Car Craft – November 2019

➔HANDS ON

T

he early days of aftermarket EFI

systems promised much, and

while they were mostly capable

of delivering, they were not exactly

simple to tune. If you were wanting to

run a twin-turbo, nitrous-injected big-

block into the four-figure zone, they

were practically a necessity, but for the

average resto or mild build, the bene-

fits might not have been worth the

effort. It was just easier to run a carb.

They are predictable and safe and not

hard to set up correctly.

It is true that it’s not that tough to

get the correct vintage carb to work on

classic muscle, but if you want to

optimize it, that will require some dyno

time. That was the initial plan for the

restoration of this ’68 Olds 4-4-2; run

the correct QuadraJet and let Muscle

Car Restorations (MCR) use its

Mustang dyno to dial it in for best

driveability and power. MCR did exactly

that and managed to pull 304 lb-ft of

torque and 230 hp (at the rear wheels)

out of it.

Somewhere along the way, though,

the car’s owner decided that a Holley

Sniper EFI system might be a better

way to go. This provided a great oppor-

tunity to do a head-to-head compari-

son between the stock Q-Jet and the

Sniper on an otherwise-stock-spec

4-4-2 Olds 455. Of course max power

will be compared, but like with the

Q-Jet, MCR will also be able to test

overall driveability, even if that’s more

of a subjective “how does it feel” sort

of thing.

Perhaps the more important test is

the install, setup, and tuning. What’s

involved in installing it and, once in

place, what does it take to get it

tuned? Installation couldn’t really be

any simpler. Yes, a new fuel tank with

an in-tank fuel pump is the best way to

go, but an inline pump from Holley can

be used. A return fuel line will be

necessary and an oxygen sensor will

need to be fitted. Wiring is just two

leads to the battery and ground, one to

the coil, and one to a new temp sensor.

There is a long lead included to bring

power to the fuel pump, but that’s

pretty much it.

As far as tuning, there really wasn’t

any—not by a human, anyway. Initial

startup was no more difficult than with

the carb. We gave the pump a moment

to get fuel to the throttle body, and it

popped right off and quickly settled

into a normal idle. After warm-up, the

throttle-plate screw needed to be

tweaked slightly to get the IAC motor

within range, but after that, it was

ready to go cruising on the Mustang

dyno.

There is actually a lot of control

within the Sniper programming, such

as accelerator enrichment, cold-start

enrichment, and target A/F ratios at

idle, cruise, and WOT, but the default

settings proved to work more than fine

in this case. Relatively normal driving

did not show any issues. No hesita-

tions, no stumbling, no hot-start prob-

lems. It just worked.

After enough miles to get the

By Mark Ehlen / Photos: Mark Ehlen

Q-JET VS. SNIPER

Car Craft Dynos Holley’s Self-Tuning EFI Replacement

for GM’s Rochester Spread-Bore Induction

22 CAR CRAFT NOVEMBER 2019