Holley Sniper EFI

Started by MiniDave, August 28, 2020, 08:42:56 PM

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MiniDave

I'm going down the rabbithole into EFI land......

So far I've ordered the single barrel unit from Holley but don't expect to see it for 2-3 weeks yet, the fuel pump kit has arrived, and I've bought some aluminum plate to make manifold adaptors.

I also ordered and got a new small block header pipe as the old one I have been using is very thin in places and has a few holes in it - I need to make a hole and weld on a bung for the wideband sensor but I don't think the old header will survive that so I bought the new one - however it won't work with the SPi intake manifold, so I put the old header back on - I can always put the wideband in the front pipe of the muffler.

I made two adaptor plates so far, one for the SPi manifold and one that will work with the sidedraft manifold for an HIF carb. I think I'll need to get either the Weber carb intake or one of the Nikki ones to use the new header, and also when I go to the 2bbl EFI unit later on. For now I'm just going to concentrate on these two setups and see if I can get the thing to work.

I'll update here so I don't continue to hijack Coles thread on his supercharged setup. Hope he updates that soon....I'd like to know what he thinks of it so far.
Complete failure at retirement

1989 Cooper Racing Green
2009 Clubman S
2014 Audi Allroad

MiniDave

#1
A few more pics....In the first you can see where the heater pipe interferes with the new exhaust manifold, even after I took that pipe out it still hits on the boss, so I had to go back to the old header pipe. The small block headers have the pipe coming straight out of the flange, where the big block headers go downward right off the flange.

Either set of pipes will work with the HIF sidedraft manifold or the Nikki or Weber downdraft styles.

In the last pic I set the SPi on the manifold to see how much room I had to work with - looks like plenty as the Holley unit is smaller than this.
Complete failure at retirement

1989 Cooper Racing Green
2009 Clubman S
2014 Audi Allroad

cstudep

Looking good Dave! I am excited to see how this progresses. If you get to the point of wanting to take a look at the Nikki manifold I could take some measurements or mail it down to you to take a look at. It would be good to know if it would work with Holley since we now have sourcing on 2 LOL. I still kind of want to see if I can find parts for the Nikki carb just for the heck of it but if nothing else at least the manifold may be useful for something else.

I think the Nikki might not interfere with the new header pipe as there is nothing that hangs below like on the SPI. Also what is the small block vs big block header terminology referring to? I am not familiar with this terminology I guess. Also where did you get the header?

I was going through some old threads and saw your engine stand build and now I think I need to make me one of those. I have a few motors I would like to work on one of these days and have an annoying oil leak on the 1275 in my 60 that I want to fix when I tear it down to have it repainted, the engine stand would be a great way to make sure there are no oil leaks prior to reinstalling it. Plus it looks cool!

MiniDave

Small block = 850, 998, 1098

Big block = 1275

The spacing on the cylinder head is the same for either engine size, but you use smaller pipes for small blocks of course.

My dumb little engine stand has been great, I've done so much with it over the years so far.....
Complete failure at retirement

1989 Cooper Racing Green
2009 Clubman S
2014 Audi Allroad

cstudep

Ok I wondered if it had to do with the diameter of the exhaust ports/header diameter. That was the only thing that made sense but I just had never heard it referred to in that manner. 4.gif

MiniDave

If I were to build an engine test bed now I would do it differently than this one, as this is a kind of a PITA to get the motor in and out of, and you can't do it with the current exhaust pipe on it - which is one reason why I wanted to get a different header - this one is welded up from bits, and they were pretty thin when I did it.....the new one is short enough that it will fit into the engine stand while installed on the engine.

Also I think it would be better to have the panel raised up and on one end of the stand rather than where I have it, then I could easily make a cover to protect the wiring......also there really is no practical way to hook up a choke or throttle in this one, so you're having to reach over a hot motor to work those.

I made this one out of scrap metal, not knowing exactly what I wanted, just welded up some bits till it worked. I can do better, and may build a better one at some point in the future.
Complete failure at retirement

1989 Cooper Racing Green
2009 Clubman S
2014 Audi Allroad

MiniDave

#6
A few more developments...

A guy sent me a Nikki manifold out of the blue, said he found it on a shelf in his shop! so I now have one to mess around with. I cleaned it up and am making the adaptor plate for it too, but I really need the EFI unit for the next steps.

Holley has sent me notice that my EFI unit will ship on the 15th.
Complete failure at retirement

1989 Cooper Racing Green
2009 Clubman S
2014 Audi Allroad

Jimini II

Quote from: MiniDave on August 29, 2020, 06:52:16 AM
A few more pics....In the first you can see where the heater pipe interferes with the new exhaust manifold, even after I took that pipe out it still hits on the boss, so I had to go back to the old header pipe. The small block headers have the pipe coming straight out of the flange, where the big block headers go downward right off the flange.

Either set of pipes will work with the HIF sidedraft manifold or the Nikki or Weber downdraft styles.

In the last pic I set the SPi on the manifold to see how much room I had to work with - looks like plenty as the Holley unit is smaller than this.

The early Cooper small bores used a 3 into 1 header where the center pipe ran straight down giving the clearance needed on the twin SU set up.
Someone is re making that style of header but i can't remember who offhand.

tmsmini

I have an extra SPi/MPi manifold that I got from Dean that I ended up not using. I would assume it would work, but you would need a down pipe for it.
Terry

MiniDave

#9
Thanks! What down pipe is that? Exhaust?

