JohnL71RS’s Project restart…..

6 minute(s) of a 140 minute read

Well quick catch-up. I got the car on the road. Went to some car shows and won some awards. I always had issues with the carb. Always flooding out. I rebuilt it, and 4 others. Changed floats, needle and seat, etc. car got better but would still drip off boasters after it was turned off. It left me stranded a few times as well. Started hearing a noise no one could figure out. So I dropped the pan and I had a rod bearing parts in the pan. So that was last March. Pulled the motor and I had a spun bearing, bent rod and messed up piston. So I ordered and entire rotating assembly. Since it was the same price, I upped to a stroker kit. I also had the motor punched out 30. So it is a 489 now. It would take 3 1/2 months for my balanced rotating assembly to arrive. During that time I decided to pull the valves and port the heads. I did a great job but hit a couple of seats. I brought to machine shop and we decided to just put in all new valves and bring up my stock cast 049 heads to 1.72 and 2.19 stainless valves. He also had to deck the heads. They were a little off. He also had to deck the block. Between both, it was cut down over .30. I had a friend who needed a carb core so I traded him the old 850 for a new solid roller cam, springs, retainers and locks. The cam also didn't look good either, so that is why I changed it. This cam is larger as well. I had a solid flat tappet 290/560 lift. This cam is a solid roller with 260/680 lift. It should be alot healthier. I also bought a Holley Sniper EFI.

Now to today. I put the motor in last week and I am finishing up with the bolt on parts. We are rewiring the efi today. Should hear it start this week. Unfortunately, I will not make Cruising the Coast down here. I will probably go without the car this weekend.

12-17-2021

I've been having issues with the Wasted Spark ignition working with the Holley Sniper. i did put in a distributor and coil and it fired up and i ran it off and on for over an hour. I put back in the other ignition and still fighting to get it fired up. I tried multiple suggestions from the AutosportLabs community with no luck. Hopefully get this thing to work.

3-17-2022

I have been fighting the Holley EFI Sniper for months. I couldn't seem to get my Megajolt wasted spark ignition system to work with the sniper. The rpm signal just wouldn't work. Tried many different routes, even some that worked for others, with no luck. So I just put in my old Accel Dist and a new MSD coil. Starts up great. But now it won't run correctly on the road. Local tuner said it was the ECU was bad. Called up Holley, sent conf and data logs. Their response is vaccum leak, low fuel pressure or down an injector. All gaskets are new and tight. I will put teflon tape on my oil evac line going to the flame arrestor. Fuel pressure is at 60 lbs in park and drive. All injectors are pulsing fuel while its running. I can rev it to 4 or 5000 in park. But driving it the air/fuel just pegs out and it dies. I got stranded on the highway in front of my neighborhood. I will check some things this weekend and start a new thread on Holley's forum. If anyone has any suggestions, I would appreciate it. I am new to EFI and most of my friends don't know it either. It is not just put on and let it learn. False narrative.

3-21-2022

The AFR is pegging out. I have the IAC between 6-10%. No timing is involved. I have a fuel pressure gauge under the hood, 60 lbs at idle and in gear. I have the electric pump that came with the sniper kit. it is out of the tank. I have a stock tank with a sump I put in the back. All #8 line, except the two small connections to the pump and a #6 return line. Automatic Trans, but I mostly shift it manually. I checked for vacuum leaks and found none. I did have my oil evac line going into the header and the O2 sensor was downstream about 12". I have since disconnected that and plugged off the nipple in the header. I did merge my fuel/AFT table with another BBC config file. Tried it yesterday and it was better. It died once, then started up and went better. I left it in second gear and was able to get on it. It would still stumble over 3000 rpm. I started a log and check my config file once i got home and the learn table was all 0's. It was in a learn mode. This stuff is frustrating. I can't even get out the neighborhood.

3-31-2022

I ended up paying a tuner online. I have my new config file and going to try and start it up tonight. I have to do multiple data logs of him and he will adjust settings in between each set. Thanks for checking out my progress.

4-5-2022

All my issues seem to be RFI/EMI interference. Working on getting rid of it. One issue, i didn't put alternator back together real tight. Brought to shop and they got it straight. Didn't even charge me. Putting Ferrite clamps on many grounds and wrapping Holley harness wires with RFI tape. Then putting back the poly mesh after. If Holley knows their product has issues with RFI, why don't they shield the damn wire harness. Conclusion: to buy all the ignition parts that go with the Sniper.

4-12-2022

Tuner says that i have too much RFI. I put Ferrite clamps on most of grounds. Wrapped all the sensor wires with RFI tape. Wrapped the magnetic pickup with RFI tape. Tried to start and backfiring. I think i got the RFI tape too close to the rotor. I will have to cut some off the pickup and try again.

5-9-2022

I got the RFI stuff figured out. But it was still dying after 3000rpm on acceleration. Tuner says that I have fuel issue. Either the pump or bad injectors. After research I found that Holley put the wrong pump in my kit. Called Holley and they sent the pump and AN fittings to me. Put it in and I can finally get out the neighborhood. Generated the data logs that the tuner requested and put some miles on the rebuilt motor. Finally moving forward. Next is to get the Megajolt/EDIS ignition system to work.