OP

Quoted from twenty84:

I feel bad about it this thread and wish I had checked my results better before posting. I think probably when I originally tested AFM the ground wire lost contact on the opto board. That was a difficult connection on pins that were close together and I had to put the connector back on after I hooked the wires around the pins. When the coil fired it pulled enough power to make it look like the opto was firing at the same time once the ground was lost.
I've updated the original post to say the original claim that AFM did not have a delay were in error and both games have a similar variability. Like many I still think the originals have a different flipper feel than the remakes, but with respect to the flipper timing they are similar. I have changed the title of the thread to "Remakes and originals have similar flipper delays"
I think this has spurred some interesting discussion, and I thank all - no almost all - that participated.