Are the SPi and MPi intake manifolds the same? If not, which one do you have?

Edit: From the pics I saw, SPi and MPi are completely different.....SPi is a downdraft and MPi is a side draft setup with injectors mounted in the manifold right at the head. The SPi works better for what I'm doing as the EFI unit has the injectors mounted in it - it's basically a throttle body injection system.
Complete failure at retirement

1989 Cooper Racing Green
2009 Clubman S
2014 Audi Allroad

tmsmini

#10
Sorry I was not clear. I meant the exhaust manifold. They are the same for MPi/SPi I believe.

Also have a used LCB, but shipping would probably be expensive.

94touring

Runners on my nikki manifold are 1.35 inches.  My 1275 head sitting here on the bench, if you were to port out to the guide rings it would also be 1.35 inches. 

MiniDave

Yes, but under the carb the opening is only 1.25, right? So I need clearance for the butterfly to move as it's 1.5" - the 3/8" adaptor plate might mean I don't have to modify the carb side as it should give enough room for it to clear......depending on the cam it can probably use the extra flow from larger runners? Aren't the  runners on your steel fabricated intake 1.5"?
Complete failure at retirement

1989 Cooper Racing Green
2009 Clubman S
2014 Audi Allroad

94touring

1.25x2.8 inches on the manifold mouth.  You have .7 inches on all 4 sides to port.  Plenty of meat to get it out to 1.5 inches wide. If you ported a bevel to the gasket shown here you'd get 1.65 inches.

Yeah 1.5 on the twin hs4 race manifold.  Not ideal really unless you have a 1380 really flowing.

94touring

Run this around it and you'd have it set.

MiniDave

#15
Well, I'm thinking use the Nikki manifold on the two bbl EFI unit, the SPi on the single bbl. I know the single is 1.43" diameter, I don't know what the 2bbl is - it may be the same or smaller. I'm a ways away from getting one of those - I want to see how the single works first, and it may wind up on an upcoming 998 I have to build.

If it works well on the 998, then I'll sell it and order the 2bbl unit to try on a 1275-1340 motor....when I order the 2bbl I'm going to get the one that has the software for boost too. It's only about $100 more.....and if I wind up building a supercharged or turbo'd motor I'll have the right unit for that.

Looking at the base for the 2bbl EFI, the bolt spacing almost matches the Nikki studs, so it's possible that with a little opening up of that bore I could bolt it right on leaving room on top for the turbo plenum......that could make for an easy installation. An EFI unit set up for boost will be a much easier turbo installation than a carb.....plus so much easier to set the air fuel ratio under all conditions.

This is why I'm using adaptor plates for now, for the cost of a couple of aluminum plates I can try out the single bbl unit on all sorts of manifolds to find the best way to orient it and to see if it will work sideways as well as downdraft. It's all just an experiment for now.....

Let's see......rebuild motor parts and machine work, $2500-3K, turbo 2K, EFi 1500, 5 speed gearbox 3K......wow, I coulda hada Vtec!   77.gif
Complete failure at retirement

1989 Cooper Racing Green
2009 Clubman S
2014 Audi Allroad

MiniDave

A big shout out to Michael Playle for contributing to the EFI research fund! Thank you Michael...   77.gif
Complete failure at retirement

1989 Cooper Racing Green
2009 Clubman S
2014 Audi Allroad

MPlayle


tmsmini

I guess Dave is carrying the banner for the Sniper EFI...
https://youtu.be/gVcYXjP0QJM

MiniDave

Yeah, I don't know why Cole had so much trouble with his unit, I've talked to a couple of guys who have these on Chevy V-8's and they work perfectly right out of the box - there is some setup of course, but we'll see once I get the unit I've ordered. It might be easier for me too because I don't have the supercharger to mess with and I'm working in an engine stand.

If I get it to start and run and get thru a basic map, then I'll need to mount it to a car and drive it and go from there.

I drove my Racing Green car today and I have to say, it's running better than ever - so it has to be about ready to blow up!   ::)
Complete failure at retirement

1989 Cooper Racing Green
2009 Clubman S
2014 Audi Allroad

tmsmini

If my son had the money and interest I would talk him into putting one in his 327 El Camino.

But I must admit the thing I like best about the EFI components in the Minis is the distributorless ignition. No mechanical issues of a distributor or physical adjustment issues to deal with.

MiniDave

The Holley unit will handle ignition advance too, but you do still need a distributor - at least you can get rid of vacuum and mechanical advances if you want.
Complete failure at retirement

1989 Cooper Racing Green
2009 Clubman S
2014 Audi Allroad

MPlayle

I think the ignition advance feature of the Holley EFI is for use with coil packs rather than a distributor.

The MPI Minis used a coil pack arrangement, the SPI used an electronic distributor.


MiniDave

I read thru the instructions fairly carefully, I think it's the opposite of what you posted.
Complete failure at retirement

1989 Cooper Racing Green
2009 Clubman S
2014 Audi Allroad

BruceK

Quote from: MiniDave on September 25, 2020, 02:02:33 PM
I read thru the instructions fairly carefully, I think it's the opposite of what you posted.

And I immediately think of The Princess Bride.
1988 Austin Mini
2002 MINI Cooper S
1992 Toyota LiteAce (JDM)
1997 Jeep Wrangler Sahara