!!!!!!!!!!!After This Video Holley called Me!!!!! See what happened in the video below!!!!!!!!!!! ua-cam.com/video/Q3_YRJiG8_U/v-deo.htmlsi=ds7Gy7Gf-TygCl29 please subscribe, comment and like!!! thank you!
I’ve been researching EFI kits for my 77 trans am with a 70 455 HO but I’ve found countless scenarios similar to yours. I think I’m going to just stay with a carb and spend that money on a rotating assembly or work on my heads. I don’t have any issues with my carb setups so if it ain’t broke….
I have a 88 C1500 and the stock TBI and wiring is old and being a real pain in the dick. So to eliminate all that crap I'm looking at a ACES Fuel Injection, Killshot. It's been recommended by friends and online. Might be worth a look, plus it's not as spendy as Sniper. I considered converting to carb but if I'm going through the work of swapping parts out might as well give the newer TBI setup a try.
I've been in the auto parts business for 56 years. My first boss told me something I've never forgotten. "A credit is MORE important than an invoice". If you sell a part to someone and they have a problem with it.....FIX IT! If you do and you do it properly, you'll have a customer for life. If you mess it up or make it hard for him, you'll never see him again. I can't believe you're going to give them another chance. They'd never get another dime of my money. Good luck.
Well honestly after all the feedback I have gotten I don't think I will be giving them another chance. Now the carbs I will buy more holley carbs for sure. Thanks for watching . Subscribe plz!
Back then "the costumer is always right", was how things were treated. Now corporations only care about shareholders not the people actually paying their salaries.
Imagine a world where the Warranty Department takes priority over the Sales Department. Customer service died years ago, fuk these Fascist corporations
I worked on the flooring/carpet etc. I was taught a couple of ideas summed up by "a satisfied customer will tell 3 people,an unhappy customer will tell ten." This young man has told way more than ten.
This can all be avoided by properly and correctly installing the system. No exhaust leaks. No O2 sensor leaks. No engine problems. No intake manifold leaks. No sloppy timing chains. No excessive blowby. No worn distributor bushings. If you own a cool car or truck, but it's a basket case, stick with a carb and spend your money getting your ride right.
I had the 4500 Sniper on my 582 ci bbc and had the same flooding issue that turned out to be a bad unit, Holley replaced quick and easy no hassle. It ran ok for a few 100 miles it then started idling at 2500 at a stop light in an 800+ motor with 0% throttle position and iac at 1%. I went back to carb as soon as I got it home because i was tired of every Sniper issue risking an expensive motor or transmission.
I am an avionics technician and have had extensive training in cables soldering and crimping. I heard your comment on wanting soldered connections and what I have been told in my training was crimp connections are stronger than soldering. I hear all the time in the automotive side that people think soldering is better than crimping and that isn’t always the case. There are times where soldering is preferred but crimped connections are stronger. What you do need to do is provide strain relief for all crimped connections. I use the uninsulated crimps and use heat shrink on top, this provides a clean look as clean as a soldered connection and the strain relief. I do agree don’t use the quick connections from the auto parts stores, I know Napa sells the uninsulated but joints.
I agree with you. I did a lot of rambling in the video. Everything has a time and place. I also like to do the method you talked about. If I only have a cheep one I will usually cut the nylon shell off and heat shrink just like you described.
My best friend is a 35+ year master mechanic, and he's ALWAYS told me to NEVER solder wiring connections, because the wires won't flex, and the strands will break, one by one.
@@kurtvanluven9351 It may seem like a belt and suspenders thing, but the problem is the solder transforms the flexible multi-strand wire into a rigid, inflexible mono-strand wire. Ever wonder why automotive wiring is not like house wiring? The single-strand house wire does not tolerate flexing back and forth, which is what automotive wiring must do, and the single strand will work harden, and break.
I was seriously considering a Holley Sniper for my '68 Cougar and after watching this, I'm reconsidering. I'm sticking with my Holley 4bbl on it. The Holley EFI systems have too many Chinesium parts in them. I agree with those Carter AFB's/ Edelbrock carburetors. Put a Edelbrock manifold, 4105 and matching Edelbrock fuel pump on my buddy's '75 El Camino. The thing runs like a top. Idle is glassy smooth. I'm sticking to carbs. I'm so glad I watched this video.
I'm SO glad I kept my carbeureter! I was Very close to going for one of these units . I followed my gut feeling and waited. Thank you. . This will help a lot of people. I think all the customer service sucks on for all the companies that make them. Especially for returns . I've decided to learn as much as possible about carbeureters and stick with what works reliability.
thanks for watching. I didnt really want to sway people either way, i just feel like honest stories are hard to come by and wanted to share my experience as objectively as possible. thanks for watching, subscribe plz!
I think if enough people spent time reading the Holly's EFI website and looking at the issues they would find it may not be what they're looking for. Holly's own website shows that their main issues are cold start drivability issues and fuel economy, all of the reasons most people switch to EFI.
That mostly comes down to learning how to (or pay for) a proper, complete tune. It took me an entire year (all four seasons) to learn and get "all of the tables right" on my first tune. The Base Tables are relatively quick and easy, it's the Coolant and Air Temp. Tables that need to be "tweaked as the seasons change"...
The problem is they over sell the learning capability of these units. The car still needs to be tuned so the the computer isn’t adding or subtracting 50% fuel. If the oxygen sensor goes bad there is no way it will run right unless you have it tuned at 2 to 3%. No one realizes this and Holley doesn’t state it in their literature. The tune you get from the handheld is only good enough to get the engine running.
I went through the same thing with a FItech FI. After two weeks and another display still never worked right. Took original Q-jet to a guy that only does Q-jets.He rebuilt and informed me I wasn't alone. I totally trust the carb.
I have put two of these Sniper systems on our 1980 P-30 stepvans. They were properly installed by the book, every connection soldered, any extra wires depinned and removed. We have had the issue of rfi causing the hand held to freeze up and also raising the idle speed of the engine. I was on the phone with Holly and the tech guy that was helping me ended up saying the unit was defective and sent us another one, and only the main unit. We installed the new one and programmed it and it did the same thing. Funny thing is is that it would behave fine at first and then after driving around for 30 min or so you would notice the idle creeping up and then the hand held would start freezing. If you shut off the engine and restarted it it would be fine again for about 30 min and then the symptoms would happen again. I got on the phone with Holley again and this time I got a tech guy that was aware of the rfi issues and told me to foil all the spark plug wires and ground the foil so I did. I also foiled the hei distributor as well and grounded that foil as well. That fixed the problem with the rfi. The next problem we had was the secondaries sticking open a tiny bit causing the idle to be high and until we figured out what was happening we were trying to compensate by lowering the minimum idle air and of coarse this means you have to reset your tps as well. Well the funny part is that when you would shut off the engine and the vacuum would bleed away the secondaries would fully shut. We then figured out that the friction in the throttle shaft was too high when you had vacuum on one side of the throttle plates. We tried to fix this by wrapping the secondary throttle shaft return spring one more wrap which did work somewhat... I can tell you that I have spent a lot of time messing with these because of these problems that Holly failed to address before they released the sniper units. If I had put this system on a T-Bucket with an exposed engine that you would be showing off then I would have been really upset since the engine in the stepvan looks pretty stupid with all the foil on the wires and distributor. Hopefully the Sniper2 will be better...It sucks when you tell your boss that we can put fuel injection on work trucks "these p-30 stepvans were A/C install trucks that were driven every day." and then have to explain to him why we are having all these drivability problems. I feel bad for the weekend mechanic that buys this system for his hot rod thinking they are going to have a great trouble free experience with a properly installed Holly fuel injection system...Once again lets hope the Sniper2 is better... I hope me sharing my experience will help somebody that is going through what I went through with these units.
So I had a carb that ran great, went to fitech and I couldn’t get it to run right all the time. Went back to carb but… I took the ECU from the fitech and hooked up all the inputs including the TPS. Now I can data log the carb and make adjustments as needed. If the ECU dies, I’m still cruising.
I did a sniper system on my 70 Impala. All went great and worked for about one year then two temp sensors went out. Of course the sniper doesn’t know what to do without temp input. Went thru Holley tech support. After several tries and long hold times I finally got a tech on the phone. No problem they over nighted me another system. I do think it was a refurbished system but I gave it a try. After 1 week the timing then stopped reading. I also had installed the Holley distributor that works with the system. After over a year of my car sitting there I finally said heck with it and put my HEI distributor and Eldelbrock carb back on. Now I’m back to driving to shows and cruises. Thanks for your video!
If you are comfortable working on carbs, before converting to fuel injection, install a decent air fuel ratio meter. This is a game changer in that you can see exactly what the carb is doing. From there, tuning and/or trouble shooting becomes VERY easy, especially if you have a 4150 or 4160 Holley carb. I have done this on both of my carbureted cars now and they run so well that there is absolutely no reason to convert to EFI.
Efi has it's place. I have exsperince with both. Its kinda funny but once you figure them both out its efi that is easy mode and carbs that require a bit of voodoo knowledge. I've got an HP efi system on my coyote and it's really fast and easy to change things like air/fuel, timing, even per cylinder plus the ecu can control several things on the car - fan, fuel pump, 2step, trans brake, ect. However, efi is quite a bit more expensive and a carb probably has a small power advantage with a wet intake. It depends on what you want.
The track or driving down the road is a better tuning tool than an A/F gauge. I tuned my Holley Street HP very close with only my 50+ years of tuning expeience. The air jets weren't new to me because I ran Webers on my VW desert race car 40 years ago & all I had to do was read up on the Holley. I've come up with several of the same conclusions about intakes & carbs as Engine Masters & never had a Dyno to tune with. As far as FI or Carb, the carb will do everything better than EFI & if your out in the sticks & have trouble, you can probably go into any NAPA store & buy parts for a Holley or HEI ignition system. Try that with an aftermarket FI unit!!
Exactly. When I used to do QJets, I threw the BS cliff Ruggles book in the Garbage and got a wideband. You know what I found? Cliff wrote a bunch of BS on the Q Jet, Doug roe and Danny Ashley were right on as they worked with the original engineers. The wideband is a must on any Carb tuning!!!
@@bradgriffith4231 Well, it's not true that a carb will do everything better than efi or modern cars would still be running carburetors. There are things carbs do better and things efi does better. We all have our preferences but our preferences are not proof of superiority. It's not a "one size fits all" deal. FI gives you rapid control, it saves a lot of time. Carbs give you simplicity, it saves a lot of money. So which is more valuable, time or money? That's up to each of us to decide.
THis^^^ Too many spend thousands on aftermarket EFI assuming it will behave and last like OEM>..no such animal .Takes minutes to adjust a carb set and forget. Last thing I want in old iron is some screen or a laptop I constantly have to monitor fool with. Screw that
Well the good thing about this whole fiasco is now you can dial in your carb with an O2 gauge if you wanted to because you have the O2 bung installed in the exhaust.
Well your results may very. I had a defective unit. But you really can't vest the simplicity and reliability of a carb lol. Thanks for stopping by. Subscribe !
The problem with aftermarket FI is they are changing them every year and after 5-10 years you won't be able to get replacement parts. Carbs are timeless and can be fiddled with to get you home when theres an issue. But as always, choose the system you wish and can afford. Thanks for sharing you experience, it helped me save some $$$ by keeping my ancient tech.
Pretty much all the sensors, injectors and similar stuff are standard items you often see used OEM on factory cars. The manufacturers of aftermarket EFI systems have no reason to use money and time on reinventing the wheel, when standard parts that will do the job already are available out there. Like my old FAST EZ-efi system use the same IAC as can be found on an LS1 engine. The TPS sensor are the same used by GM on an LT1. Electronics are usually VERY reliable, most of peoples aftermarket EFI problems seems actually to be based on the mounting. It takes very little electric noise or crosstalk between wires to make an ECU act very weird.
I bought a used 1997 Harley Davidson ex-Police Roadking. It had Magnetti-Mareli fuel injection, which Harley used from 1995~2001. It was a mess. Harley ditched the M-M and went to Delphi. From what I learned, the split was not amicable and there was no support or parts available from Magnetti-Mareli , thus none from Harley. I removed the ECM, throttle body, fuel pump, and a lot of wiring, relays, sensors, and other related parts. I replaced them with a rejetted stock Keihin carb, Dyna 2000i ignition & coil, tuned it in and it's been trouble-free for close to 10yrs. Fuel mileage is actually better than with the M-M FI!
