I think this is my next project car

[alloy]

What you say sounds good, but you are way over my head. If there is some kind of kit I could buy then I may try it, but I can just see myself attempting it. I know nothing about tuning. Anymore it takes me a very long time to do anything. I've really slowed down after my health scare. What would take you a week or two will take me 2 months.

I'm afraid I'm stuck with the holley setup. I'm considering buying a sniper 2 and get it installed and send the one I have now off to be repaired. I'm kinda sorry I didn't go with an LS3 but I'm committed to the SBC.

 

[verbotenwhisky]

Well crap and more crap, and double crap. Can you tell I'm ******?

Just tried to fire the 55 up with the sniper injection and it did fire, ran very badly, right header was very hot and was making the header wrap smoke it got the exhaust so hot. Leaked fuel all over the intake manifold. Called holley and it's under warranty, but 5-6 weeks to repair it.

So there goes my cruising season. I joked with someone my new target date to go cruising was 2026. That may end up being accurate unfortunately.

View attachment 456503

Sounds like you have a bank of cylinders running lean, that is usually what makes the exhaust very hot.... high octane fuel cools, if there is enough of it...

 

[verbotenwhisky]

What you say sounds good, but you are way over my head. If there is some kind of kit I could buy then I may try it, but I can just see myself attempting it. I know nothing about tuning. Anymore it takes me a very long time to do anything. I've really slowed down after my health scare. What would take you a week or two will take me 2 months.

I'm afraid I'm stuck with the holley setup. I'm considering buying a sniper 2 and get it installed and send the one I have now off to be repaired. I'm kinda sorry I didn't go with an LS3 but I'm committed to the SBC.

That is why I like the Hilborn injection, they have been at it for fifty years....

 

[alloy]

Yeah hilborn is super cool, but EXPENSIVE. I just can't swing that much right now.

Well I bit the bullet this morning. I called holley again trying to get them to let me upgrade to the sniper2 and pay the difference. No dice. I talked with Taylor for over an hour and we went over every single wire connection, the entire setup in the hand held (abou 50 parameters) and after he saw the picture of how much the throttle body leaked said there was no way to fix it on my end. His tech guy looked at the pic I sent of the fuel on the manifold and said he wanted that unit sent directly to him. Said somehow someone screwed up, bad assembly or lack of a thorough test on the unit and wants to figure out who put the unit together.

So I bought the sniper2 and their power distribution module for 10% off. Along with the deal he is sending out a brand new sniper1 (chrome version-I have the gold color) for $1406. Not wild about the chrome unit, but I don't have anything to use it on anyway, I may try to sell it. I know a local guy that also has two 55's and needs a new carb, but he is mechanically challenged. A great body and paint guy, but can't figure out a firing order. If I sold it to him I'd be the one putting it on the car. The car is to say the least a mechanical mess to put it nicely. He did his best but I cringe at the thought of working on it. Once I started I just couldn't let stuff go that I see wrong. Best for me to stay clear of it. He did a great job of making both is cars from 4 doors to 2 doors, but I wouldn't let him do anything mechanical on a tonka truck I own.

Funny, another person that my wife works with (he drives fuel transports also) has a 70 nova with a BBC. He removed the intake manifold and couldn't get it started after he put it back together. He put the distributor in one tooth off. I got that fixed, and saw he has the vacuum advance plumbed to the vacuum modulator of the turbo 400 trans and the ported vacuum connection on the carb was open. So I got those fixed. Now he needs to wire up a kick down for passing gear. Doesn't have one now. But he like the first guy is a great body and paint guy and has taught my wife a lot about driving fuel transports. He's been with the company 29 years now.

One other thing Taylor at holley said is I need to have a dual post battery and run the sniper power off the side terminal and the main power for the car off the top terminal, or vice versa. He said there will still be some flyback if they are on the same terminal. I have a dual post battery so that's not a problem to change that. One of the things they did a lot of work on was electrical interference for the new sniper2. I guess the power distribution module helps that. So more wiring work. I went to great pains to make the wiring as neat and clean as possible and hide as much as I could. Now I have to almost start over on it.

So now I have to go out to my shop and make $1400 worth of chips on stuff to sell. I have 5 days to do that.

Edit: I just found out the sniper2 uses a external fuel regulator. I have to get one of those now. Not sure how or if I can use my fuel manifold I made with it. Took me most of a day to make the manifold.

 

[pontiac428]

Dan, I came across an article today with some sound advice for grounding EFI systems from Jerry Hoffman and Matt Cramer, two individuals who have contributed significantly to DIY EFI and retrofits. Thought it might be a helpful read.

