I race a mild bracket car on pump gas...runs 6.50's in the cool weather and 6.60's in the heat...some folks say fuel injection would make my car more consistent on pump gas and it is programable to some extent...

I am looking at the Holley system and wondered how y'all felt about this deal, yea or neah?...my motor is a 496 making around 500 RWHP...

I would consider jumping to methanol rather than switch to EFI. I have seen motors very similar to yours really respond well to alcohol, et wise and consistency.

I hear ya but due to physical issues I cannot switch over to methanol or E-85...sigh...

Looks like a very good system. Been considering one myself, not because I think it’d be better than a carb but the added logging capabilities would be nice.

Fuzzy, Bob Rhinehart at Madcap Racing Engines has started selling this system and using it on many engines they sell to customers and his personal engine based on what he has said on Yellowbullet. You might get in tough with him about it. He has had nothing but good things to say.

I have a friend building a Procharged engine for another person and this system was suggested for them to us by Steve Morris over the Dominator or Terminator for the ease of use.

Curtis

Well, for sure like was said above, a real benefit of course is the data logging capability.
My personal opinion, is that depending on how deep you go into engine control, it can take anywhere from a month, to half a season to put the car back into being competitive again. It also depends on your software understanding abilities. The curve is much steeper for some of us.
That said, those systems are pretty straight forward, and well thought out. The install is fairly straight forward, and I think they are a great way to get some control without making the vehicle overly complicated.
Consistancy? Yes I agree alky would be better, but not in the cards this time. I think and have found some consistency. I think a bracket racer needs to be very thoughtful about closed loop vs open loop. Closed loop I find helpful for tuning. But I am particularly distrustful of o2 sensors and minor adjustments to the tune on the fly during a run and the impact that can have.

I spent a lot of time looking into this last year. I wanted to switch to become more consistent also. After talking to lots of people, ones that are supposed experts, and ones that are running the set up now I decided it was a big investment for not a lot of improvement if any. Most everyone will tell you it isn’t more consistent than a good carb turned correctly. If I was building a new car, I would use a Sniper, or perhaps port injection. But it does add another level of complexity. I am not convinced that for the average bracket racer it is worth the investment in time and money vs. what you gain.

I think it is important to understand EFI isn't for everyone. And one should do some amount of gut check before venturing into it. If you have little understanding of various types of sensors, and wiring, and software, then EFI will have the potential to be miserable. If you are a bit techy, and embrace electronics, and don't mind investing some time into learning something new and the time it takes to get it running right, then EFI can be a pretty good choice. Depending on the system, there are no bounds to how much the tune can be refined and optimized. There is no doubt that there is potential for consistency to be found. But if downloading data and analyzing between runs and for the days after a race isn't your thing, then take that into consideration. I will say that the Holley systems are as close to plug and play as you are going to find though.

Thanks for all the replies folks...I am not particularly techy so I need to do some hard thinking on this deal...I can afford the two grand or so but hesitate if there would not be sufficient return on investment...a lot of food for thought...

I'm about as non electronic tech as you can get. But even I installed one on my 383 SBC 71 GMC Pickup. Very straight forward installation on the Holley Sniper. They've done their home work. It's self tuning. The initial start up you plug in the data it requests about your engine. Then you fire it up and it does the rest. If your adventuresome you can do additional tuning. But I have not touched mine since I first started the engine. In fact, I have bought another to go on a street project I'm building which is turbocharged and a blow thru deal. I am impressed with it.

Good to hear, Ron...more than anything else, I am looking to make pump gas more consistent...

Great thread. I have been thinking about putting one on my 69 panel truck with 454. HAve some new stuff to bolt on and sounds like this would be ticket for getting rid of that carb thing. My doctor said I need to cut all carbs with diabetes.

quote:

Originally posted by fuzzy dice:
Good to hear, Ron...more than anything else, I am looking to make pump gas more consistent...

Can you describe where or what conditions make your car inconsistent?

EFI or TBI can meter the same amount of fuel for each throttle position and rpm and load every time but they don't compensate for track conditions and weather. The Sniper can be run open loop so that's a non-issue, even though closed loop would keep the engine its happiest during changing weather.

Maybe, a professionally built new carb would keep you in your comfort zone and gain the consistency you are looking for.

Lastly, you can also buy a tuner for one full day of T and T and save weeks of struggling with a new (to you) technology. The guy I hired was $200/day and was money well spent, in my opinion.

One of the benefits that come with the Holley Sniper is all the real time engine data. The view screen reflects in real time things like Intake Air Temp, AFR, Fuel Consumption in LBS @ HR, Throttle position, 2 bar MAP.......and a bunch of other info.....all in real time. Couple all the engine data with a weather station should be beneficial.

I have run pump gas for many years...compared to race gas, E85 and methanol, pump gas is by far the most inconsistent, I am told...for other reasons I cannot switch fuels...I have a pretty darn good tuner but he can only do so much...

I am just trying to check all the boxes I can to make the car as good as possible on pump gas...another reason is I plan to run top next year and will most likely be the slowest car in the field every race...I feel I will have to dial fairly hard with them coming at me so fast...seems to me consistency will really help in this scenario...