Your experiences are mine also. I've had to run through installs for friends that claimed these units were junk. Yes, I have had a few bad sensors but mostly the problems encountered were bad wiring, dirty power, plug wires were a big problem, basically installation problems. I have found both the Holly and Fitech units to be reliable but you just can't just throw the them in with Scotch Locks and electrical tape. I understand your position and problems and believe me I've been there too and if I had experienced your problems my solution would probably be the same. I'm currently running a Fitech Ultimate LS injection kit on a 5.3 swapped '68 C10 and love it but it's not for everyone.
I’ve had nothing but horrible experiences with the Holley Sniper. The only time I personally have ever used one was on my dads ‘82 Mustang GT. He was horribly sick at the time (congestive heart failure) and I had finally gotten the sniper on and running and it was running perfectly, we took the car to a show (which come to find would’ve been the last time he drove the car) and the O2 sensor circuit shorted and burned the harness up and left him stranded on the side of the road. The one experience alone made me throw it in the trash. My brother runs it on his 80 Cobra but he’s gone through at least 4 different head units and it seems like it gets a new one every season 😂 he somehow gets them to send him a new kit every time though without paying for a new one and without receiving the old kit. How? I don’t know. But either way, I gave you a sub. Good content!
He didn’t have it tuned correctly most likely adding or subtracting a high percentage of fuel. Any fuel injected car will run fine without an o2 sensor if it is tuned correctly.
@@timelesssteelgarageI'm sorry you had to go through all this Holly's only good for one thing Carburetors😊 Everything else that they put out his manufactured at a different company labeled under Holly and the worth ethics at that place or horrible all you got to do is look at all the trouble you've been with the stealth it's a terrible thing my son sent his back three times and it still didn't work right then he still had problems But that's another short for another story that I'm not even going to get into Carburetors make more horsepower make more torque than the EFI look-alike carburetor
Bonjour, I am French from France and I have a similar issue with Holley. I have send back my Holley Snipper 2300 and it takes weeks to have it back to France. My engine is a GOLEN 4.6L 6 cyl that I purchased at GOLEN for my CJ7 Jeep. When I got back the Snipper it works beautifully well but time to time the engine is starting to caught for unknown reason. The Harness is new and the ground is perfect and the Snipper is directly connected to the - & + of the battery. I am lost in France with the Snipper 2300 where Holley Europ do not exist! Cheers and continue to do your video they are very instructive and I like yours comments.
I'm in your camp. Had original Sniper installed at my regular auto shop and they did a wonderful job,. Started with a new SBC long block, new EFI gas tank, Holley Sniper Master Kit with Hyperspark, in tank fuel pump. All parts were NEW from Holley. It ran PERFECT for approx 2 months. On a long trip it started to "act up" and run poorly. Long story but every tuner shop said it must be the older wiring interfering. This went on for ever until I started reading the Forms. Turns out the injector wiring plug(s) came loose. 1 primary was not sending fuel and 1 secondary was off/on. Yes I know they all work at the same time but it makes it easier to describe. So, I straitened to plug pins and the Sniper now works AMAZING..... until 3 days ago the o2 sensor shit it's pants after 10K miles. AFR is reading a constant 35.6. That's another story. I'll be looking else where for the next motor swap. I've been reading about ACE's Royal Flush EFI. Take a look and maybe offer an opinion. I'm not a mechnic or tuner but I was able to solve my problem by spending several days on the Forms. I'd rather be doing something else. Good luck
if the kit came with the bosch 02 sensor. i highly recommend swapping to an NTK 02. we where going threw bosch 02S at the track every month with the leaded fuels. once we swapped to ntk have not had one fail on us yet. now mind you these are with HP and dominator computers. i cant remember if you can go in with a laptop to the sniper unit instead of the handheld and switch the parameter to read an NTK 02 sensor. hps and dominators we can. but funny enough. we just tuned in a 70s chevelle that had a sniper unit on it. they took the car down to good guys couple weeks ago. and while heading back up to the canadian border the 02 shit itself. so we had them put it in open loop so it doesnt keep adding fuel when its not needed
I changed from Carb to Sniper EFI back to carb as well..... They sent me new IAC valves...helped me with programming.....nothing seemed to work exactly right. It ran OK.....just not great. I went back to a carb....Works fabulous again.
I run a sniper on a LS1 with a carb intake and an msd 6ls ignition box. my sniper unit was purchased as a reman unit back in 2019 for a huge discount. LS1 has a massive cam, cnc heads, 1.75 headers. I had a surging idle issue when installed but it was due to intake gaskets. After i changed them all was well. Also run a sniper on a 390fe ford with decent cam, edelbrock heads and a billet pertronix dist. Runs perfectly fine. Both units were able to adjust the IAC around 5%. Both hand helds work, no O2 failures. Both cars (69 camaro, 67 mustang fastback) each received a new aeromotive stealth fuel tank, fuel lines and 10 micron fuel filters. Aside from snipers i have an old holley hp unit on a turbo 5.3 lm7, Flawless as usual.
I have a 1971 ford bronco with a jasper 302 motor. I just went to fuel injection and I did my research. I almost went with the Holley sniper kit until I met the fitech guys at a car show. I went with the fitech, it had way less parts and a 1/4 of the price. I love it. I went to hot august nights in Reno and the fitech company had a tent there. They pulled me into the tent and cleaned up the parameters to be more efficient. It was the inventor of fitech that got his hands dirty. They now have a customer for life. Customer service is unbelievable and so is sales and tech support.
DD Speed Shop had problems getting theirs sorted out for Power Tour so they dropped back to carb. My goal is to get EFI and AC vintage retrofit training for a retirement gig. I signed up for Holley's training in December. It will be interesting to hear feedback in class and what the Holley reps say.
amen!!! first off thank you for your service. I feel the same way as you I like both fuel injection and carbs. the fi for just saying its fi but for simplicity carb all the way. Im old school people drove these cars every day no issues. every friend I have I see trying to put new tech in old cars have nothing but problems. and its not a matter if its when they have problems.
Great video, I have a new build, I was on the fence on EFI, decided to get it up and running and broken in on carb. After watching all the issues other people have been experiencing I am holding off and enjoying my ride for now. Added an AFR gauge and O2 sensor to my C10 and waiting to see how EFI kits progress, I just about pulled the trigger on a Sniper and then they released the new unit, feel like I dodged a bullet, sorry about the hassles and hours involved and money.
A very articulate and honest video, I've watched numerous videos of people converting to throttle body fuel injection and was always amazed at how little difficulty they had with the installations. Needless to say, those easy installs were always red flags to me. I'm a carburetor guy as far as old muscle cars are concerned, I'm too old to change now. My daily driver Altima is fuel infected, and that's as far as I'll ever go with fuel injection.
I am a Motörhead of over 40 years build and tuned all of my cars mostly my self, l have learned to keep it simple and try to not let it get out of my control. My cars are all rowdy high horse power big cube, big cams high compression, carburetor engines and are not dally drivers and my wife can drive them.
SOOOOOOO Glad I stumbled across your video. Installed the Sniper unit on my 87 El Camino over a year ago. Had issues right from the get go. After 6 months, countless hours on the phone and emails going back and forth with tech support, and swapping out warrantied parts, I now have a decent driving car. DD Speed shop did a video a few months back on a dual Sniper install that never worked out of the box. He went back to carbs as well. Another great video that everyone should watch. This swap is not for the faint of heart. If I had a chance to do it all over again I would have stayed with a carb or done an LS swap. Thanks so much for taking the time to do this video!
Not being able to just send in your throttle body and having them look at it to see if its bad without having to pull your hair out is damn frustrating, thanks for your service
Yes, these manufacturers don't account for all your time and aggravation. It's kind of like people buying these bargain crate engines, They will say "well, it's got a good warranty". That's all well and good but who wants to swap 2 or more engines under warranty? Nobody is going to reimburse you for all the labor and other parts needed with the swap.
I enjoyed listening to this guy. I bought a fitech fuel injection set up for my 69 camaro. I got news for you, my car did not even start. I just crap canned the thing and went back to proform 850. I have had enough of this stuff.
I was kinda hesitant to convert to Holley Efi. since im running my car with dual quad Edelbrock and having plans for a 1000 Miles road trip. But after watching your video, im good with carbs for my road trip at the expense of mpg
I'm using the Edelbrock dual quad set up on my 396 68 Camaro I'm staying with my carbs also gets lots of looks and is a blast when I put the pedal to the metal
I was just about to pull the tiger on one to replace my 350 TBI in my 95 Jeep Wrangler, but after your story about Holly's customer service, there is absolutely no way in HELL. Thank you for letting us know how they treat customers.
I'm glad I wasn't the only one to experience this same thing! Years ago I had a fast easy efi that kept filling my oil with fuel just as you described. It happened to me 3 times. I've sent the handheld and the throttle body back several times and they replaced the hand held and then they said it was the computer. Sent it back and got a new one like weeks later. Flooded my oil with fuel again. I gave up and went back to my quick fuel carb and been running fine since. I'm sorry you had to experience this but I'm just figured with newer technology these days, none of this would happen like you and I had experience.
I am a DIY guy who also enjoy doing research and learning new things. I have tuned my double pumper carb with the help of an O2 sensor and it gave me many years of good service, until the fuel quality went down the drain and started having hot start issues (even with carb spacer etc...). That gave me the excuse I was looking for to spend the money on an EFI system with a fuel return. I have done my research years before making the move and to me there was enough red flags about the design & quality issues with the sniper system that i never understood why people would still purchase this kit instead of the terminator with an HP ECU. For the differance of price it was a no brainer for me. I totally agree that they are overselling the self tuning capabilities, you either need to enjoy learning how to tune with a laptop or need to get it tuned by a pro, otherwise you will never get the full potential and drivability that these systems can offer. In terms of the lesson's I have learned; these TBI are firing the injectors in batch which is causing resonnance in the fuel system. I highly recomend to add a fuel damper, it made a world of differance for me, not only the noise went away but it had a significant impact on the fuel map from idle through cruising (more efficient injectors with the damper). Also, one thing that i like about the terminator (beside a remote ECU) was that the injection is done under the butterfly valves, which in my opinion is a better design. The counterpart of this is that Holley had to raise the shaft of the butterfly valves to make space for the injector rings. That made the throtle linkage clash with my drop base air cleaner and i had to customise it in conjunction with using a shorter filter element. All in all after 2 years i love it and would never go back. Cold/warm starts and drivability are awsome. I do feel that i have lost a bit of HP at WOT but i will eventually put it on a dyno just to tune the WOT. I am also using the HP ECU with a VSS sensor to control my overdrive, which is great. I can program any condition i want i.e. to emulate kickdown etc... I took the whole winter to make the installation and i have used nothing but the best components (hyperspark distributor, in tank pump/baffle, rigid tubing with some braided hoses, billet regulator/filters etc...). I have a 410 mopar stroker, w2 ported heads, single plane intake, dyno at 505/505 HP/TQ.
I'm a retired mechanic of 36 years. I enjoyed your whole vision. It was great to hear someone talk for that ling and everything you said made sense and aparently you not only know what your doing but know how to say it with out making it sound overly complicated
You may be familiar with "DD Speed Shop". He was putting together a 55 Nomad with a TKX Tremec and a sniper setup for Power Tour. He ended up putting a carb back in the car so he could take the Nomad on power tour. He hasn't given up on the sniper just yet. He says he'll try the sniper in one of his other cars but the carb is staying in the Nomad.
Glad I watched this. I have an 88 k1500 that we stroked and I’m trying to decide what to go with. Originally, my gut was to go carb but I live where the temps change drastically and I didn’t wanna have to fool with it then I found out about the sniper. Thanks for the rundown.
@@IAMElectric369 If you can keep the RPM below 5200, you can actually get a factory TBI system to work, it's been done repeatedly, and even with monster engine setups. The issue is simply that the TBI setup doesn't function with excessive RPM.
@@buttslappingpirate hmmm, I’ll look into that. I think i our max target is 5500. However, I’m not tryin to skimp. This is a pretty expensive build so, I don’t mind getting what’s best, ya know?
