It's a great day, no more POS Sniper!

[MikeB]

A friend of mine has been running an FiTech Go Street 600 EFI system only a pretty hot 383 for around 3 years now. We had some initial teething problems -- the one I remember was an inconsistent idle -- but the FiTech support guys always came through. Never had an outright failure though. What's really cool is the engine starts after cranking for only 1-2 seconds, and you can take off immediately even on very cold days.

 

[WHEELMAN]

Short story- Bought a Sniper, installed per instructions, ran for 150 miles and it quit. Sent back to Holley under warranty, got it back, hooked it up....same failure -"searching for ECU". Sent it back again. Repaired...was told it needed a firmware update. Got it back, verified it worked and immediatly sold it for half what I paid for it to a " Holley dealer" from the Holley Sniper forum on the Holley website.
I HIGHLY recommend anyone contemplating buying this POS to spend some time reading thru that forum and take note of the endless issues they are having. As people are saying, it's not if but when it's going to die. In retrospect, I can't help but wonder who thought mounting an ecu on top of an engine with the heat and vibration was a good idea? I had lost confidence in it from the start. Thank God it died in my driveway and not out in the desert 50 miles from nowhere with the wife and kid. Put the Edelbrock carb back on and she runs as good and I'm not scared to drive it again.

 

[WHEELMAN]

I do not know why any one would even.install a Holly on anything.they never run or work right.you spend your time wrenching.edlebrock.650 or a 600 electric choke and drive on.

 

[Matt69olds]

Nothing can beat the fine tuning ability of a Holley. The race carbs have screw in air bleeds, different style boosters, enough that you can really get lost changing things if you don’t know what your doing. The Edelbrock carbs are better and easier if you just want to bolt it on and go

 

[SquareRoot]

Adding electronics to the equation changes things. Your no longer comparing apples to apples. Holley has a history and reputation for carburetors; not so much for EFI in my opinion. Like I said originally, I bolted on an Edelbrock Pro-flo system 15 years ago and it ran perfect for 10 years until I retired it. I'm convinced that using OEM parts (like the Pro-flo) makes a difference in quality. They invest more time and money in research/development and reliabilty testing than any aftermarket company will ever be able to afford. Holley should recall these pieces of junk until they make a product that's worth what they are charging for it.

 

[Backfoot100]

Nothing can beat the fine tuning ability of a Holley. The race carbs have screw in air bleeds, different style boosters, enough that you can really get lost changing things if you don’t know what your doing. The Edelbrock carbs are better and easier if you just want to bolt it on and go

Agreed. Holleys are fantastic carbs.

Not sure if any of you have tried one yet but Quick Fuel carbs are basic Holley design with added standard goodies that make for an even better carb IMHO.
Billet throttle bodies and metering blocks/plates, external adjustable floats and vacuum secondaries, adjustable screw in air bleeds, etc. Good stuff and even a little cheaper than a new Holley.

 

[MikeB]

Nothing can beat the fine tuning ability of a Holley. The race carbs have screw in air bleeds, different style boosters, enough that you can really get lost changing things if you don’t know what your doing. The Edelbrock carbs are better and easier if you just want to bolt it on and go

I agree. I have rebuilt and tuned many Edelbrock carbs (the ones loosely based on the Carter AFB). Even bought and sold them on eBay for awhile. They are great for guys who don't want to mess with carbs beyond setting idle mixture and speed. However, even the most basic Holley carbs can be fined tuned for perfect transition from idle to moderate throttle to wide open throttle using various pump nozzles. pump cams, and power valves.

About new Edelbrock carbs working right out of the box: I've found they tend to stumble just a little right off idle, and can benefit from more initial spark advance. Also, every last one of them that I've worked with has had heat soak (hot start) problems, which I think is caused by 10% ethanol fuel boiling out of the float bowls. The float bowls essential sit right on the hot intake manifold, unlike Holley float bowls which are surrounded by air. Back in the heyday of the AFB, and even when Edelbrock started making the carbs (in the 80s?), there was no ethanol in gasoline, so I doubt there was a heat soak problem. By the way, a phenolic or wood spacer will help the problem a little, but not solve it 100%.

