Anybody here running a Holley Sniper EFI?

[Dleslie212]

Looking for thoughts and experiences with the Sniper EFI system. I’m thinking of picking one up as my next upgrade for my 350/700R4 combo.

[geezer#99]

Have you seen this thread

http://67-72chevytrucks.com/vboard/s...ghlight=sniper

[donw1986]

Im running the MSD atomic, since my trucks an 86 ad i live in commiefornia,i love it it runs great way better than yhe carb that was on there and its smog legal here

[Nick_R_23]

Stay away from it, it’s a junk system. Had nothing but problems with mine, Holley strung me along waiting for backordered replacement parts, then refused any help once it was out of warranty and still didn’t function correctly. It was such garbage that I ended up selling the entire vehicle and moved on to something else.

[Dleslie212]

Originally Posted by Nick_R_23

Stay away from it, it’s a junk system. Had nothing but problems with mine, Holley strung me along waiting for backordered replacement parts, then refused any help once it was out of warranty and still didn’t function correctly. It was such garbage that I ended up selling the entire vehicle and moved on to something else.

I’m actually reading about quite a few unhappy people.

Did a little research on the MSD system that DonW1986 mentioned... so far I’m liking what I’m seeing.

DonW1986, did you install that yourself?

[Loco83]

Originally Posted by donw1986

Im running the MSD atomic, since my trucks an 86 ad i live in commiefornia,i love it it runs great way better than yhe carb that was on there and its smog legal here

I'm interested in the Atomic for my 83, how did you get around all the computer wiring and vacuum lines to make this work and pass smog?

[sweetk30]

yep guess i dont need to post a link to my thread since someone else did already .

i got hit so hard i had my own bumper stickers made up for the sniper to show how much i hate it .

over a year now on my edelbrock pro flo - 4 unit and its been SUPER

reading and watching the edelbrock forum there has been a decent # of people jumping ship and coming over all with the same bad story's from holley .

[SKR]

I have one and it works fine for me. The only complaint I'd have is that if you're looking for technical support on their forum, the guy that runs the place is completely useless and will talk to you like you're stupid.

Having said all that, if I was going to do it again I wouldn't go with a Sniper. If you ever want to run a transmission like a 4L60 or 80, you need to engineer a solution for the TPS. Holley's stance is that if you want to run one of those transmissions you shouldn't have bought a Sniper. I'd also rather have multiport injection than a throttle body.

But it does what it's supposed to do in my case.

[Dleslie212]

Originally Posted by SKR

I have one and it works fine for me. The only complaint I'd have is that if you're looking for technical support on their forum, the guy that runs the place is completely useless and will talk to you like you're stupid.

Having said all that, if I was going to do it again I wouldn't go with a Sniper. If you ever want to run a transmission like a 4L60 or 80, you need to engineer a solution for the TPS. Holley's stance is that if you want to run one of those transmissions you shouldn't have bought a Sniper. I'd also rather have multiport injection than a throttle body.

But it does what it's supposed to do in my case.

Needs to be engineered as far as something for a TV cable? I don’t know much about transmissions. Is that something I’d have to worry about on a 700R4?

[Rickysnickers]

Originally Posted by Loco83

I'm interested in the Atomic for my 83, how did you get around all the computer wiring and vacuum lines to make this work and pass smog?

Click on the "Emisions" tab. It states what it's legal for. https://www.holley.com/products/fuel...tbi/parts/2900

[SKR]

Originally Posted by Dleslie212

Needs to be engineered as far as something for a TV cable? I don’t know ,UCB about transmissions. Is that something I’d have to worry about on a 700R4?

For the last couple years I've been debating with myself about swapping my TH350 out for a 4L80. It needs a separate TPS for the transmission controller to work. Holley doesn't have and won't make a solution for that. Their only answer is "you should have bought a Terminator".

I don't know if you'd face the same problem with a 700R4. I've never looked into it before.

[Nick_R_23]

They do make a 700r4 linkage part for the Sniper, but you run into an issue that the Sniper does not use conventional Holley throttle linkage, it uses proprietary Demon carb linkage.

[SCOTI]

Just my take.... I think ANY aftermarket EFI set-up that has the ECU epoxied in the unit & sits on top of a hot motor is only going to be trouble(FiTech/Sniper).

MSD's might be slightly different but I've had enough of their coils & ign boxes fail over the last few years that I wouldn't consider them either.

