kansjfr

Have any of you tried the Holley Sniper EFI setup? If so, how hard was installation, tune, setup, etc., and how is performance. Looks tempting. I have a 68 442 convertible, and was thinking about ditching the Quadrajet carb.

droptopron

I asked that same question on ROP. Got some really good feedback


http://realoldspower.prophpbb.com/topic13867.html

kansjfr

Ok, thanks for the link.

gmiles

Old post, I know, but I've had some time behind the wheel of my 64 Cutlass with the Holley EFI. Now I can provide input.

Do it. Just go ahead and spend the money. I spent a week figuring out what I thought was the best way to install the master kit. I took my time and had only a couple of issues.

I am running points on a stock 330. Car starts great, idles great, runs great, accelerates great. Literally 4 wires to hook up and a fuel line.

I have decided to put the same EFI system on my newly purchased 65 442 with a few mods. I realized the EFI will perform better than I can ever tune a carb. I realized I will never dyno tune an engine to get the most out of it, but the self-learning EFI will get me closer than fiddling with a carb in my garage.

kansjfr

I went ahead and installed the Sniper EFI, but am having a hell of a time with throttle abruptness. The fuel injection seems to be working good, but has very abrupt throttle tip-in. Put new throttle cable on, thoroughly lubed the gas pedal, the rod and bracket above the gas pedal where it bolts into the bracket on the firewall, and saw much improvement, but it's still too abrupt to drive smoothly. Anyone have any suggestions?

Gary M

Unhook the throttle cable from the carb and then see if the carb bracket operates smoothly.

kenmosher

They make a little throttle "arm" extender that smooths out low throttle jerkiness (I haven't got around to getting one for mine, but a buddy says it does wonders). Basically makes the throttle arm "arc" longer and it takes more cable movement to make it easier to control.

I've had my Sniper (on a 454 in a 1972 pickup) since this Spring (I work with Holley/MSD/Powerteq guys and got an early engineering unit). Ditched an Edelbrock 1406 that I diddled with all ways from Sunday to get it behave at this altitude (5300 ft). Never did get it perfect ... still had a flat spot on transition and probably needed more accelerator pump. Bah.

Put the Sniper on in a day (I have a lift) ... biggest thing was running the fuel lines and mounting the pump/filter. I had a gas tank with a return line provision, which made that easy, but had to lift the bed off the frame for easier access (I relocated tank to rear), so that was an extra step that took a little bit of time.

Got it all put in and hooked up on a Saturday, fired it up the next Sunday morning, let it learn and then reset the IAC and drove it. After a week or so, I loaded the tune onto the computer (with the SD card), tweaked cold start a bit, moved the closed loop temp threshold a tad, added a little enrichment in the WOT map. Drove it for a couple months like that and it drove great! Then one day going down the road all of a sudden the O2 went to 35.6 and the thing started bucking and snorting. Limped it home blowing black smoke.

Thought it was the O2 sensor, so swapped in another LSU4.9 off my wideband on the GN ... same thing. Ended up sending the entire unit back to Holley. Tech was helpful and they ended up replacing the sensor and the ECU (sounds like the O2 drivers went tango uniform), returned it and I bolted it back up (took about 15 minutes) ... reloaded my tune and drives like new. I've done a small amount of tweaking around the middle of the VE Map, since I've seen it taking out about 10% fuel pretty consistently there at light cruise and now the correction factor is about 3-4% the other way, which is damn close. Truck runs great ...

Gary M

https://www.holley.com/products/fuel...age/parts/1952

not sure how it attaches looking at the sniper picture on the sniper website. I would call to verify before buying.

kenmosher

I think some guys are using this one as well with a spacer:

https://www.holley.com/products/fuel...ge/parts/20-14

a guy on the Sniper forum made one:

https://forums.holley.com/attachment...0&d=1491945822

Full thread is: https://forums.holley.com/showthread...al-Very-Touchy

There's a couple folks that say the Demon adapter works fine too.

kansjfr

Guys, your replies and the link to the Sniper forum are invaluable. Thanks so much. Now I know what to do to hopefully get the problem solved.

gmiles

There is definitely a leverage issue with the stock throttle that makes the throttle difficult to modulate. I was unaware of the extender and simply pushed with my whole leg instead of just pivoting my ankle. It works well most of the time.

kenmosher

I've kind of adapted to it as well, but it can still be pretty jerky around town. I'm going to order the demon extender part that Gary M pointed out. Looks to be easy and quick and we'll see how it works ...

kansjfr

I went ahead and ordered that arm/bracket from Summit Racing and then I called the Holley tech line and the guy there said it was the correct part (Holley part number 1952) and also said it would bolt right up to the Sniper throttle body. I hope my throttle cable end will attach to the bracket OK. The cable I have is from Original Parts Group with the large eyelet with the rubber grommet and plastic bushing. Any of you have any experience with that?

kenmosher

The Sniper kit that I had came with about a dozen different throttle cable ends ... snap on type "bulbs", bolt thru types, etc. I just chose the one that fit the cable end I had and snugged it on the throttle arm. You should be able to just move it to the extender, I would think?

kansjfr

I just received my throttle bracket from Summit, Holley part #1952, and I am confused. Does the throttle cable attach to the big hole at the top of the bracket (that hole seems way too big) or does it attach to the smaller hole below the large hole? Anyone have a picture of the bracket installed?

Gary M

Can they email you a picture or drawing? The website says its for the sniper EFI. Keep us posted.

RetroRanger

from garys link above if you click on the tech resources tab there are instructions and a pic !!!

kansjfr

Thanks for all of the replies. I got the bracket today and installed it. Got a blister pack of plastic carburetor linkage bushings from O'Reilly's, had to shave down the width of the one that fit in the eyelet and put a bolt with a shoulder on it (not threaded all the way to the head) and a locknut. Then I found out the engine wouldn't idle down because the bracket hit a linkage rod on the side of the throttle body so I had to cut that third bolt hole off the bottom of the bracket. Now all I need is a spacer as the bracket hits the bottom of the air cleaner. WHEW! I took a photo with my phone and will post it when my secretary figures out how to get it on the forum.

Gary M

Sounds like a lot of modification for something Holley says is for the sniper though. Hopefully after all the mods it works smooth now.

kansjfr

It was a buttload of modifications. On top of all of this I had a buy a $50 carb adapter and a spacer for the air cleaner. Not exactly plug and play.