Holley Sniper

[enjenjo]

Anyone have experience with one? Good or Bad?

[Crosley.In.AZ]

Past saturday at a car show; I was chatting with a guy that has a Sniper on his car. Many tune problems on a mild engine Ford. Some days it starts and runs great. Next day , run like crap. He has changed temp sensor and other items..

I have read similar comments on line. Holley has forums with a EFI section , you may wish to check?

[kb426]

Yes. What do you want to know?

[enjenjo]

Do you like it? Any problems?

[kb426]

If the option to use a factory efi was available, I would do that 1st. To get the sniper to do everything it's supposed to do, a laptop and some knowledge will be required. There are equipment failures. From my years of dealing with computers and anything electronic, I have seen about a 20% failure rate. I have had occasion to visit with the Holley tech people and a guy that used to be Summit's tech guy. Many of the problems stem from improper wiring and using an old fuel tank with debris in it. I started with a new fuel system and the battery connections running directly to the battery posts. RFI is a problem with theses sometimes so I was careful in routing and built a shield for the ecu. Am I satisfied? For the most part. I have a problem with deceleration fuel cutoff that I can't solve without the laptop. I haven't bought the $60 cable to connect one yet. The throttle bodies are very large to cover any engine size. At low engine speeds, when going wide open, the airflow stalls for a brief moment and causes a bog of sorts. If you open the throttle half or 3/4's, and ease into full, you get better results. On a large engine, I don't think that would be an issue. When it's warmed up, it works better than in cold function. There's small differences that I notice that I maybe expecting too much from the unit. Some of the things I have uncovered are only on a manual trans application. That was confirmed by a Holley tech. I have reset the unit a couple of times to see if the changes I had made were part of a problem. That made no difference. So I know that in between the programming and my application, there was something that wasn't at an optimum setting. I was disappointed that the self learning function wasn't better. I will be nervous about parts failures on the road because the ecu is a Holley specific item. The sensors are everyday stuff and replacement part numbers were supplied on the Holley forum. If the ecu fails, you send the unit in. Who has a spare unit to bolt on on the side of the road. I used the Holley Sniper hyperspark system which again if it fails, you're in trouble. These are way better than the original Holley efi from the 80's. They were too cheap in everyway. It is not in my plans to run a carb again. If I want to improve, I will have to get educated with the software and the use of a laptop. There are many people on the Holley forum that are willing to help. The learning curve might be very shallow.

[enjenjo]

Thank you. I am looking at the two barrel version to use with an automatic transmission.

[chimp koose]

I have an acquaintance who used the first version of holleys fuel injection and went back to carb . Could not get it to run right with that system .

[kb426]

I think a 2 barrel with auto would be a good choice.

[Rochie]

Frank, I used a FItech injection unit.  The only problem I've had with it was the wiring harness.  The early versions used 22 ga. wire to feed the 20A fuel pump.  The terminal burnt through.I ended up re-wiring the unit and have no problems since.  The new units are wired with 14 Ga.

[enjenjo]

I've spent most of today looking into the Sniper and  FITech and I am seeing a lot of problems with longevity. I am also looking into Howell GM TBI conversion. It's a bit more expensive but has good reviews, and having dealt with them in the past their tech help is probably the best in the business. I still have not made up my mind.

[kb426]

I think you are headed in a more stable direction.

[Crosley.In.AZ]

i ran a 4 barrel TBI on a ZZ4 engine back in the late 1990s from Howell .. It was a ECM that used the old burned chip design.  I would think the modern ECM is much faster.