To Sniper or not to Sniper...?

[Steeveedee]

Cliff doesn't personally rebuild carbs anymore, I understand that he is retired. I bought a kit from him many years ago and it worked fine. It's up for rebuild again, and that's the way I'd go. The only real adjustments a carb needs is from winter to summer and back. My take is that vehicles sitting long enough for the fuel to evaporate out of the float bowl have problems. I know mine does. But if I start it even every other day, all I have to do is pump the pedal once and turn the key until it starts, and that may be as short as turn and release. As usual, one's mileage may vary.

FWIW, given the number of miles I drive my truck per year (~1000), I don't think that I'd ever recover the installation cost, even if I provided the labor for free.

[pjmoreland]

As others have already said, the main benefit of the Sniper I installed on my truck has been easy starting all year. Probably not worth the expense and effort just for that. Here a few other built-in Sniper features I like:

1) Idle RPM stays steady when the A/C kicks on

2) A/C shuts off at WOT

3) Temperature based dual electric fan control

4) Optional ignition timing control

The Sniper 2 offers optional electronic automatic transmission control.

[dmjlambert]

Originally Posted by pjmoreland

...
4) Optional ignition timing control

How does the ignition timing control work? Does it require a special distributor with electronic gizmos in it, or does it control the timing by varying vacuum going to the can on the distributor? Some sort of knock sensor required?

[pjmoreland]

Originally Posted by dmjlambert

How does the ignition timing control work? Does it require a special distributor with electronic gizmos in it, or does it control the timing by varying vacuum going to the can on the distributor? Some sort of knock sensor required?

Holley sells a distributor called the Hyperspark that is designed to work with the Sniper. It is actually a very simple distributor with no vacuum advance or mechanical advance. It just has a sensor that detects the orientation of the rotor and sends its readings to the Sniper. The Sniper adjusts the timing as it sees fit by controlling the angle at which a spark pulse is sent through the ignition system. The rotor/cap can conduct spark pulses within a fairly wide angle range (the rotor doesn't have to be perfectly aligned with the cap contacts). There is no knock sensor.

[MikeB]

Originally Posted by jocko

Kootenay, you sound undecided in your first post (EFI vs carb). If it's just the frustration of tuning the carb, have you considered replacing your carb for a professionally rebuilt q-jet? Or perhaps sending yours out for a rebuild?

Well said. Q-jets might just be the best carbs ever.

[1970cstblazer]

Originally Posted by MikeB

Well said. Q-jets might just be the best carbs ever.

Definitely best overall street carb. For super high performance race applications, the Holley Dominator ranks highly.

Every single vintage hobby vehicle I own has a Q-Jet, and all perform well no matter the weather. You have to be good with setting them up, as well as timing and other adjustments to get great results.

[Burnsy01]

Originally Posted by pjmoreland

Holley sells a distributor called the Hyperspark that is designed to work with the Sniper. It is actually a very simple distributor with no vacuum advance or mechanical advance. It just has a sensor that detects the orientation of the rotor and sends its readings to the Sniper. The Sniper adjusts the timing as it sees fit by controlling the angle at which a spark pulse is sent through the ignition system. The rotor/cap can conduct spark pulses within a fairly wide angle range (the rotor doesn't have to be perfectly aligned with the cap contacts). There is no knock sensor.

Also adding that if you have a MSD distributor you can convert it over fairly easy

[Rust_never_sleeps]

Failed to mention in my previous post that swapping a 'lectric choke onto a q-jet can simplify things, particularly since you mention cold start problems

[suburban99]

With the price of fuel up here at $1.60+ liter some sort of fuel injection makes sense. My '72 went from 13mpg to 19mpg when I LS swapped it. I thought about the sniper before I took the plunge. I saved the 350/350 in case I ever sell it. (unlikely)..