I think this is my next project car

[Aukai]

See if you can verify the timing, retarded ignition can cook headers.

 

[alloy]

My digital timing light says 30 total.

I've ordered a piston stop and I'll use it to verify the TDC mark on my damper.

Headers didn't glow with the carb, just with the fuel injection. Then changing the idle afr seems to have fixed it.

 

[WobblyHand]

Maybe not super accurate, but I've used a simple dowel for a TDC indicator. Just pull the #1 plug and stick it in. It will tell you if you are way off. Guess I'm saying that you don't need something specialized for your sanity checks.

I've megasquirted a vehicle and it was quite a learning experience. There's lots of stuff online to help you get started. I'd agree with the approach of getting fuel correct first then ignition. The auto tuning ability of these ECU's is amazing, but it's your responsibility to visit all of the tuning zones (cells) and spend enough time in zone for the ecu to work it's magic. However, it's not that hard. Remember, you can also interpolate manually if you missed a zone during a test ride. That helps in the beginning. Engine tuning seems like a black art, but all it is really is dogged persistence. My experience is it's somewhat easy to get general driveability, but harder to get good cold start manners. Good luck, you will get there.

If you don't know already, a zone is an RPM and manifold pressure condition. Typically there's two cells for a condition, one for fuel and one for ignition. We refer to the fuel cells as the fuel map and the ignition cells as the ignition map.

I don't know about your software, but when I am tuning I can see what zone I am in (the cell is highlighted and editable) and the air fuel ratio. If I had installed thermocouples in the exhaust I could also see the exhaust gas temperature for each cylinder. With this info one can dial in each cell pretty close. With EFI one gets a lot more visibility into making an engine run well, but there's a lot more knobs to tweak! It's also possible to really screw things up, but anyone who has been around engines should be able to avoid those conditions. It also gets interesting with boost, but I don't know if you are considering that.

 

[alloy]

I could use a pin but for $10 from Amazon it's a no brainer to buy one and it should be dead accurate. With the problems I've had I think accuracy counts.

The software is from holley and its free. You can download it here for the sniper2.

Resources - Holley

www.holley.com

I don't know squat about tuning I admit and was hoping I wouldn't have to learn with the self learning feature.

But like most things in life (well my life at least) don't go as planned.

 

[alloy]

This morning I wrote he holley tech guy and told him what I found and mentioned that I was going to put a few miles on the car before putting the new hyperspark dizzy in.

Here is his response. I'm not sure I agree with him, but he is the one with the training on the system.

He seems to like the word "issues". What happened to saying the word "problem"? Or is it not politically correct these days?



Dan,

I would install the hyperspark first. After you install the hyperspark and change the settings it will rewrite what you’ve learned with the new ignition control. Maybe take it down the street or around the corner to make sure there are no issues, but as long as the hyperspark goes in with no issues with setup and you properly check the static timing should be no issues.


Thank you,

Taylor W. Anderson Technical Sales Representative 1-866-464-6553 | www.holley.com

I

 

[WobblyHand]

I could use a pin but for $10 from Amazon it's a no brainer to buy one and it should be dead accurate. With the problems I've had I think accuracy counts.

The software is from holley and its free. You can download it here for the sniper2.

Resources - Holley

www.holley.com

I don't know squat about tuning I admit and was hoping I wouldn't have to learn with the self learning feature.

But like most things in life (well my life at least) don't go as planned.

If they have a base map for your engine it helps a lot. But that usually means you need to have an identical engine setup. If you change stuff, and most of us do, then the base tune will not be optimal for you. That just means tuning. Most of us tune on the road. That means a laptop in the car. You take a run and try to spend some time in the zones. It helps to have someone with you, but I mostly do it myself. I made a stand for the laptop to keep it level so the screen wasn't crooked and found a couple of places where I could visit the zones.

Once the basic map is in place, you can tackle ignition. After that you might want to work on transitions and possible acceleration enrichment. If you drive nearly year round, cold start enrichments are useful. You can make the car behave better than stock, but it is work. The good thing is that once it's set up right, you don't have to muck with it again, unless you add more go fast engine stuff. But by then, you'll know what to do and your tweaks won't take much time to dial in.

I hesitate to mention Dyno tuning, because there's precious few good general tuners around. Most only want to tune on systems they sell (and know) and don't put their heart in dialing in generic systems (or systems they don't sell). It might be their knowledge base isn't deep enough to solve unexpected issues. They generally will give you a relatively safe tune, but they hardly work at all on getting the transitions right. Well that was my experience anyways. I ended up doing it all over again on the road and the driveability is much better.

 

[pontiac428]

Similar experience to Wobbly here. I've spent enough time on the dyno and at tuners to know that their knowledge is quickly outstripped outside of their niche zones. It's impossible to tune for driveability on the dyno, that comes later- the tuner is for finding peak power and getting WOT tuned. They may do some alpha blending for the throttle position sensor to cut the pops on decel, but you need to datalog your driving on the road to see where and when to tweak the transients.

Self-learning is valid and reasonable, and should get you at that 80% solution after a few closed-loop learning sessions. I still don't have anything nice to say about an EFI that doesn't control spark, that's a ridiculous concept. But Holley knows their market, boy howdy.

 

[Bone Head]

Alloy I wish you luck.

 

[alloy]

Well I finally gained enough confidence to put a few miles in the 55. Went to a cruise in on Friday, about a 60 mile round trip. Car ran very well. I hooked up with a guy that does some tuning on the fuel injection setup, and I made him a block off cover for his fuel pressure regulator. in exchange. Good trade for me as I now also sell the cover on ebay. I don't make much on them, but I cover my costs. I sold 8 in the first 4 hours.

The red 55 is a friend of mines car, he lives a few miles from me. His car was 4 door, he made it a 2 door. And he also sewed up his own interior and painted the car. He learned how to do the work from watching utube vids.