Just found this article about Edelbrock heat soak. Some good ways to at least partially cure the problem.
http://www.edelblog.com/tech-tips/resolving-heat-soak

Finally, kudos to Edelbrock for having a very nice owners manual. I have used their calibration charts with great success when living at altitudes from 600 ft to 9000 ft.
https://www.edelbrock.com/pub/media/wysiwyg/documents/carb-owners-manual.pdf

 

[MikeB]

Holley has a history and reputation for carburetors; not so much for EFI in my opinion.

I'm not sure if they include any electronics, but Holley has been supplying EFI throttle bodies to NASCAR since 2012.

I wonder if the OP's problems could be due to grounding? I have learned that for trunk mounted batteries, you still need to run the battery negative terminal to the engine block. I have seen this reduce voltage drop to ignition, lights, etc. by more than 1 volt. Also, it's common to have resistance between frame, block, and body grounds. I go overboard with ground straps, and like to use washers like this to cut into the metal.

You must be registered for see images attach

 

[4WDKC]

I have a holley commander 950 efi system that is from the late 90s on my vette since 2012, it doesnt have any issues and have not had to replace any parts. Its not as fancy as the newer stuff with auto tuning but it works and will go on my truck when I upgrade the vette to the HP system for the bigger TBI .

 

[Sublime]

ya, electronics - NO thanks, just call me analog man!

 

[bucket]

I'm not sure if they include any electronics, but Holley has been supplying EFI throttle bodies to NASCAR since 2012.

I'm wonder if the OP's problems could be due to grounding? I have learned that for trunk mounted batteries, you still need to run the battery negative terminal to the engine block. I have seen this reduce voltage drop to ignition, lights, etc. by more than 1 volt. Also, it's common to have resistance between frame, block, and body grounds. I go overboard with ground straps, and like to use washers like this to cut into the metal.

You must be registered for see images attach

Besides supplying the Nascar teams now, Holley supplied throttle bodies as OE for some vehicles back in the 80's too.

 

[Paladin]

Nothing can beat the fine tuning ability of a Holley

Amen! I'll drink to that!

 

[77 K20]

Adding electronics to the equation changes things. Your no longer comparing apples to apples. Holley has a history and reputation for carburetors; not so much for EFI in my opinion. Like I said originally, I bolted on an Edelbrock Pro-flo system 15 years ago and it ran perfect for 10 years until I retired it. I'm convinced that using OEM parts (like the Pro-flo) makes a difference in quality. They invest more time and money in research/development and reliabilty testing than any aftermarket company will ever be able to afford. Holley should recall these pieces of junk until they make a product that's worth what they are charging for it.

Although Edelbrock really screwed up on their E-street throttle body EFI setup. They are not as tunable as they would want you to believe. Their first try wasn't that good, then they came out with a second revision. Then they cancelled it.

I'm running the first version and have had issues with it. And their support has sucked.

Heat soak, hunting for idle, a failed O2 sensor, and the inability to idle at 650 RPM are just some of the issues.

There are things I like about it too though. And I'm probably going to be dumb enough to convert to their pro flo system in a year or two. It will solve my cold weather issues (being a dry manifold instead of a wet manifold)

 

[MikeB]

I have a holley commander 950 efi system that is from the late 90s on my vette since 2012, it doesnt have any issues and have not had to replace any parts.

I forgot about those early systems. There's a been an EFI section for 15+ years on one of forums I belong to. And the Admin is (or was) a Holley Engineer.

 

[4WDKC]

I forgot about those early systems. There's a been an EFI section for 15+ years on one of forums I belong to. And the Admin is (or was) a Holley Engineer.

Chevytalk.org? its been really slow on that forum for awhile, Danny or Doug was on there and another guy wrote auto tuning software for that system and was selling it for like $15. There is a Facebook group for Holley EFI now, I assume thats where they all hang out now.