New Sniper Install Issues

[HOTRODHARLEY66]

Thanks for all the replies. I appreciate it. I was ready for a stick of dynamite, but I pulled out the tin foil. Slapped a piece on the front of the throttle body where the ECU is located and started the car. It started, idled and when opening the throttle it behaved normally. I pulled the foil off, opened the throttle some and it instantly went haywire. Foil on, runs normal. Foil off, runs like crap. On off, on off. Run crap, run crap. See the trend? Ha ha. Being a small block Ford with that distributor right out front clearly is an issue. It's the MSD wires. I've never dealt with a situation where it's this sensitive. I've had great luck on other EFI builds with Taylor Spiro Pro 8mm wires. I have read great things about the FireCore50 wires, but I don't have time to wait for a set. I will be swapping on a fresh set of the Taylors in the morning. I literally went through everything, but the plug wires & coil as the wires are brand new. What a bitch the last few days have been.

[bingo2]

One thing you might check, if you haven't already done so, is the contact between the rotor tang and the distributor cap button. If there's the slightest gap, it will cause all sorts of issues and leave you scratching your head looking for a solution. I too have a SBF with a MSD small cap distributor, Pertronix coil (had two MSD Blasters fail in 18 months) with Ford Racing 9mm spark plug wires. No issues with RFI.

[Danny Cabral]

I have read great things about the FireCore50 wires, but I don't have time to wait for a set.

FireCore50 does sell SBF spark plug wire sets (LINK). Also, FireCore50 spark plug wire sets are known to transmit far less electrical interference than others (low resistance and impregnated with ferrite molecular compound used to absorb RFI/EMI).

[HOTRODHARLEY66]

New Taylor Spiro Pro 8mm wires are on. Everything is buttoned up, and low & behold, it's still doing it!!! I seriously can't believe this thing is that sensitive. I have designed a shield in my head that Holley needs to come out with. It uses the ECU cover bolts, spacers and another ECU cover just like the one on the Sniper body, but slightly larger. Position it so there's a 1/2" air gap and it won't look out of place. For now I'm just going to have to build a shield that mounts to the air cleaner, even though it's going to look stupid. Uuggghhhhh!

[Danny Cabral]

Being a small block Ford with that distributor right out front, clearly is an issue. I've never dealt with a situation where it's this sensitive.

Ensure the ignition timing is properly synchronized and the Ignition Parameters are correctly programmed (Ignition Reference Angle & Inductive Delay). I once helped a person who had one or both of these issues wrong, and the resulting improper rotor-phasing caused an excessive amount of EMI/RFI interference (huge sparks jumping too far to cap terminals).

The Custom Ignition Parameters (in System Parameters) for the Holley EFI Dual Sync Distributor: Ignition Type ............. ― "Custom" Crank Sensor Type ..... ― "1 Pulse/Fire" Sensor Type .............. ― "Digital Falling" Inductive Delay .......... ― "100.0 usec" (← Synchronization info, adjusted per application.) Ignition Reference Angle ― "50°" (← Inherent rotor-phasing of this unit.) Cam Sensor Type ........ ― "Single Pulse" (← "Not Used" for TBI, unless CNP ignition.) Sensor Type .............. ― "Digital Falling" Output Setup Type ..... ― "Points Output" (← CDI box ground trigger.) Dwell Time ................. ― "2.0 msec" (← Do not set this to 1.5 msec!)

I seriously can't believe this thing is that sensitive. I have designed a shield in my head that Holley needs to come out with. It uses the ECU cover bolts, spacers and another ECU cover just like the one on the Sniper body, but slightly larger.

https://www.redline-motorsports.com/products/rf-shield (Redline Motorsports RFI Shield - Sniper EFI)

[Dr_Grip]

I have a SBF with a large cap HEI; the coil thus sitting bang in front of the Sniper EFI. No problems at all. Runs smoothly, fuel consumption is way down in normal driving, and when I punch it, I can take her up to 120 MPH. What we're looking at here is an install/setup error (my money's on phasing), not a systemic fault of the Sniper EFI.

[HOTRODHARLEY66]

Ensure the ignition timing is properly synchronized and the Ignition Parameters are correctly programmed (Ignition Reference Angle & Inductive Delay). I once helped a person who had one or both of these issues wrong, and the resulting improper rotor-phasing caused an excessive amount of EMI/RFI interference (huge sparks jumping too far to cap terminals).