DIYAUTOTUNE QuickTip: The Advantage of Proper Grounding

Ensure the success of your standalone EFI system with a proper grounding strategy. Learn the importance of grounding for optimal performance.

www.diyautotune.com

 

[alloy]

Thanks, that's very good info. I definitely learned from it. Thank you. I'm planning on making some changes to the reinstall of the new unit.

The new sniper2 has a power distribution module available and it's something new. It was $150 but I was planning on spending $1400 for a sniper2 and I got 10% off so with the module is was about $6 more than I'd planned on spending. (actually I'd hope not to have to spend anything, but after being told 8 weeks to repair my unit I decided to upgrade) Anyway supposedly the sniper2 has been redesigned to be less sensitive to efi. I wi8ll have a brand new sniper1 for sale. It gets here tomorrow.

After having problems I joined a coupe of sniper forums on fb and learned a lot about the system. From what I can tell most peoples problems are self inflicted. From not following the wiring instructions (and not doing their research) to thinking they are smart blocking off the fuel regulator return and not using a return line because it's too much work and putting 100 plus psi into the system. I have a 3/8" return line. I flushed the lines before hooking them up to the throttle body, ran a separate power wire directly to the battery, and another separate power wire to a high quality relay to turn the unit on. I did my best to prevent electrical flyback after the very knowledgeable people on here educated me about it. Now I read something about ferrite rings. I think I will post about them and be educated on their use and see if it would benefit me from using them.

One other thing the holley tech told me to do is use a dual post battery and run the sniper power off a different connection from the starter. So my starter and power for the car is off the top post, run the efi power off the side terminal. He said it does make a difference, so why not, easy to do.

 

[pdentrem]

I know this is many pages later, but this came up.

Video: Driveshaft Angle and Phasing Made Simple - Mac's Motor City Garage

We could talk for a week and not explain driveshaft operation as effectively as this little two-minute demonstration video does. Watch this. Thanks, internet. Demonstration rigs like this one are most commonly found at vocational colleges and suchlike, … Continue reading →

www.macsmotorcitygarage.com

 

[alloy]

Thanks for that. I'd seen that and it did help with setting the engine and pinion angle. I made some 4.5 degree shims for the axle. I ended up with a 3 degree down angle on the engine and a 3 degree up angle on the pinion. They are now parallel with each other.

 

[alloy]

I got the sniper2 injection on and got the car started and had a big problem. (see pic)

I was on the phone with holley many times and not much came of it. He did talk me into getting a new hyperspark distributor for $450. And when I got it there is a wire adapter he didn't mention I needed so am waiting on that. He also didn't mention when I bought the sniper2 that I needed an external fuel regulator. Had to wait a week on that and another $110.

So I got the car running and the headers glowed red after about 2-3 minutes. Tried everything looking for a vacuum leak, timing off, nothing worked. The car ran fine with the carb other than it is very cold blooded. It was embarrassing having to wait 10 minutes for it to warm up and put it in gear without it stalling. That was my main reason the the new fuel injection.

Anyway I went on a Facebook group with the problem and got over a hundred people telling me I have a vacuum leak or timing is a "country mile" off, and one person called me an idiot. Vacuum is 15 inches at about 800rpm. Pulled all the vacuum hoses off and no change. Timing is 12 deg initial and 30 total.

I finally started talking to a guy back east and he has a sniper1 on a big block 440 mopar and his fuel pressure regulator cover cracked and it's not available for purchase. A lot of people with the sniper1delete the internal fuel pressure regulator because of it plugging up and install an external regulator. So I told him I can make him one and it may become a new product I can sell.

So in talking I told him the problem I have and he said my idle afr was too rich. Apparently holley does it this way so people don't lean their engines out. For me it was the opposite. From what we can figure there was way too much fuel and it was igniting in the headers. He had me go from 13.5 to 14.2. A simple 1 minute change in the computer and so far it looks like it cured the problem. My heat gun says the temp at the header is within about 10-15 degrees on each cylinder. Now I'm kinda ticked that the holley tech didn't tell me to do that 3 weeks ago.

On to the next problem I guess. Still on track for 2026 cruise in season

 

[Aukai]

30 total seems a little low.
Depending on your cylinder heads, compression ratio, camshaft, and centrifugal advance curve in the distributor, "normal" base timing for a street high-perf small-block Chevy is somewhere in the 12- to 18-degree before top dead center (BTDC) range, with total timing at full centrifugal advance is about 34-36 degrees.