Thanks for sharing your experience. A lot of companies outsource their customer support to specialized companies that don’t understand the product they support. Very frustrating, especially when the in-house techs can’t issue RMA’s at the end of a debug process. That said, kudos to the Holley CEO for recognizing that they failed you, and making it right.
What a pain in the ace!!! Great video, and thanks for posting this video. The problems you had are a result of corporate management and the pursuit of profit only. Thanks again.
I recently purchased a blast cabinet from Eastwood. 5 shipments all damaged. Eastwood was on top it from the start. They replaced everything within days. I ended up with extra panels they did not want back. Great company.
I'm sorry to hear of your problems but appreciate your candid assessment of the situation with the Sniper. Probably the 2nd version is better but it should be and you should have never had these problems. However I want to thank you for letting us know nd I have been on the fence with this thing for a while but agree with you that carbs while not perfect do their job pretty well and can be trusted to do that job forever. There are no software upgrades and the carb will never become obsolete like any throttle body FI will after the manufacturer discontinues support for it. That will never happen with the carb. Thanks again for helping us and your Buick is beautiful.
I put a Sniper on my 66 Mustang 351W and had nothing but headaches and misery . 5 different experienced EFI tecs tried to find the problem, they all gave up and said go back to carburation. So I did and have not regretted it one bit. Lesson learned.
Yo honestly this is why I quit my job as a customer service rep for a certain Pennsylvania-based mustang parts company, I couldn't stand the way we were trained to treat people, it was exactly as he described it. It literally kept me up at night, as a fellow gearhead I hated seeing people get screwed out of their money, by woke corporate managers who don't know a thing about cars.
thanks for that feedback, makes me feel better. I tried to remain calm on the phone, but i can only take so much lol. thanks for watching plz subscribe.
@@CharlieBravo157 No, woke is identity based corporate politics and managers who ask you about your political leanings and then laugh at you. Woke is exactly what's causing this very treatment of customers. It's putting people in top corporate positions who no nothing about their jobs. I'm sorry but managers who don't know a thing about cars should not be managing an automotive parts company. I've literally spent weeks trying to convince managers that an AEM part didn't fit an ecoboost mustang to the point where I had to conference call someone from AEM with the customer and have the guy from AEM literally explain how the product wouldn't work on an ecoboost, before a manager would finally give the go ahead to refund the customer's money and address the correction to the "fitment" section for the part on the website.
Woke is knowing that you're warehouse is sending out parts without any packaging whatsoever literally slapping shipping labels on the box it comes in and sending it out. Not only screwing your customers over but your staff who then have to deal with all the angry customers calling in while you and the top staff all pretend "ignorance is bliss" all driving expensive audis, because of course you don't even identify with you customers in the slightest by driving anything you actually sell parts to. I could go on and on. Literally every part I ordered as an employee arrived damaged, I only order parts from Lmr now, they actually give a sh💩t about there customers enough to actually properly package parts. I've never had anything come damaged from them.
I dumped my sniper after awhile as well. I always had random problems. Put a carb on and did 1700 miles on hotrod powertour with no issues. I’m salty about the sniper 2 as well. I wish they had a buyback program for sniper 1 kits.
I am no mechanic, but over 10 years ago I did a self install Sniper conversion on my freshly built 1974 Oldsmobile 350 and have never regretted it. I tuned it myself copying and slightly altering A/F & timing maps or tables others posted on the web for similar engines, dialing it in using trial & error with on road testing. Unfortunately local dyno shops said they won't touch an older car. Sorry to hear the Sniper didn't meet your expectations. I generally prefer simplicity but in my case I had nothing but misery trying to get decent drivability with a Quadrajet, including a rebuilt from a prominent specialist, and didn't want to gamble on a new carburetor from another brand.
The fact that they had so many returns to process is a glaring indicator that there were too many issues and they shouldn’t have been selling the kit any longer. No way would they be getting my money for an EFI system. Based on the few videos I’ve seen and forums/comments, no way is an EFI system right for me. I just need to learn the carburetor setup and stick with it as it is just way simpler, as you mentioned.
I purchased a 71 Chevy Cheyenne with a 350 V8 and Holley Sniper EFI. It started up and ran good when I got it but would always die when coming to a stop. I didn't have time or the expertise to figure it out. The unit was loading up the engine with fuel, fouling plugs and filling up the crankcase. Numerous attempts to fix it and countless hours with customer service finally ended up with a new replacement kit. It took 6 months to get my truck back. Mechanic had to send them my original first to try to repair it, they sent it back and had the same problem. It was a very long painful process. The truck is running great so far with the new kit installed, but I don't drive it as much as I would like because I work so much. I am hopeful that this unit will last a long time. However the small LCD screen died so now I have to see about getting that replaced.
I really recommend checking out Luke Finley's carb cheater system. Basically a data logging o2 with a idle self tuning and cruise self tune options at your selected afr, it uses a idle air control valve to adjust your afrs while crushing and idling.
@@Carl_Jr The only similarities is the idle air control valve and using a wideband o2 to control said idle air control valve. The rest is all up to the carburetor. It's also only $350. Works with any 4 barrel carb.
@@401cam8 I'm just telling you that the Sniper uses the same exact IAC to do what the Carb Cheater does. It's nothing new. Quadrajets have been using that since the early 80s. You think Luke's invented something new and he hasn't. He just figured out a way to put it in a package that people will pay for.
@@Carl_Jr No sir, you can't just short hand it and say they're the same. To do so shows either you are purposely trying to slander Luke's product OR lack the knowledge of what actually makes them different. There is a huge difference from an 80s quadrajet using a NARROWBAND o2 sensor that would MAYBE work right, and Luke's system that uses data logging, AFR adjustments using your phone, and having it bolt in place without changing any hardware on your vehicle. The only similarities with Luke's and Holleys is there's an IAC. That's where it stops. The fact I have to explain shows that you haven't done any research and just have a shit attitude toward Luke for some reason.
Holley EFI that looks like a carb is just throttle body EFI, and that went out on the OEM's in the 90's. If I am going to go with EFI, it will be sequential multiport or individual stack injection. I think that carbs are fine and that's what is going on my tunnel ram in my W200 Dodge. I have done EFI swaps but never put one of those janky throttle body EFI on anything. Thanks for the video and the warning.
I find that funny because pretty much every carb that was on a car from the factory was from holley edelbrock of autolite, but yeah, they definitely aren't the company that used to be now though
This is why I’m sticking to a carburetor in my C-10. All that work to install it only to have to tear it all back out…I’ll pass. Thank you for this honest review.
Hi, I have a 70 Barracuda 383 whats the best Quadrajet I can find for it? I am new to the Hobbie and just replaced a couple fuses and Window cranks but I want to reach out to folks with better experience on the subject, Currently I have a Edelbrock and although I drive it as much as I can I was told by a Carburetor repair shop in San Antonio it has a plugged up half and needs rebuilt at $500, I then asked hell how much is a new one? guy went silent, anyway out on the hunt for the "Jesse James" of carbs (gets a lot of hate but can kick your ass with the right practice). Carbs as I have found are like Woman everybody has a different taste and cannot agree which one is the best, and that really sucks I mean All I want is Loyalty, Brains and when she talks her accent is sexy. I have found the Woman but the Carb is dang difficult because I am not of the Carb era.. Any assistance is humbly appreciated.
So col!!! Looking forward to the next video, I'll post my plan here see what anyone thinks!! :) (sorry if it's too long) I was / am moving, wanted an old GM pickup , they were WAY too expensive!! .. Got a GIANT 1994 Chevy P-30 Step Van (basically a UPS, or FedEx van) .. Way better for moving stuff than a pickup. Then I started checking out the specs on this thing 350 Engine, TH400 trany 14 bolt rearend with Duallys. over 12,000 GVW if I was building a truck from scratch that's ALL what i'd put in it!!! So I decided I'm keeping it long term (was planning to resell after moving) SO?? .... I'm moving some stuff for abuddy, and the van won't start :( .. got it going, but running RICH, made it 90% of the way home, broke down again, got it towed to the garage. Short story, they had it 2 MONTHS and cant even get it started again, they want to put another motor in it. :( no thank you. So tomorrow I will pay them up what I owe ... then get it towed to my buddy's place and see what's' up. .. if needed??? .... i plan to swap it to Carburetor!, new intake used carb. I will put a new Holley intake, THEN once i save up some cash (this fall maybe) I will switch it BACK to EFI with the Sniper 2 kit!! My thought is? Any trouble I can always put the carb back on (even like, years later!!) Cheaper now to get it running, AND?? Once switched to Sniper II I will have zero problems with factory wiring,, NO factory computer, easy to tune. Software updates available, Etc etc PLUS like i said, best of both worlds, keep the carb in the van for emergencies! Can't wait to get started next week, we might even pull the gas tank, and fix the leaky filler hose, and put in new gas lines etc, clean everything etc. My buddy has more experience with EFI than I do , and all the tools location for it to sit etc, ... and I will be paying him too, he's payed me to work on stuff lots of times :)
Another note, I have always thought OEM fuel injection systems are the best way to go. One of the reasons I went ls swap was I wanted fuel injection and the ls comes with it, and the factory system can support good power numbers unlike the earlier systems. I get this isn’t an option on your application and you are probably better off using a carb. You don’t have a max effort build so a street friendly carb will do fine. Years ago I had issues with my Holley 800 double pumper flooding, it was constantly getting rubber in the needle. This was around the time ethanol was added to the fuel and the auto parts stores fuel line wasn’t compatible. I hope today that it is. Carbs are plenty reliable and they were used for daily drivers for nearly 100 years.
Thanks for the video. Sorry you had to go through all that BS. I had a Sniper on my 71 Olds 350 and had issues from day one. I got the new fuel tank, in tank pump, lines (both ways), Hyperspark Ignition system, distributor, new plugs wires, basically everything was new. I had a bad sensor out the box, the unit 90+% of the time idled high (1800+ RPM in park). I thought that the "learning" part of the CPU would correct itself over a few miles. It never did. So one day in my driveway a decided to call tech support, they had me go through a couple steps and take a couple readings and it took a DUMP right there. The tech said that I have a bad unit, and they will send out a new one. I was blessed this happened in my driveway (could have been several hundred miles away with the family). So I chose to get a couple Edelbrock goodies and went back to carb because my confidence wasn't there anymore. My return went well because I bought everything at Summit racing. I have several friends running Holley EFI with no issues. I do feel like quality control could be stepped up.
Same with me- the thing with snipers is they are meant to be so ‘simple’ plug and play that’s what sucks everyone in.. but the reality is the simplicity goes out the window by the fact that when they go wrong it’s very complex… that’s fine if you have good support but Holley don’t
Yeah I was disapointed in how long the return process took, but they did give me my money back.. I just wont get the time back. Thanks for watching, please subscribe.
On paper, I have a viable way to use an factory Ford EEC5 on my pushrod engine truck. It will just take a few tweaks but I'm hopeful. Most aftermarket EFI systems are a compromise anyway. The only exception is the one offered by Chris Richards at Mass Air EFI. It is my understanding that when he started, he was using flashed factory EEC4 processors and factory parts for easy field fixes. Sticking with factory parts is key and I expect with the waive of the magic wand, the not so distant future EPA could make anything non-factory by anyone very illegal and could shut down Holley just out of spite and a personal trophy.
I got the FiTec 1200 hp EFI because it can use e85 But ya I didn't know anything about phasing the rotor But it was a huge learning experience Sorry about your motor. Glad you got it recovered Ya and a lot of these UA-cam channels don't tell you how much money they have invested And phasing in my rotor was getting interference. I took it off and put back on the HEI and locked in my timing at 30 deg. Runs great
@@timelesssteelgarage ya they never mention the price or include all the details. Except it's simple and fast. Lol my my EFI is self learning to bad I'm not. It took me a lot to get to know what I know. About 5 phone calls and 20 videos. But ya carb is soooooooo much easyer
Jimmy, this was a very good video and I totally agree with your assessments. I'm running a 292 inline 6, mildly built, cam, higher compression, and some headwork. I had it running really good with an Edelbrock AVS2. I decided to try throttle body injection. I started with a Fitech with inline fuel pump. I now call their system Fijunk. I then researched available systems. I settled on the MSD Atomic 2, because it had inducers in each throat. It is much more tunable than the Fitech and runs much better. I am overall happy with the installation, but I don't think it offers much advantage over a well tuned carburetor. Things I have learned from my experience. I would not recommend an inline fuel pump. I lost two with the Fitech installation. The return flow at idle and low engine fuel flow requirements, is huge. Atomization is key to efficient combustion, especially at idle. Carburetors provide emulsified fuel under the throttle plates, throttle body efi does not. Fuel runs down the walls of the throttle bores at idle. A lot of the drawbacks are lessened with a V8 because all flow is downhill from the throttle body. That is not the case with an inline engine that has long horizontal, dry runners. Again, great video, thanks.