I have been looking into either Edelbrock ProFlo-4 or the higher end Holley stuff that has the ECU mounted separate of the throttle body. The more tuning support available (for the user or a pro-source), the better off you are because the 'self learning' is definitely a sales pitch from most of the things I've read.

#yourresultsmayvary

[SSSilverado]

I got Edelbrock E Street V2 back in 2017, they're discontinued now, but I like mine, and I hear good things about the Pro Flo 4, it's a more efficient EFI. I'm diehard GM and Edelbrock. I like my ECU is away from engine on fender, plus I like using my tablet wireless for tuning. I had to hook up my 700R4 TV cable, but Edelbrock made an adapter, but I had to fit it, nothin's easy.

[SSSilverado]

ECU on fender, had to make a bracket. It was a lot of extra work, but runs good, starts right up, I still need to do some tuning. I'm almost done with my 4 year long rebuild. Had this truck for 25 yrs, it's a sentimental effort. Every step was a SoB.
Update: The Edelbrock stuff was fine, no problems really, it's the rest of the truck was the pain.

[SunSoaked]

Originally Posted by Dleslie212

Looking for thoughts and experiences with the Sniper EFI system. I’m thinking of picking one up as my next upgrade for my 350/700R4 combo.

Sniper is not an upgrade. It's a migraine! Nothing but problems. Biggest mistake I've ever made. On the other hand, my Pro-flo 4 is one of the best upgrades I've ever made. Just speaking from experience.

[mrtoni]

It’s amazing the pro/cons reviews on the sniper. I’m doing one soon so I’ll chime in. My main concern is implementing on a non running engine whether I have to buy a carb to get it running before efi
Posted via Mobile Device

[Nick_R_23]

You’d be better off buying a carb and just sticking with that!

[liftlawssuck]

I have had the opportunity to reinstall about 4 of them now. Yes reinstall after the owners couldn't get them to run good. All of them had the same in common. All were GM cars running HEI ignition. The 1st was the learning curve for me. Many talks with Holley and figured it out.

The first I found was the wiring on all the installs were horrible at best. Anything with an ECM needs to be the best wiring you can do. Clean dedicated power and grounds.

The 2nd was EMI being induced into the ECM in the throttle body. I stuck some tin foil between the HEI and throttle body and all problems went away. So I took all the wiring off again and wrapped them with shielding.

You can't have exhaust leaks either as it will throw the O2 sensor off.

After all this the test drive went great with fine tuning the whole time. All the cars run great with no issues in the 4 years or so they've been on.

If you put these on a motor with distributor in the front the EMI isn't an issue. Or at least as much an issue.

Are they the best? No I don't think so. Do they work? Yes and they wake the motor up like never before. Do they have problems? No question of that. They have problems but Holley has always been great to work with. Would I put one on anything I have? No I wouldn't. I can't see spending the money myself. I'd rather do an LS swap if I wanted fuel injection.

Hope this helps!!

[Nick_R_23]

I ran into EMI issues with mine, however it was with an MSD distributor. The stock HEI eliminates that, but gave up timing control. An additional $500 for the special Holley distributor PLUS an adapter to go between the same brand products was extremely frustrating. You would think that mounting an ECU in the center of all the ignition, electronics, and fueling on the engine would be enough to justify shielding the ECU. Holley will blow smoke up your ass and tell you all day long that it’s shielded, but it definitely isn’t.

[SunSoaked]

Depends. You running a roller cam? If yes, you can fire it up on Sniper. If no, you can still do it just a little more tricky hoping you can get the idle set quickly and you pick the right map to keep the a/f ratios in the safe zone until it can learn.

If you've already taken the plunge, I wouldn't stress over the initial fire up at this point.

[liftlawssuck]

Originally Posted by Nick_R_23

I ran into EMI issues with mine, however it was with an MSD distributor. The stock HEI eliminates that, but gave up timing control. An additional $500 for the special Holley distributor PLUS an adapter to go between the same brand products was extremely frustrating. You would think that mounting an ECU in the center of all the ignition, electronics, and fueling on the engine would be enough to justify shielding the ECU. Holley will blow smoke up your ass and tell you all day long that it’s shielded, but it definitely isn’t.

2 of the ones I worked on had Holley distributors the other 2 had stock HEI type. Both had EMI issues. I agree that they should never have let this thing leave Holley without shielding from the factory. I had great luck with Holley over the years. Most guys I talked with mentioned EMI right off the bat.