The Custom Ignition Parameters (in System Parameters) for the Holley EFI Dual Sync Distributor: Ignition Type ............. ― "Custom" Crank Sensor Type ..... ― "1 Pulse/Fire" Sensor Type .............. ― "Digital Falling" Inductive Delay .......... ― "100.0 usec" (← Synchronization info, adjusted per application.) Ignition Reference Angle ― "50°" (← Inherent rotor-phasing of this unit.) Cam Sensor Type ........ ― "Single Pulse" (← "Not Used" for TBI, unless CNP ignition.) Sensor Type .............. ― "Digital Falling" Output Setup Type ..... ― "Points Output" (← CDI box ground trigger.) Dwell Time ................. ― "2.0 msec" (← Do not set this to 1.5 msec!)

Thanks for this info. Not sure if it makes a difference, but I'm using the Holley Coil Driver now and removed the ignition box.

I've gone through the timing procedure, but will do it again.
-Set engine at 50° BTDC.
-Position distributor & rotor and LED on off procedure.
-Set static timing to 15° Crank engine and verify 15° with timing light and adjust as needed.
-Clear static timing and start engine.

Can you confirm the next few steps after this? I've read conflicting things on what's next and want to make sure I have it right. Thanks again, Danny.

[Dr_Grip]

Check the phasing:
-Mark the position of the #1 plug terminal and the one before it (depending on turning direction of your distributor) on the distributor base.
-Turn engine to #1 TDC.
-Distributor finger should be about 1/4 and 1/3 before the #1 terminal between the marks on the distributor base.

EDIT: Some Background. Phasing aims to have the distributor finger exactly below the spark terminal at peak torque, which in most cases equals peak advance, so 30° to 35°ish, depending on engine & heads.

As 2° crank equal 1° distributor (distributor spins half as fast as crank), this means you want to have the finger "phased" by 15° to 17° degree. With 45° between terminals, that's exactly 1/3 of the distance between the cylinders. So the method above is far from being accurate, but it should give you an indication whether you are in the right ballpark.

[Danny Cabral]

There's some good Holley/Sniper distributor installation videos here:
https://forums.holley.com/showthread...2178#post92178 (4th & 5th from the bottom of the list.)

The Holley Dual Sync Distributor's "rotor phasing" is correct:
http://documents.msdperformance.com/8644_tb.pdf (MSD Rotor Phasing Document)
MSD has a good video on why it's important:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aWMlNwGW0tM (MSD Tech - Rotor Phasing Video)

[HOTRODHARLEY66]

So I played with the timing setup. Checking with a timing light showed 34° timing when revved up, and the system would mess up. That came from the "Ignition Timing At Cruise". I changed "Ignition Timing At Cruise" to 15° to match everything else. I bring up the RPM and everything works perfect, but timing would go to 11°. So I adjusted the "Inductive Delay" from 100 usec to 281.6 usec and it is at 15° now. Is this how it should be all setup in my pictures? How does the timing advance then if I have it set to 15°?

EDIT: Everything works perfect at these settings. It's clear the 34° cruise timing cause serious arcing & RFI interference, because the rotor moves so much.

[Danny Cabral]

EDIT: Everything works perfect at these settings. It's clear the 34° cruise timing cause serious arcing & RFI interference, because the rotor moves so much.

You'd need a spare distributor cap (LINK) with a big hole at #1 terminal to check rotor-phasing, but I wonder if changing the Ignition Reference Angle to 60° would help alleviate this. Because the engine needs more than 15° timing advance at cruise.

[HOTRODHARLEY66]

Would I just change the setting in the handheld to 60°? Or do I have to set the engine on #1 at 60° and the handheld to 60°? Is it possible the balancer and timing tab are not set to true TDC?

[Danny Cabral]

Would I just change the setting in the handheld to 60°?

Yes, and resynchronize the idle timing.

The timing fluctuation at idle is normal, that's the Idle Spark control varying the ignition timing to stabilize/control the idle RPM.
It can be temporarily disabled (in the Idle ICF) when checking or synchronizing the idle timing, using the 3.5" LCD touchscreen unit.

Is it possible the balancer and timing tab are not set to true TDC?

You tell me.