Yep! You still have to tune it! Lap top is the only way to go, when it comes to setting up a tune for it. Still have to read spark plugs as well. But I’m a carb guy myself.
Yup, the Sniper isn't all that...ran one 5 yrs ago, had software issues, no mechanical problems, found out after a week of tweaking it had updated software, that I downloaded...got the idle issues sorted out, but always had odd "glitches"...sold the car to a friend, and a month later the ECU crapped out...really sad that they are not designed with long-term strategy
I run a 1850-C with electric choke. its a reliable daily driver carb no complaints with a holley car. Also military on my last few years till retirement. I daily drive a 460 carbbed truck. Nice video
Informative video, thanks for posting. I was advised a couple years ago by my local trustworthy tuning parts supplier to not to buy the Sniper for the EXACT same reasons you described. Just way too many problems and poor customer service. I might still try the Sniper 2, but I think I may just "pause" a bit to hear more feedback on version 2...!
Thanks ! And agreed. The thing is a small block chevy with a carb just works . As much as I love efi , it think my daughter's camaro might just stay a carb lol
bummer to see Holley still lets customers test their products . I had nothing but issues with my sniper and had to ship it back once , I found defective regulators . bad o2 etc .. your experience mimics mine of 6 years ago .. so Holley is still not getting quality control
Thank you, I was thinking of converting my 69 c-10 to EFI. But I think now I’ll get a new carburetor . I have heard multiple bad things regarding Holley support. Funny thing regarding automotive parts people today. I ordered a new flywheel for my truck when I picked it up I knew something was wrong. The box was far too light upon opening the box I told the parts guy this is a flex plate not a flywheel! He said flex plate is the only flywheel they sells. I tried to explain to him the differences,he told me I should hire a professional, because I didn’t know what I was talking about. Then they tried to charge me a restocking fee. I lost my mind at the end no fees and no parts.
Sniper and FITech have a 20-30% failure rate. That’s even when installed correctly. They are assembled here but the electronics are made overseas. I worked for a well known west coast speed shop that’s been around since 1985. He used to own one of the major exhaust companies too. We installed MSD Atomic, Edelbrock, Holley Dominator or Terminator and FAST Sportsman. No sniper, FITech or FAST EZ systems. That came from our experience with trying to fix problems with these systems for a hundred customers or so. Sometimes it was installer errors that we fixed and they’d be okay. Bad wiring/routing or poor quality plug wires causing RFI issues. But more often than not it was a problem with the components. O2s, screens, injectors(the flooding like you had is common) and ECUs all fail far more often than is okay. The hyperspark ignition system and sniper together was an issue on several customer cars. They would run fine for several test drives, then out of the blue start swinging lean-rich and rough idle. Then they would fail altogether with no spark and/or no ECU signal. For myself it’ll be a carburetor or an OEM efi system. Not only do I have a street/strip car, I have a lowered truck and a 4x4 that I take out in the boonies. 100 or more miles from civilization is common. So you aren’t the only one who feels this way. Hopefully the Sniper 2 is better.
I have a big block 500 in.³ Cadillac engine in a K5 blazer they tried to talk me into the sniper set up. I was hesitant and put a brand new Edelbrock on it. I agree 100% with your video. Thanks for the info I feel so much better not having listened to people that have put them on a big block Cadillac 8.2 L have a good holiday weekend.
Mine had a bad ECU out of the box, and it took month's before I got it back repaired. Its been in the box since, and I haven't used it. I just went back to the carb, hei set up.
When "DD Speed Shop" decided to put dual Snipers on his Nomad for power tour and had problems, customer service looked at his subscription numbers and answered his phone calls immediately and worked closely with him and quickly sent him a carb and everything he's need to install it quickly because he was releasing UA-cam videos daily about the whole fiasco..... It's obvious that somewhere during the process Holley became a sponsor..... Finnegan, Taylor Racing, KSR, etc. all have business relationships and get all of the customer service that regular schmucks like you and me are being deprived of, so they all LOVE these products and are paid to tell you so!...
So all the issues you encountered, I encountered. Clogged internal regulator with bits of aluminum, unplugged Injectors, ect. But I will say after I fixed all the issues it came with out of the box, I will never go back to carb. To all the folks out there who feel like they’re dodging a bullet by not going EFI, you’re missing out. No cold starts, better fuel use, timing tuning to places my Pontiac 455 should not be able to go, (low RPM high map all in timing), the reliability, the Customization with tuning software. The list goes on. But man, it hit me right in the chest when you said, “it’s a 1500$ product that I should have to clean down and double check injectors are plugged in ect”
I recently watched a youtuber go through the Sniper nightmare. DD speedshop built a ratty 55 Nomad for power tour, and reached out to Holley. I don't know if they paid retail or got it heavily discounted, really irrelevant. They went with w dual quad Sniper system on a small block. It was nightmare after nightmare and after redoing everything multiple times it all got yanked, a carb bolted on and made Power tour without a single problem...
A few years ago I swapped a Sniper onto my car. ECU was dead. Luckily I bought it through Summit so, with their blessing, I just ordered another kit and swapped just the body into the brand new box and returned the whole new kit with the dead body. It has been working great for the past few years but in the back of my mind I’m always worried about it failing. Luckily I only play within 50 miles of home so if it does fail I’ll be right back to a carburetor.
That's a good recommendation. If I order a kit again I would probably order through summit for the same reasons. Thanks for checking out my channel . Subscribe plz!
I replaced my factory EFI setup with a FAST EFI 2.0 because my friend installed one and it really cleaned up the engine bay by removing big bulky factory stuff, like the MAF and such. Nothing but problems! Got it working somewhat decent and then I had a big backfire when a dist rotor failed. Replaced the rotor but the car would not start. I had to pretty much replace all the sensors again to get it running. And now it does not want to run right. Part of the problem is that these are learning systems and they learn good setups, and bad setups, and once they are running good, you can't lock down a good tune, so the system just keeps learning and the tune goes all over the place. FAST support was ok, but they did not really know how to really deal with me, since I am running a Japanese set up. The install instructions mostly deal with installing the carb style throttle body, not Multi Port systems. And online support is virtually nil, just mostly griping. So, the factory stuff is going back on and FAST is going into a box! So, unless you are running a totally custom setup or a race car, keep the factory stuff, it works just fine!
Man , bro I’m far from calling myself a mechanic. But, I tinker around & got my first frame off 64 SS impala fully optioned, matching #’s car. Last I got left was the carburetor installation. So, glad I watched this . ( I’ve never done efi & was thing to do it. You just schooled me & now I can make an educated descision… thanks a million ! ( beautifull Rivi )
Bought my first in 2017. Being in europe, I’m used to be on my own. The install on a 73 351c Mustang went ok but not without tons of fab. Got since then issues but afterwards mainly not related to the unit itself. Like leaky headers causing the O2 sensor to go wild. The second unit, exact same as yours came in 2019 stripped from quality stuffs the first kit had and the unit wasn’t as nicely finished. Clearly Holley went greedy to try reduce costs and maximise gain. So sure, got issues, but 5 years later, car still start on 1/4 turn crank in middle of winter en runs like none of the carbs before were able to make it run.
Thank you for a fair honest review. I appreciate your explanation and honestly it’s pretty unbiased. For the weekend warriors it sounds like something to wait until more bugs are worked out.
Wish i would of saw this video early today. I just sent my my throttle body back today due to no spark issues. After being on the phone with tech support various times today they came to a conclusion that the ecu in the throttle body was toast. Cost me over 70.00 to ship back and to replace the ecu is 250.00+tax. And 4-6 weeks to get it back. Now im thinking i should just switch to carb instead! Great video.
!!!!!!!!!!!After This Video Holley called Me!!!!! See what happened in the video below!!!!!!!!!!!
ua-cam.com/video/Q3_YRJiG8_U/v-deo.htmlsi=ds7Gy7Gf-TygCl29
please subscribe, comment and like!!! thank you!
I’ve been researching EFI kits for my 77 trans am with a 70 455 HO but I’ve found countless scenarios similar to yours. I think I’m going to just stay with a carb and spend that money on a rotating assembly or work on my heads. I don’t have any issues with my carb setups so if it ain’t broke….
I have a 88 C1500 and the stock TBI and wiring is old and being a real pain in the dick. So to eliminate all that crap I'm looking at a ACES Fuel Injection, Killshot. It's been recommended by friends and online. Might be worth a look, plus it's not as spendy as Sniper. I considered converting to carb but if I'm going through the work of swapping parts out might as well give the newer TBI setup a try.
I’m looking at the ACES too!!
I put a Sniper on my 408 68 Dart and it’s been outstanding. Start up is incredible and it hasn’t given me a problem so far in 3 years
Lee, interested to know what you are getting out of your 408? Magnum or LA? and what fuel economy and seat of the pants power are you seeing?
I ask because I had been contemplating an efi swap on my LA based 416 Coronet
@@bbodybenny I can be going 30, floor it and spin tires
Dumbest answer I've ever heard… guy probably runs 195 tires lol
@@3pedalpodcast yeah , that’s it . I change my 275 Mickey Thompson ET SS tires to those …
I've been in the auto parts business for 56 years. My first boss told me something I've never forgotten. "A credit is MORE important than an invoice". If you sell a part to someone and they have a problem with it.....FIX IT! If you do and you do it properly, you'll have a customer for life. If you mess it up or make it hard for him, you'll never see him again. I can't believe you're going to give them another chance. They'd never get another dime of my money. Good luck.
Well honestly after all the feedback I have gotten I don't think I will be giving them another chance. Now the carbs I will buy more holley carbs for sure. Thanks for watching . Subscribe plz!
Back then "the costumer is always right", was how things were treated. Now corporations only care about shareholders not the people actually paying their salaries.
Imagine a world where the Warranty Department takes priority over the Sales Department. Customer service died years ago, fuk these Fascist corporations
I worked on the flooring/carpet etc. I was taught a couple of ideas summed up by "a satisfied customer will tell 3 people,an unhappy customer will tell ten." This young man has told way more than ten.
This can all be avoided by properly and correctly installing the system. No exhaust leaks. No O2 sensor leaks. No engine problems. No intake manifold leaks. No sloppy timing chains. No excessive blowby. No worn distributor bushings. If you own a cool car or truck, but it's a basket case, stick with a carb and spend your money getting your ride right.
Carbs for life here! Been working fine for hundreds of years. I’m in control with my cars and trucks. And they can be fixed in my shop or on the road.
Agreed. Subscribe !
Hundreds of years?
@@slick-px4pq Invented in 1880, so not quite "hundreds."
I had the 4500 Sniper on my 582 ci bbc and had the same flooding issue that turned out to be a bad unit, Holley replaced quick and easy no hassle. It ran ok for a few 100 miles it then started idling at 2500 at a stop light in an 800+ motor with 0% throttle position and iac at 1%. I went back to carb as soon as I got it home because i was tired of every Sniper issue risking an expensive motor or transmission.
I am an avionics technician and have had extensive training in cables soldering and crimping. I heard your comment on wanting soldered connections and what I have been told in my training was crimp connections are stronger than soldering. I hear all the time in the automotive side that people think soldering is better than crimping and that isn’t always the case. There are times where soldering is preferred but crimped connections are stronger. What you do need to do is provide strain relief for all crimped connections. I use the uninsulated crimps and use heat shrink on top, this provides a clean look as clean as a soldered connection and the strain relief. I do agree don’t use the quick connections from the auto parts stores, I know Napa sells the uninsulated but joints.
