all - I live in europe and the therefore the car is also from europe...my car does not have FI but a Zenith 2B2 carb. I'm just saying this because i'll probably get 20 different answers if I'm not precise ;-)
> 
> Well - I needed the distributer, the coil, the wiring, and of course the electronic module which controls the ignition. WELL
> I went to the breakers today - I looked under the hood of 3 Jettas 5 Golfs and a Cabrio. Their age ranged from around 80 to app. 90. And everything I could find was the distributer, the coil, the wiring, but NOT the damn little control unit. Not even in the only GTI, a mk. 1!! It's supposed to sit under the "flappy" shield on top of the firewall right? - anyway I looked EVERYWHERE on those cars! 

You have the basic parts right: Follow the three wire plug on the side
of the Distributor into the wire loom and it will come back out as it
passes through a rubber grommet on the front of the rain tray (top of
fire wall). Here is where you should find that electronic module that
replaces the points. It should be mounted right by the drain in that
area under the windshield's corner. NOTE: on the side of the Dist. is a
plug and socket combo that leads to the Hall Sender (see below). Be
_very_ careful to not break or get one that is broken here- it is the
most common point of failure because it sticks out in harm's way at a 90
degree angle like that.

> I took of some of the caps of on the distributor and underneath they look just like mine. How does an old (not electronic) ignition distributer look like inside? -<snip> I'm confused...

Inside your Dist. are points; you know what it looks like- the points
rest on the Dist shaft, which is square-ish in shape and has slight
rises or 'bump' that open the points to get the spark to jump the gap.
The electronic Dist has a 'wheel' or upside down 'cup', some have
described it as a wagon wheel. It has four square holes or openings in
it's sides and this passes by a magnet pickup that senses the difference
between metal and air. This causes a signal on the pick up wire that
that electroci module sees as the trigger for the spark. This set up is
know as a Hall Sender. (I forget who Hall was or what he did.)

> 
> The only thing which was different was the vacuum advance unit on the side of the distributer. The mk. 1 GTI had one like mine (with 2 hoses) - but the newer gofls and jettas had a smaller one with just one 1 hose...

It is very likely the vacuum advance you mentioned is the same as we
have in N.A. (early vs late,  I forget which has advance and retard, the
other has only _advance_ controlled by vacuum), but it isn't a guaranty
it also corresponds to points vs electronic. In your part of the world
the emissions laws are prob. different so it's hard to say.

> Please answer quick...it's such a nice weather and I want to drive my car. Please please please!
> 
> Thanks !
> 
> Morten T Nielsen
> "Euro lister"
> 76´Scirocco 1.6 TS (Carb)
> 

When I pulled one out of a car at the yard I had to cut the sleeve of
the wiring harness to free just the wires I wanted. They were bundled
together with some others I didn't want. Also, try as I might I had to
snip ONE wire in the electronic system because it was threaded around
another wire- cut one or the other to free it. When you see it, it will
make sense. Hopeful you won't have to, so hold off till the very end.
(DON'T cut anything if you can get away with it).

Also, when I grafted electronic to an older (78 California) Scirocco I
had to contend with the infamous White/Violet wire. This special wire
runs from the back of the fuse box to the coil and is made of (I think
Aluminum) something with a special resistive value. I snipped it down
close on the fuse box side, leaving about 2" (?mm) and and grafted a
decent gauge wire on it that leads to the coil, through the firewall. If
you don't have a book with the schematics (Haynes, Bentley) then get one
because it will make life easier.

Mounting the electronic module in the rain tray was fun because the
holes aren't drilled for it so I just spoodged out a big blob of silicon
sealant (black, natch) and affixed it to the floor of the tray. I was
sure to ground the case of the module, if for no other reason than
that's the way the original was, through it's bracket and because I like
things to be grounded.

hth, let me know.
TBerk

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