I agree with you. I did a lot of rambling in the video. Everything has a time and place. I also like to do the method you talked about. If I only have a cheep one I will usually cut the nylon shell off and heat shrink just like you described.
My best friend is a 35+ year master mechanic, and he's ALWAYS told me to NEVER solder wiring connections, because the wires won't flex, and the strands will break, one by one.
Why not both? You can crimp & solder.
@@kurtvanluven9351 it’s a waste, plus the crimp is a stronger connection. Soldering has its places but crimped is stronger.
@@kurtvanluven9351 It may seem like a belt and suspenders thing, but the problem is the solder transforms the flexible multi-strand wire into a rigid, inflexible mono-strand wire. Ever wonder why automotive wiring is not like house wiring? The single-strand house wire does not tolerate flexing back and forth, which is what automotive wiring must do, and the single strand will work harden, and break.
I was seriously considering a Holley Sniper for my '68 Cougar and after watching this, I'm reconsidering. I'm sticking with my Holley 4bbl on it. The Holley EFI systems have too many Chinesium parts in them. I agree with those Carter AFB's/ Edelbrock carburetors. Put a Edelbrock manifold, 4105 and matching Edelbrock fuel pump on my buddy's '75 El Camino. The thing runs like a top. Idle is glassy smooth. I'm sticking to carbs. I'm so glad I watched this video.
I'm SO glad I kept my carbeureter! I was Very close to going for one of these units . I followed my gut feeling and waited.
Thank you. . This will help a lot of people.
I think all the customer service sucks on for all the companies that make them. Especially for returns .
I've decided to learn as much as possible about carbeureters and stick with what works reliability.
thanks for watching. I didnt really want to sway people either way, i just feel like honest stories are hard to come by and wanted to share my experience as objectively as possible. thanks for watching, subscribe plz!
😂
I think if enough people spent time reading the Holly's EFI website and looking at the issues they would find it may not be what they're looking for. Holly's own website shows that their main issues are cold start drivability issues and fuel economy, all of the reasons most people switch to EFI.
Efi is ancient tech. You need port for fi to run well with all the sensors.
I agree. I wanted to try it. Just confirmed my pre existing beliefs lol.
That mostly comes down to learning how to (or pay for) a proper, complete tune.
It took me an entire year (all four seasons) to learn and get "all of the tables right" on my first tune.
The Base Tables are relatively quick and easy, it's the Coolant and Air Temp. Tables that need to be "tweaked as the seasons change"...
The problem is they over sell the learning capability of these units. The car still needs to be tuned so the the computer isn’t adding or subtracting 50% fuel. If the oxygen sensor goes bad there is no way it will run right unless you have it tuned at 2 to 3%. No one realizes this and Holley doesn’t state it in their literature. The tune you get from the handheld is only good enough to get the engine running.
those are the two reason I would want EFI
I went through the same thing with a FItech FI. After two weeks and another display still never worked right. Took original Q-jet to a guy that only does Q-jets.He rebuilt and informed me I wasn't alone. I totally trust the carb.
Heck yeah . America's most common carb. Thanks for watching. Subscribe!
I have put two of these Sniper systems on our 1980 P-30 stepvans. They were properly installed by the book, every connection soldered, any extra wires depinned and removed. We have had the issue of rfi causing the hand held to freeze up and also raising the idle speed of the engine. I was on the phone with Holly and the tech guy that was helping me ended up saying the unit was defective and sent us another one, and only the main unit. We installed the new one and programmed it and it did the same thing. Funny thing is is that it would behave fine at first and then after driving around for 30 min or so you would notice the idle creeping up and then the hand held would start freezing. If you shut off the engine and restarted it it would be fine again for about 30 min and then the symptoms would happen again. I got on the phone with Holley again and this time I got a tech guy that was aware of the rfi issues and told me to foil all the spark plug wires and ground the foil so I did. I also foiled the hei distributor as well and grounded that foil as well. That fixed the problem with the rfi. The next problem we had was the secondaries sticking open a tiny bit causing the idle to be high and until we figured out what was happening we were trying to compensate by lowering the minimum idle air and of coarse this means you have to reset your tps as well. Well the funny part is that when you would shut off the engine and the vacuum would bleed away the secondaries would fully shut. We then figured out that the friction in the throttle shaft was too high when you had vacuum on one side of the throttle plates. We tried to fix this by wrapping the secondary throttle shaft return spring one more wrap which did work somewhat... I can tell you that I have spent a lot of time messing with these because of these problems that Holly failed to address before they released the sniper units. If I had put this system on a T-Bucket with an exposed engine that you would be showing off then I would have been really upset since the engine in the stepvan looks pretty stupid with all the foil on the wires and distributor. Hopefully the Sniper2 will be better...It sucks when you tell your boss that we can put fuel injection on work trucks "these p-30 stepvans were A/C install trucks that were driven every day." and then have to explain to him why we are having all these drivability problems. I feel bad for the weekend mechanic that buys this system for his hot rod thinking they are going to have a great trouble free experience with a properly installed Holly fuel injection system...Once again lets hope the Sniper2 is better...
I hope me sharing my experience will help somebody that is going through what I went through with these units.
Wow thanks for sharing your story. Awesome post. Please subscribe.
Use Faraday tape 9n all wiring. Had the same issues util doing the tape.
So I had a carb that ran great, went to fitech and I couldn’t get it to run right all the time. Went back to carb but… I took the ECU from the fitech and hooked up all the inputs including the TPS. Now I can data log the carb and make adjustments as needed. If the ECU dies, I’m still cruising.
I did a sniper system on my 70 Impala. All went great and worked for about one year then two temp sensors went out. Of course the sniper doesn’t know what to do without temp input. Went thru Holley tech support. After several tries and long hold times I finally got a tech on the phone. No problem they over nighted me another system. I do think it was a refurbished system but I gave it a try. After 1 week the timing then stopped reading. I also had installed the Holley distributor that works with the system. After over a year of my car sitting there I finally said heck with it and put my HEI distributor and Eldelbrock carb back on. Now I’m back to driving to shows and cruises. Thanks for your video!
Sounds like a common story. Thanks for watching the channel. Subscribe ! Thanks
Thank you for your honesty. I already bought a Fi-tech, haven’t installed it yet but I kept all the carb stuff as a backup.
Thanks !. I just had a defective unit. Hopefully yours is good to go. Subscribe !
If you are comfortable working on carbs, before converting to fuel injection, install a decent air fuel ratio meter. This is a game changer in that you can see exactly what the carb is doing. From there, tuning and/or trouble shooting becomes VERY easy, especially if you have a 4150 or 4160 Holley carb. I have done this on both of my carbureted cars now and they run so well that there is absolutely no reason to convert to EFI.
Efi has it's place. I have exsperince with both. Its kinda funny but once you figure them both out its efi that is easy mode and carbs that require a bit of voodoo knowledge. I've got an HP efi system on my coyote and it's really fast and easy to change things like air/fuel, timing, even per cylinder plus the ecu can control several things on the car - fan, fuel pump, 2step, trans brake, ect.
However, efi is quite a bit more expensive and a carb probably has a small power advantage with a wet intake. It depends on what you want.
The track or driving down the road is a better tuning tool than an A/F gauge. I tuned my Holley Street HP very close with only my 50+ years of tuning expeience. The air jets weren't new to me because I ran Webers on my VW desert race car 40 years ago & all I had to do was read up on the Holley. I've come up with several of the same conclusions about intakes & carbs as Engine Masters & never had a Dyno to tune with. As far as FI or Carb, the carb will do everything better than EFI & if your out in the sticks & have trouble, you can probably go into any NAPA store & buy parts for a Holley or HEI ignition system. Try that with an aftermarket FI unit!!
Exactly. When I used to do QJets, I threw the BS cliff Ruggles book in the Garbage and got a wideband.
You know what I found? Cliff wrote a bunch of BS on the Q Jet, Doug roe and Danny Ashley were right on as they worked with the original engineers. The wideband is a must on any Carb tuning!!!
@@bradgriffith4231
Well, it's not true that a carb will do everything better than efi or modern cars would still be running carburetors.
There are things carbs do better and things efi does better. We all have our preferences but our preferences are not proof of superiority. It's not a "one size fits all" deal.
FI gives you rapid control, it saves a lot of time.
Carbs give you simplicity, it saves a lot of money.
So which is more valuable, time or money? That's up to each of us to decide.
THis^^^
Too many spend thousands on aftermarket EFI assuming it will behave and last like OEM>..no such animal .Takes minutes to adjust a carb set and forget.
Last thing I want in old iron is some screen or a laptop I constantly have to monitor fool with. Screw that
Well the good thing about this whole fiasco is now you can dial in your carb with an O2 gauge if you wanted to because you have the O2 bung installed in the exhaust.
Man...That Buick is beautiful !
Looks like my 1963 Riviera. Even the color is the same.I hope you keep it forever.
I have wanted to do a sniper for a long time. The more I look into it the more I think I’m good with a carb.
Well your results may very. I had a defective unit. But you really can't vest the simplicity and reliability of a carb lol. Thanks for stopping by. Subscribe !
The problem with aftermarket FI is they are changing them every year and after 5-10 years you won't be able to get replacement parts. Carbs are timeless and can be fiddled with to get you home when theres an issue. But as always, choose the system you wish and can afford. Thanks for sharing you experience, it helped me save some $$$ by keeping my ancient tech.
I agree. Thanks for watching and for the props. Subscribe!
Pretty much all the sensors, injectors and similar stuff are standard items you often see used OEM on factory cars. The manufacturers of aftermarket EFI systems have no reason to use money and time on reinventing the wheel, when standard parts that will do the job already are available out there. Like my old FAST EZ-efi system use the same IAC as can be found on an LS1 engine. The TPS sensor are the same used by GM on an LT1. Electronics are usually VERY reliable, most of peoples aftermarket EFI problems seems actually to be based on the mounting. It takes very little electric noise or crosstalk between wires to make an ECU act very weird.
I bought a used 1997 Harley Davidson ex-Police Roadking. It had Magnetti-Mareli fuel injection, which Harley used from 1995~2001. It was a mess. Harley ditched the M-M and went to Delphi. From what I learned, the split was not amicable and there was no support or parts available from Magnetti-Mareli , thus none from Harley. I removed the ECM, throttle body, fuel pump, and a lot of wiring, relays, sensors, and other related parts. I replaced them with a rejetted stock Keihin carb, Dyna 2000i ignition & coil, tuned it in and it's been trouble-free for close to 10yrs. Fuel mileage is actually better than with the M-M FI!
Your experiences are mine also. I've had to run through installs for friends that claimed these units were junk. Yes, I have had a few bad sensors but mostly the problems encountered were bad wiring, dirty power, plug wires were a big problem, basically installation problems. I have found both the Holly and Fitech units to be reliable but you just can't just throw the them in with Scotch Locks and electrical tape. I understand your position and problems and believe me I've been there too and if I had experienced your problems my solution would probably be the same. I'm currently running a Fitech Ultimate LS injection kit on a 5.3 swapped '68 C10 and love it but it's not for everyone.
I'm planning on doing the Fitech setup on my 66 C10 with a 408 stroker/single turbo.
I’ve had nothing but horrible experiences with the Holley Sniper. The only time I personally have ever used one was on my dads ‘82 Mustang GT. He was horribly sick at the time (congestive heart failure) and I had finally gotten the sniper on and running and it was running perfectly, we took the car to a show (which come to find would’ve been the last time he drove the car) and the O2 sensor circuit shorted and burned the harness up and left him stranded on the side of the road. The one experience alone made me throw it in the trash. My brother runs it on his 80 Cobra but he’s gone through at least 4 different head units and it seems like it gets a new one every season 😂 he somehow gets them to send him a new kit every time though without paying for a new one and without receiving the old kit. How? I don’t know. But either way, I gave you a sub. Good content!
Your brother is a wizard lol. Thank you
He didn’t have it tuned correctly most likely adding or subtracting a high percentage of fuel. Any fuel injected car will run fine without an o2 sensor if it is tuned correctly.
Sounds like instal error.
@TRIPLEWHOPPER do u or don't you like the sniper?
Sorry about the loss of your Dad (I assume since it was the last time he drove the car). Hopefully Holley gets their shit together.
Oh man what a process! I have a 64 riv too and it runs great with the original tech. Your wife's riv looks absolutely gorgeous.
Thanks!
@@timelesssteelgaragenice job on calling it like it is
@@timelesssteelgarageI'm sorry you had to go through all this Holly's only good for one thing
Carburetors😊
Everything else that they put out his manufactured at a different company labeled under Holly and the worth ethics at that place or horrible all you got to do is look at all the trouble you've been with the stealth it's a terrible thing my son sent his back three times and it still didn't work right then he still had problems
But that's another short for another story that I'm not even going to get into
Carburetors make more horsepower make more torque than the EFI look-alike carburetor
@@scotthultin7769 haha thanks ! subscribe!
Bonjour, I am French from France and I have a similar issue with Holley. I have send back my Holley Snipper 2300 and it takes weeks to have it back to France. My engine is a GOLEN 4.6L 6 cyl that I purchased at GOLEN for my CJ7 Jeep. When I got back the Snipper it works beautifully well but time to time the engine is starting to caught for unknown reason. The Harness is new and the ground is perfect and the Snipper is directly connected to the - & + of the battery. I am lost in France with the Snipper 2300 where Holley Europ do not exist! Cheers and continue to do your video they are very instructive and I like yours comments.
I'm in your camp. Had original Sniper installed at my regular auto shop and they did a wonderful job,. Started with a new SBC long block, new EFI gas tank, Holley Sniper Master Kit with Hyperspark, in tank fuel pump. All parts were NEW from Holley. It ran PERFECT for approx 2 months. On a long trip it started to "act up" and run poorly. Long story but every tuner shop said it must be the older wiring interfering. This went on for ever until I started reading the Forms. Turns out the injector wiring plug(s) came loose. 1 primary was not sending fuel and 1 secondary was off/on. Yes I know they all work at the same time but it makes it easier to describe. So, I straitened to plug pins and the Sniper now works AMAZING..... until 3 days ago the o2 sensor shit it's pants after 10K miles. AFR is reading a constant 35.6. That's another story. I'll be looking else where for the next motor swap.
I've been reading about ACE's Royal Flush EFI. Take a look and maybe offer an opinion. I'm not a mechnic or tuner but I was able to solve my problem by spending several days on the Forms. I'd rather be doing something else. Good luck
if the kit came with the bosch 02 sensor. i highly recommend swapping to an NTK 02. we where going threw bosch 02S at the track every month with the leaded fuels. once we swapped to ntk have not had one fail on us yet. now mind you these are with HP and dominator computers. i cant remember if you can go in with a laptop to the sniper unit instead of the handheld and switch the parameter to read an NTK 02 sensor. hps and dominators we can. but funny enough. we just tuned in a 70s chevelle that had a sniper unit on it. they took the car down to good guys couple weeks ago. and while heading back up to the canadian border the 02 shit itself. so we had them put it in open loop so it doesnt keep adding fuel when its not needed
I changed from Carb to Sniper EFI back to carb as well..... They sent me new IAC valves...helped me with programming.....nothing seemed to work exactly right. It ran OK.....just not great. I went back to a carb....Works fabulous again.
Great explanation and good info for people wanting to do this. Thanks for putting out a transparent video on the Sniper.
Thanks bro!
I run a sniper on a LS1 with a carb intake and an msd 6ls ignition box. my sniper unit was purchased as a reman unit back in 2019 for a huge discount. LS1 has a massive cam, cnc heads, 1.75 headers. I had a surging idle issue when installed but it was due to intake gaskets. After i changed them all was well.
Also run a sniper on a 390fe ford with decent cam, edelbrock heads and a billet pertronix dist. Runs perfectly fine.
Both units were able to adjust the IAC around 5%. Both hand helds work, no O2 failures.
Both cars (69 camaro, 67 mustang fastback) each received a new aeromotive stealth fuel tank, fuel lines and 10 micron fuel filters.
Aside from snipers i have an old holley hp unit on a turbo 5.3 lm7, Flawless as usual.
Great video thanks for the info I'll never use a Holley sniper.
I have a 1971 ford bronco with a jasper 302 motor. I just went to fuel injection and I did my research. I almost went with the Holley sniper kit until I met the fitech guys at a car show. I went with the fitech, it had way less parts and a 1/4 of the price. I love it. I went to hot august nights in Reno and the fitech company had a tent there. They pulled me into the tent and cleaned up the parameters to be more efficient. It was the inventor of fitech that got his hands dirty. They now have a customer for life. Customer service is unbelievable and so is sales and tech support.
DD Speed Shop had problems getting theirs sorted out for Power Tour so they dropped back to carb. My goal is to get EFI and AC vintage retrofit training for a retirement gig. I signed up for Holley's training in December. It will be interesting to hear feedback in class and what the Holley reps say.
Sounds like a cool opportunity. thanks for checking out my channel, subscribe plz!
Haha DD speed shop!! Sould be called DD butcher shop!
@@sdcanyoncarver2203 I think Dan prefers the word 'hackery'. 🙂
amen!!! first off thank you for your service. I feel the same way as you I like both fuel injection and carbs. the fi for just saying its fi but for simplicity carb all the way. Im old school people drove these cars every day no issues. every friend I have I see trying to put new tech in old cars have nothing but problems. and its not a matter if its when they have problems.
Great video, I have a new build, I was on the fence on EFI, decided to get it up and running and broken in on carb. After watching all the issues other people have been experiencing I am holding off and enjoying my ride for now. Added an AFR gauge and O2 sensor to my C10 and waiting to see how EFI kits progress, I just about pulled the trigger on a Sniper and then they released the new unit, feel like I dodged a bullet, sorry about the hassles and hours involved and money.
thanks, i appreciate you watching. Honestly with a wideband a carb becomes real easy to tune. And they are reliable. plz subscribe! thanks
My Dad had great advice, if its not broke don't fix it, don't reinvent the wheel.
A very articulate and honest video, I've watched numerous videos of people converting to throttle body fuel injection and was always amazed at how little difficulty they had with the installations. Needless to say, those easy installs were always red flags to me. I'm a carburetor guy as far as old muscle cars are concerned, I'm too old to change now. My daily driver Altima is fuel infected, and that's as far as I'll ever go with fuel injection.
I appreciate the feedback. Thanks ! Pls subscribe
I am a Motörhead of over 40 years build and tuned all of my cars mostly my self, l have learned to keep it simple and try to not let it get out of my control. My cars are all rowdy high horse power big cube, big cams high compression, carburetor engines and are not dally drivers and my wife can drive them.
Awesome. Thanks for watching. Subscribe!
SOOOOOOO Glad I stumbled across your video. Installed the Sniper unit on my 87 El Camino over a year ago. Had issues right from the get go. After 6 months, countless hours on the phone and emails going back and forth with tech support, and swapping out warrantied parts, I now have a decent driving car. DD Speed shop did a video a few months back on a dual Sniper install that never worked out of the box. He went back to carbs as well. Another great video that everyone should watch. This swap is not for the faint of heart. If I had a chance to do it all over again I would have stayed with a carb or done an LS swap. Thanks so much for taking the time to do this video!
The Holley help line is useless, regardless of what product you have questions about!
I ditched the sniper too. Went back to carb got alot of hate.
I know the feeling lol
Not being able to just send in your throttle body and having them look at it to see if its bad without having to pull your hair out is damn frustrating, thanks for your service
Thanks you ! Yeah I would have just exchanged it but turned out to be to difficult. Thanks for checking out the channel . Subscribe plz !
Yes, these manufacturers don't account for all your time and aggravation. It's kind of like people buying these bargain crate engines, They will say "well, it's got a good warranty". That's all well and good but who wants to swap 2 or more engines under warranty? Nobody is going to reimburse you for all the labor and other parts needed with the swap.
I enjoyed listening to this guy. I bought a fitech fuel injection set up for my 69 camaro. I got news for you, my car did not even start. I just crap canned the thing and went back to proform 850. I have had enough of this stuff.
I was kinda hesitant to convert to Holley Efi. since im running my car with dual quad Edelbrock and having plans for a 1000 Miles road trip. But after watching your video, im good with carbs for my road trip at the expense of mpg
If it was me I would keep the carbs.
I'm using the Edelbrock dual quad set up on my 396 68 Camaro I'm staying with my carbs also gets lots of looks and is a blast when I put the pedal to the metal
I was just about to pull the tiger on one to replace my 350 TBI in my 95 Jeep Wrangler, but after your story about Holly's customer service, there is absolutely no way in HELL. Thank you for letting us know how they treat customers.
I'm glad I wasn't the only one to experience this same thing! Years ago I had a fast easy efi that kept filling my oil with fuel just as you described. It happened to me 3 times. I've sent the handheld and the throttle body back several times and they replaced the hand held and then they said it was the computer. Sent it back and got a new one like weeks later. Flooded my oil with fuel again. I gave up and went back to my quick fuel carb and been running fine since. I'm sorry you had to experience this but I'm just figured with newer technology these days, none of this would happen like you and I had experience.
Yeah its nice to see all of these people like yourself who are commenting and having had problems. thanks for checking out my channel, subscribe plz!
I am a DIY guy who also enjoy doing research and learning new things. I have tuned my double pumper carb with the help of an O2 sensor and it gave me many years of good service, until the fuel quality went down the drain and started having hot start issues (even with carb spacer etc...). That gave me the excuse I was looking for to spend the money on an EFI system with a fuel return. I have done my research years before making the move and to me there was enough red flags about the design & quality issues with the sniper system that i never understood why people would still purchase this kit instead of the terminator with an HP ECU. For the differance of price it was a no brainer for me. I totally agree that they are overselling the self tuning capabilities, you either need to enjoy learning how to tune with a laptop or need to get it tuned by a pro, otherwise you will never get the full potential and drivability that these systems can offer. In terms of the lesson's I have learned; these TBI are firing the injectors in batch which is causing resonnance in the fuel system. I highly recomend to add a fuel damper, it made a world of differance for me, not only the noise went away but it had a significant impact on the fuel map from idle through cruising (more efficient injectors with the damper). Also, one thing that i like about the terminator (beside a remote ECU) was that the injection is done under the butterfly valves, which in my opinion is a better design. The counterpart of this is that Holley had to raise the shaft of the butterfly valves to make space for the injector rings. That made the throtle linkage clash with my drop base air cleaner and i had to customise it in conjunction with using a shorter filter element. All in all after 2 years i love it and would never go back. Cold/warm starts and drivability are awsome. I do feel that i have lost a bit of HP at WOT but i will eventually put it on a dyno just to tune the WOT. I am also using the HP ECU with a VSS sensor to control my overdrive, which is great. I can program any condition i want i.e. to emulate kickdown etc... I took the whole winter to make the installation and i have used nothing but the best components (hyperspark distributor, in tank pump/baffle, rigid tubing with some braided hoses, billet regulator/filters etc...). I have a 410 mopar stroker, w2 ported heads, single plane intake, dyno at 505/505 HP/TQ.
Typical corporate America bullshit. I almost pulled the Qjet off my Vette for a Sniper. Glad I changed my mind and stuck with the carb.
Carbs are hard to beat. They just work. Thanks for stopping by. Subscribe! Thanks
My brother put a holley sniper efi setup on his truck and it totally transformed it. Made it better on almost every level
I'm a retired mechanic of 36 years. I enjoyed your whole vision. It was great to hear someone talk for that ling and everything you said made sense and aparently you not only know what your doing but know how to say it with out making it sound overly complicated
Thank you I really appreciate it! pls subscribe!
After dealing with all the problems on three of my friend's cars I decided to stay with carbs on mine.
I support this choice lol . Thanks for watching. Subscribe!
You may be familiar with "DD Speed Shop". He was putting together a 55 Nomad with a TKX Tremec and a sniper setup for Power Tour. He ended up putting a carb back in the car so he could take the Nomad on power tour. He hasn't given up on the sniper just yet. He says he'll try the sniper in one of his other cars but the carb is staying in the Nomad.
I saw it. I feel the same way. The riv is staying carb lol. That tkx is a great transmission. Thanks for watching. Plz subscribe
Good honest assessment, I went down the same path with a Sniper 1 and then back to a carburetor.
Glad I watched this. I have an 88 k1500 that we stroked and I’m trying to decide what to go with. Originally, my gut was to go carb but I live where the temps change drastically and I didn’t wanna have to fool with it then I found out about the sniper. Thanks for the rundown.
No problem!
You can still run the stock 2 barrel throttle body, unless the motor is making more than roughly 325 hp
@@alexbrown4820 the new one should be between 500-550hp
@@IAMElectric369 If you can keep the RPM below 5200, you can actually get a factory TBI system to work, it's been done repeatedly, and even with monster engine setups. The issue is simply that the TBI setup doesn't function with excessive RPM.
@@buttslappingpirate hmmm, I’ll look into that. I think i our max target is 5500. However, I’m not tryin to skimp. This is a pretty expensive build so, I don’t mind getting what’s best, ya know?
Thanks for sharing your experience. A lot of companies outsource their customer support to specialized companies that don’t understand the product they support. Very frustrating, especially when the in-house techs can’t issue RMA’s at the end of a debug process. That said, kudos to the Holley CEO for recognizing that they failed you, and making it right.
What a pain in the ace!!!
Great video, and thanks for posting this video. The problems you had are a result of corporate management and the pursuit of profit only.
Thanks again.
Thanks for watching ! Pls subscribe
I recently purchased a blast cabinet from Eastwood. 5 shipments all damaged. Eastwood was on top it from the start. They replaced everything within days. I ended up with extra panels they did not want back. Great company.
I'm sorry to hear of your problems but appreciate your candid assessment of the situation with the Sniper. Probably the 2nd version is better but it should be and you should have never had these problems. However I want to thank you for letting us know nd I have been on the fence with this thing for a while but agree with you that carbs while not perfect do their job pretty well and can be trusted to do that job forever. There are no software upgrades and the carb will never become obsolete like any throttle body FI will after the manufacturer discontinues support for it. That will never happen with the carb. Thanks again for helping us and your Buick is beautiful.
Thank you!
I put a Sniper on my 66 Mustang 351W and had nothing but headaches and misery . 5 different experienced EFI tecs tried to find the problem, they all gave up and said go back to carburation. So I did and have not regretted it one bit. Lesson learned.
Yo honestly this is why I quit my job as a customer service rep for a certain Pennsylvania-based mustang parts company, I couldn't stand the way we were trained to treat people, it was exactly as he described it. It literally kept me up at night, as a fellow gearhead I hated seeing people get screwed out of their money, by woke corporate managers who don't know a thing about cars.
thanks for that feedback, makes me feel better. I tried to remain calm on the phone, but i can only take so much lol. thanks for watching plz subscribe.
Woke? Is "woke" just anything you don't like?
@@CharlieBravo157 No, woke is identity based corporate politics and managers who ask you about your political leanings and then laugh at you. Woke is exactly what's causing this very treatment of customers. It's putting people in top corporate positions who no nothing about their jobs. I'm sorry but managers who don't know a thing about cars should not be managing an automotive parts company. I've literally spent weeks trying to convince managers that an AEM part didn't fit an ecoboost mustang to the point where I had to conference call someone from AEM with the customer and have the guy from AEM literally explain how the product wouldn't work on an ecoboost, before a manager would finally give the go ahead to refund the customer's money and address the correction to the "fitment" section for the part on the website.
Woke is knowing that you're warehouse is sending out parts without any packaging whatsoever literally slapping shipping labels on the box it comes in and sending it out. Not only screwing your customers over but your staff who then have to deal with all the angry customers calling in while you and the top staff all pretend "ignorance is bliss" all driving expensive audis, because of course you don't even identify with you customers in the slightest by driving anything you actually sell parts to. I could go on and on. Literally every part I ordered as an employee arrived damaged, I only order parts from Lmr now, they actually give a sh💩t about there customers enough to actually properly package parts. I've never had anything come damaged from them.
I dunno WTF you’re talking about calling shitty customer service ‘woke’. Id 10 t
I am a vet and concur with you and expect quality from the manufacturer ! Open minded with the follow-up ! Damn nice BUICK !!!
I dumped my sniper after awhile as well. I always had random problems. Put a carb on and did 1700 miles on hotrod powertour with no issues. I’m salty about the sniper 2 as well. I wish they had a buyback program for sniper 1 kits.
I agree 100 % about being salty about sniper 2. I ordered sniper 1 direct 3 weeks before they released #2. Thanks for stopping buy , subscribe! Plz
I am no mechanic, but over 10 years ago I did a self install Sniper conversion on my freshly built 1974 Oldsmobile 350 and have never regretted it. I tuned it myself copying and slightly altering A/F & timing maps or tables others posted on the web for similar engines, dialing it in using trial & error with on road testing. Unfortunately local dyno shops said they won't touch an older car. Sorry to hear the Sniper didn't meet your expectations. I generally prefer simplicity but in my case I had nothing but misery trying to get decent drivability with a Quadrajet, including a rebuilt from a prominent specialist, and didn't want to gamble on a new carburetor from another brand.
The fact that they had so many returns to process is a glaring indicator that there were too many issues and they shouldn’t have been selling the kit any longer. No way would they be getting my money for an EFI system. Based on the few videos I’ve seen and forums/comments, no way is an EFI system right for me. I just need to learn the carburetor setup and stick with it as it is just way simpler, as you mentioned.
Agreed. Thanks for watching. Plz subscribe!
I purchased a 71 Chevy Cheyenne with a 350 V8 and Holley Sniper EFI. It started up and ran good when I got it but would always die when coming to a stop. I didn't have time or the expertise to figure it out. The unit was loading up the engine with fuel, fouling plugs and filling up the crankcase. Numerous attempts to fix it and countless hours with customer service finally ended up with a new replacement kit. It took 6 months to get my truck back. Mechanic had to send them my original first to try to repair it, they sent it back and had the same problem. It was a very long painful process. The truck is running great so far with the new kit installed, but I don't drive it as much as I would like because I work so much. I am hopeful that this unit will last a long time. However the small LCD screen died so now I have to see about getting that replaced.
I really recommend checking out Luke Finley's carb cheater system. Basically a data logging o2 with a idle self tuning and cruise self tune options at your selected afr, it uses a idle air control valve to adjust your afrs while crushing and idling.
Agree I already pre ordered one a few weeks back. Subscribe! Thanks
So does the Sniper
@@Carl_Jr The only similarities is the idle air control valve and using a wideband o2 to control said idle air control valve. The rest is all up to the carburetor. It's also only $350. Works with any 4 barrel carb.
@@401cam8 I'm just telling you that the Sniper uses the same exact IAC to do what the Carb Cheater does. It's nothing new. Quadrajets have been using that since the early 80s. You think Luke's invented something new and he hasn't. He just figured out a way to put it in a package that people will pay for.
@@Carl_Jr No sir, you can't just short hand it and say they're the same. To do so shows either you are purposely trying to slander Luke's product OR lack the knowledge of what actually makes them different. There is a huge difference from an 80s quadrajet using a NARROWBAND o2 sensor that would MAYBE work right, and Luke's system that uses data logging, AFR adjustments using your phone, and having it bolt in place without changing any hardware on your vehicle. The only similarities with Luke's and Holleys is there's an IAC. That's where it stops. The fact I have to explain shows that you haven't done any research and just have a shit attitude toward Luke for some reason.
Holley EFI that looks like a carb is just throttle body EFI, and that went out on the OEM's in the 90's. If I am going to go with EFI, it will be sequential multiport or individual stack injection. I think that carbs are fine and that's what is going on my tunnel ram in my W200 Dodge. I have done EFI swaps but never put one of those janky throttle body EFI on anything. Thanks for the video and the warning.
The aftermarket products are simply not made to the same standards as an oem system on a mass produced vehicle.
I find that funny because pretty much every carb that was on a car from the factory was from holley edelbrock of autolite, but yeah, they definitely aren't the company that used to be now though
This is why I’m sticking to a carburetor in my C-10. All that work to install it only to have to tear it all back out…I’ll pass. Thank you for this honest review.
"You're either a Holley guy or an Edelbrock guy".
*Looks at my Quadrajet and assorted Rochester parts laying around*.... 🤣
Haha you got me . Thanks for watching lol. Subscribe plz!
Hi, I have a 70 Barracuda 383 whats the best Quadrajet I can find for it? I am new to the Hobbie and just replaced a couple fuses and Window cranks but I want to reach out to folks with better experience on the subject, Currently I have a Edelbrock and although I drive it as much as I can I was told by a Carburetor repair shop in San Antonio it has a plugged up half and needs rebuilt at $500, I then asked hell how much is a new one? guy went silent, anyway out on the hunt for the "Jesse James" of carbs (gets a lot of hate but can kick your ass with the right practice). Carbs as I have found are like Woman everybody has a different taste and cannot agree which one is the best, and that really sucks I mean All I want is Loyalty, Brains and when she talks her accent is sexy. I have found the Woman but the Carb is dang difficult because I am not of the Carb era.. Any assistance is humbly appreciated.
So col!!! Looking forward to the next video, I'll post my plan here see what anyone thinks!! :) (sorry if it's too long)
I was / am moving, wanted an old GM pickup , they were WAY too expensive!! .. Got a GIANT 1994 Chevy P-30 Step Van (basically a UPS, or FedEx van) .. Way better for moving stuff than a pickup.
Then I started checking out the specs on this thing 350 Engine, TH400 trany 14 bolt rearend with Duallys. over 12,000 GVW if I was building a truck from scratch that's ALL what i'd put in it!!!
So I decided I'm keeping it long term (was planning to resell after moving)
SO?? .... I'm moving some stuff for abuddy, and the van won't start :( .. got it going, but running RICH, made it 90% of the way home, broke down again, got it towed to the garage.
Short story, they had it 2 MONTHS and cant even get it started again, they want to put another motor in it. :( no thank you.
So tomorrow I will pay them up what I owe ... then get it towed to my buddy's place and see what's' up. .. if needed??? .... i plan to swap it to Carburetor!, new intake used carb.
I will put a new Holley intake, THEN once i save up some cash (this fall maybe) I will switch it BACK to EFI with the Sniper 2 kit!!
My thought is? Any trouble I can always put the carb back on (even like, years later!!) Cheaper now to get it running, AND?? Once switched to Sniper II I will have zero problems with factory wiring,, NO factory computer, easy to tune. Software updates available, Etc etc
PLUS like i said, best of both worlds, keep the carb in the van for emergencies!
Can't wait to get started next week, we might even pull the gas tank, and fix the leaky filler hose, and put in new gas lines etc, clean everything etc.
My buddy has more experience with EFI than I do , and all the tools location for it to sit etc, ... and I will be paying him too, he's payed me to work on stuff lots of times :)
Each video links to the next. Go to my playlist section and watch every video on each build.! Plz subscribe. Thanks
Another note, I have always thought OEM fuel injection systems are the best way to go. One of the reasons I went ls swap was I wanted fuel injection and the ls comes with it, and the factory system can support good power numbers unlike the earlier systems. I get this isn’t an option on your application and you are probably better off using a carb. You don’t have a max effort build so a street friendly carb will do fine. Years ago I had issues with my Holley 800 double pumper flooding, it was constantly getting rubber in the needle. This was around the time ethanol was added to the fuel and the auto parts stores fuel line wasn’t compatible. I hope today that it is. Carbs are plenty reliable and they were used for daily drivers for nearly 100 years.
Thanks for your inputs. Good points. Please subscribe!
Yeah I'm doing the E85 carb gasket upgrade to my holley now, not cheap but I think it will be worth it in the long run period
Thanks for the video. Sorry you had to go through all that BS. I had a Sniper on my 71 Olds 350 and had issues from day one. I got the new fuel tank, in tank pump, lines (both ways), Hyperspark Ignition system, distributor, new plugs wires, basically everything was new. I had a bad sensor out the box, the unit 90+% of the time idled high (1800+ RPM in park). I thought that the "learning" part of the CPU would correct itself over a few miles. It never did. So one day in my driveway a decided to call tech support, they had me go through a couple steps and take a couple readings and it took a DUMP right there. The tech said that I have a bad unit, and they will send out a new one. I was blessed this happened in my driveway (could have been several hundred miles away with the family). So I chose to get a couple Edelbrock goodies and went back to carb because my confidence wasn't there anymore. My return went well because I bought everything at Summit racing. I have several friends running Holley EFI with no issues. I do feel like quality control could be stepped up.
Same with me- the thing with snipers is they are meant to be so ‘simple’ plug and play that’s what sucks everyone in.. but the reality is the simplicity goes out the window by the fact that when they go wrong it’s very complex… that’s fine if you have good support but Holley don’t
Yeah I was disapointed in how long the return process took, but they did give me my money back.. I just wont get the time back. Thanks for watching, please subscribe.
thank you for video i was thinking about buying a Holley EFI system will not now
On paper, I have a viable way to use an factory Ford EEC5 on my pushrod engine truck. It will just take a few tweaks but I'm hopeful. Most aftermarket EFI systems are a compromise anyway. The only exception is the one offered by Chris Richards at Mass Air EFI. It is my understanding that when he started, he was using flashed factory EEC4 processors and factory parts for easy field fixes. Sticking with factory parts is key and I expect with the waive of the magic wand, the not so distant future EPA could make anything non-factory by anyone very illegal and could shut down Holley just out of spite and a personal trophy.
I got the FiTec 1200 hp EFI because it can use e85
But ya I didn't know anything about phasing the rotor
But it was a huge learning experience
Sorry about your motor. Glad you got it recovered
Ya and a lot of these UA-cam channels don't tell you how much money they have invested
And phasing in my rotor was getting interference. I took it off and put back on the HEI and locked in my timing at 30 deg. Runs great
I think some off them have pretty big sponsorships that prevent them from being honest. Thanks. Please subscribe!
@@timelesssteelgarage ya they never mention the price or include all the details. Except it's simple and fast.
Lol my my EFI is self learning to bad I'm not.
It took me a lot to get to know what I know. About 5 phone calls and 20 videos. But ya carb is soooooooo much easyer
Jimmy, this was a very good video and I totally agree with your assessments. I'm running a 292 inline 6, mildly built, cam, higher compression, and some headwork. I had it running really good with an Edelbrock AVS2. I decided to try throttle body injection. I started with a Fitech with inline fuel pump. I now call their system Fijunk. I then researched available systems. I settled on the MSD Atomic 2, because it had inducers in each throat. It is much more tunable than the Fitech and runs much better. I am overall happy with the installation, but I don't think it offers much advantage over a well tuned carburetor. Things I have learned from my experience. I would not recommend an inline fuel pump. I lost two with the Fitech installation. The return flow at idle and low engine fuel flow requirements, is huge. Atomization is key to efficient combustion, especially at idle. Carburetors provide emulsified fuel under the throttle plates, throttle body efi does not. Fuel runs down the walls of the throttle bores at idle. A lot of the drawbacks are lessened with a V8 because all flow is downhill from the throttle body. That is not the case with an inline engine that has long horizontal, dry runners. Again, great video, thanks.
Hey Chevy 292 forever they're the best forget that piece of s***300 Ford garbage
Yep! You still have to tune it! Lap top is the only way to go, when it comes to setting up a tune for it. Still have to read spark plugs as well.
But I’m a carb guy myself.
THANKS for honest experience, this is WHY I will be going with the HOWELL EFI that uses the proven GM designed OFF the shelf materials
Yup, the Sniper isn't all that...ran one 5 yrs ago, had software issues, no mechanical problems, found out after a week of tweaking it had updated software, that I downloaded...got the idle issues sorted out, but always had odd "glitches"...sold the car to a friend, and a month later the ECU crapped out...really sad that they are not designed with long-term strategy
Agreed. Thanks for watching. Subscribe!
I run a 1850-C with electric choke. its a reliable daily driver carb no complaints with a holley car. Also military on my last few years till retirement. I daily drive a 460 carbbed truck. Nice video
Informative video, thanks for posting. I was advised a couple years ago by my local trustworthy tuning parts supplier to not to buy the Sniper for the EXACT same reasons you described. Just way too many problems and poor customer service. I might still try the Sniper 2, but I think I may just "pause" a bit to hear more feedback on version 2...!
Thanks ! And agreed. The thing is a small block chevy with a carb just works . As much as I love efi , it think my daughter's camaro might just stay a carb lol
I pulled my sniper off of my car and went with a Holley 4150., Best thing I ever did!
I love me a 4150. Thanks for watching. Plz subscribe
bummer to see Holley still lets customers test their products . I had nothing but issues with my sniper and had to ship it back once , I found defective regulators . bad o2 etc .. your experience mimics mine of 6 years ago .. so Holley is still not getting quality control
well thats unfortunate. but it is good to here i am not the only one. Thanks for watching, plz subscribe!
Thank you, I was thinking of converting my 69 c-10 to EFI. But I think now I’ll get a new carburetor . I have heard multiple bad things regarding Holley support. Funny thing regarding automotive parts people today. I ordered a new flywheel for my truck when I picked it up I knew something was wrong. The box was far too light upon opening the box I told the parts guy this is a flex plate not a flywheel! He said flex plate is the only flywheel they sells. I tried to explain to him the differences,he told me I should hire a professional, because I didn’t know what I was talking about. Then they tried to charge me a restocking fee. I lost my mind at the end no fees and no parts.
Wouldn't run a sniper unit if you gave it to me for free
Haha subscribe!
Sniper and FITech have a 20-30% failure rate. That’s even when installed correctly. They are assembled here but the electronics are made overseas.
I worked for a well known west coast speed shop that’s been around since 1985. He used to own one of the major exhaust companies too. We installed MSD Atomic, Edelbrock, Holley Dominator or Terminator and FAST Sportsman. No sniper, FITech or FAST EZ systems.
That came from our experience with trying to fix problems with these systems for a hundred customers or so. Sometimes it was installer errors that we fixed and they’d be okay. Bad wiring/routing or poor quality plug wires causing RFI issues. But more often than not it was a problem with the components.
O2s, screens, injectors(the flooding like you had is common) and ECUs all fail far more often than is okay. The hyperspark ignition system and sniper together was an issue on several customer cars. They would run fine for several test drives, then out of the blue start swinging lean-rich and rough idle. Then they would fail altogether with no spark and/or no ECU signal.
For myself it’ll be a carburetor or an OEM efi system. Not only do I have a street/strip car, I have a lowered truck and a 4x4 that I take out in the boonies. 100 or more miles from civilization is common. So you aren’t the only one who feels this way.
Hopefully the Sniper 2 is better.
Awesome good to here. Thanks fors sharing. Plz subscribe!
Carbs rule.
haha thanks for watching, plz subscribe!
I have a big block 500 in.³ Cadillac engine in a K5 blazer they tried to talk me into the sniper set up. I was hesitant and put a brand new Edelbrock on it. I agree 100% with your video. Thanks for the info I feel so much better not having listened to people that have put them on a big block Cadillac 8.2 L have a good holiday weekend.
Holley technical support is horrible! Their quality control is also lacking.
customer support could use some work lol. thanks for watching. subscribe!
Mine had a bad ECU out of the box, and it took month's before I got it back repaired. Its been in the box since, and I haven't used it.
I just went back to the carb, hei set up.
I support your decision lol. Thanks for watching
Subscribe plz!
When "DD Speed Shop" decided to put dual Snipers on his Nomad for power tour and had problems, customer service looked at his subscription numbers and answered his phone calls immediately and worked closely with him and quickly sent him a carb and everything he's need to install it quickly because he was releasing UA-cam videos daily about the whole fiasco..... It's obvious that somewhere during the process Holley became a sponsor..... Finnegan, Taylor Racing, KSR, etc. all have business relationships and get all of the customer service that regular schmucks like you and me are being deprived of, so they all LOVE these products and are paid to tell you so!...
This smuck definitely does not . Maybe some day lol. Thanks for watching . Subscribe so I can Maybe not be a smuck someday lol
So all the issues you encountered, I encountered. Clogged internal regulator with bits of aluminum, unplugged Injectors, ect. But I will say after I fixed all the issues it came with out of the box, I will never go back to carb. To all the folks out there who feel like they’re dodging a bullet by not going EFI, you’re missing out. No cold starts, better fuel use, timing tuning to places my Pontiac 455 should not be able to go, (low RPM high map all in timing), the reliability, the Customization with tuning software. The list goes on. But man, it hit me right in the chest when you said, “it’s a 1500$ product that I should have to clean down and double check injectors are plugged in ect”
I recently watched a youtuber go through the Sniper nightmare. DD speedshop built a ratty 55 Nomad for power tour, and reached out to Holley. I don't know if they paid retail or got it heavily discounted, really irrelevant. They went with w dual quad Sniper system on a small block. It was nightmare after nightmare and after redoing everything multiple times it all got yanked, a carb bolted on and made Power tour without a single problem...
Yeah I watched the same thing. That's a big channel
. Thanks for watching. Subscribe plz!
@@timelesssteelgarage subbed, and love the '64 Riv! My first car was a 65 Wildcat with the 401. Cheers!
@@Zero-Fox-Garage awesome thanks!
A few years ago I swapped a Sniper onto my car. ECU was dead. Luckily I bought it through Summit so, with their blessing, I just ordered another kit and swapped just the body into the brand new box and returned the whole new kit with the dead body. It has been working great for the past few years but in the back of my mind I’m always worried about it failing. Luckily I only play within 50 miles of home so if it does fail I’ll be right back to a carburetor.
That's a good recommendation. If I order a kit again I would probably order through summit for the same reasons. Thanks for checking out my channel . Subscribe plz!
Carb for me.
Thanks for watching, subscribe plz!
Great info, carb is working great on my BBF 460 Ranchero, no efi for me.
Haha keep it that way. Thanks for watching ! Subscribe plz
I replaced my factory EFI setup with a FAST EFI 2.0 because my friend installed one and it really cleaned up the engine bay by removing big bulky factory stuff, like the MAF and such. Nothing but problems! Got it working somewhat decent and then I had a big backfire when a dist rotor failed. Replaced the rotor but the car would not start. I had to pretty much replace all the sensors again to get it running. And now it does not want to run right. Part of the problem is that these are learning systems and they learn good setups, and bad setups, and once they are running good, you can't lock down a good tune, so the system just keeps learning and the tune goes all over the place. FAST support was ok, but they did not really know how to really deal with me, since I am running a Japanese set up. The install instructions mostly deal with installing the carb style throttle body, not Multi Port systems. And online support is virtually nil, just mostly griping. So, the factory stuff is going back on and FAST is going into a box! So, unless you are running a totally custom setup or a race car, keep the factory stuff, it works just fine!
It isn't only holley. I tried it with fitech. After having to be towed for the 3rd time because of the aftermarket efi I went back to carb.
I don't doubt it. I have always been suspect of bolt on tbi systems. Thanks for watching . Please subscribe!
Man , bro I’m far from calling myself a mechanic. But, I tinker around & got my first frame off 64 SS impala fully optioned, matching #’s car. Last I got left was the carburetor installation. So, glad I watched this . ( I’ve never done efi & was thing to do it. You just schooled me & now I can make an educated descision… thanks a million ! ( beautifull Rivi )
Bought my first in 2017. Being in europe, I’m used to be on my own. The install on a 73 351c Mustang went ok but not without tons of fab. Got since then issues but afterwards mainly not related to the unit itself. Like leaky headers causing the O2 sensor to go wild. The second unit, exact same as yours came in 2019 stripped from quality stuffs the first kit had and the unit wasn’t as nicely finished. Clearly Holley went greedy to try reduce costs and maximise gain. So sure, got issues, but 5 years later, car still start on 1/4 turn crank in middle of winter en runs like none of the carbs before were able to make it run.
I am sure if they sent me a unit that wasn't broke in the box I would have been able to tune it just fine. Thanks for watching. Plz subscribe!
Thank you for a fair honest review. I appreciate your explanation and honestly it’s pretty unbiased. For the weekend warriors it sounds like something to wait until more bugs are worked out.
Wish i would of saw this video early today. I just sent my my throttle body back today due to no spark issues. After being on the phone with tech support various times today they came to a conclusion that the ecu in the throttle body was toast. Cost me over 70.00 to ship back and to replace the ecu is 250.00+tax. And 4-6 weeks to get it back. Now im thinking i should just switch to carb instead! Great video.
Im having the same problem ecu, twice