Holley vs. Fitech EFI

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Location
Chattanooga, TN
My Car
72 Mach 1 H-Code (Concourse)
67 GT S-Code 4sp
Ok, contemplating the efi conversion for my 67 390. I have been researching the Holley Sniper setup and the Fitech setup. I started leaning towards Fitech on price, but more and more research lead me towards the Holley for system flexibility and customer support. 

Not looking to light a fire, but looking feedback from members who have actually installed efi systems and pros and cons of what you have experienced.

Thank you,

Brian

 
Good question. I think it can only be answered truthfully by someone that has had experience with both. I have the Fitech and it has taken alot of tweaking to get it working all right. I am almost there. The only nagging thing i have now is a slow fluctuating idle speed (Edit: the theory is that it could be related to ignition noise). I am working on adding a noise filter to my CD ignition and protecting some wires with copper sheathing. I will guess this type of issues will occur with both brands. Unfortunately i dont have experience with the Holley to compare. Good luck and keep us posted on your decision.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G930A using Tapatalk

 
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For years I was water mouthing on the EFI installs you could see from time to time. But being on the wrong side of the pond, the Fast and the first Holley injection were simply too pricy to even consider them. When the 4bbl to EFI affordable units came on the market, I had to get one of these.

I've looked at Fitech but went for Sniper in the end purely based on what I saw/red on installs on forums, videos... I knew I'd be on my own as nobody I know run these over here and Holley's forum was at the time a very active place with tons of usable tips/help.

Installed it on my 73's 4V Cleveland. Because it's still not on the road, I can't say much about how it really performs. Hope I will in a near future.

If of any help, here are my pros/cons of the Holley Sniper.

I went for the master kit. black ceramic.

2 weeks later door bell...

First impression was great. The unit, the wiring, pump etc... comes beautifully packaged/protected in foam, labelled and well documented.

As a total noob, I was kind of overwhelmed. I knew bits of all the parts, but all together, it's hard to know where to start. No way back.

the stuff in the box:

Pros:

The unit, unlike Holley carbs, really well machined and finished. The wiring are beautiful and well organised. The labels and all connections well documented.

The ceramic finish is beautiful. I went for it because the anodised or zinc finishes they offer would be less durable under the wet air that we have here.

Otherwise, I would have loved the gold finish.

Cons:

In the master kit they provide some chevy or generic stuffs for brackets, pump block-off plate. Useless and cheapo for a Ford install. Wish they had a Ford version.

Just like the hose ends they provide, prolly ok on some cars, you need more for our cars.

The install:

Pros:

The unit, wiring + sensors are spot on, all fits and install nicely. the length of the wire in harness are all well thought and fit perfectly, at least for a cleveland.

Cons:

while the unit and provided components are great, unlike the promotional video's, its nowhere near what you need for a plug and play install. Tons of additional brackets are required and needs be made. Think here of throttle body to accel cable, tubings, fuel connections, pump supports, fix the lack of kickdown support etc... Lots of custom work required if you want it nice and safe.

They also do not provide must have safety details, like an inertia switch or give you tips for smart wirings aside the necessary to make it work.

No bracket or nice way to fit the handheld screen other than a cheapo double tape.

They provide some stainless thingy to hold the o2 sensor, but no bung to weld on the headers. No matter how well you install, its gonna leak at some point and doesn't look good.

I did weld a bung for a durable install.

The first start

I'll start with the cons

Cons:

My unit came with the butterflies bit too tight and the very important one liner on how to setup the IAC wasn't printed in red bold letters to tell me how important it was and how it needs to be set before start. As a result, the car did start right away but ran very poorly to end up with a flooding condition. Hours forward to find out what was wrong and how to fix. It was explained in doc, totally my fault, I was simply too stressed to really grasp how important that was, as on first start, you also deal with inspection of safe electrics, make sure there's no fuel leak etc.. So in that regard, they should be preinstalled a tab more open so it would start but give you higher rpm which would be easyer to understand than a flooding condition. The throttle spring is really hard, I still have to look for a way to make it more progressive.

Pros:

Once set up was finally as expected, its simply amazing. Even in garage alone, the car isn't the same. You feel, see, hear and even smell its a modern car. If primed, car starts so fast, I'm not sure if the starter even turns :)

After that:

Pros:

So far since the install, no matter if car was still for weeks, warm or cold. it starts before starter makes a turn. Runs perfectly, exhaust is super clean, (as far as a v8 exhaust fume can be). The tank level, probably me not good with carb tuning, I had to refill the tank on regular intervals. With EFI, much less fuel is being used. Very curious to see what the consumption will be once back on the road.

Cons:

Because mine was a first gen, the provided handheld monitor with touch, now known for some child sickness went nut and was going from screen to screen and pressing button was challenging. No where near wat you expect now days from a touch screen. I've received a replacement from Holley, no question asked. The help from holley staf on their forum is great and responsive.

Another issue with first gen, was that the base table was too rich for very cold starts in winter. You can't have access to the table until the device has passed the learning period.

No biggy as normally its done in matter of hours, but for a garage queen like mine, I had to export to stick, read into the provided app to fix, (they expect everyone uses this misery OS known as Windows, so as mac user you must create a window partition to run their soft). This bugs in the table has been fixed and the edit/read software updated few times, so in that regard Holley is doing ok.

All with all, it's not as in the promo videos done in few hours, at least for a 7173. So far I find it really fantastic, the car is a totally different beast now.

I'm sure the fiTech would do fine too, but as I'm now familiar with the Holley, what you get and how to install it, I know for sure, my 429 will receive a sniper too.

 
Fabrice, thank you very much for the great feedback. It was super helpful to hear your first hand feedback. As part of my research I reviewed YouTube and their is a guy here in Nashville,TN goes by Nashville Bronco that did a Fitech install and then a 2 year feedback video. He really liked the Fitech system but pointed out some great issues being customer support and user interface in monitoring and adjusting the Fitech unit. My impression is that Holley has the company size and experience to support their products. I think Fitech is a good product, just not the size of a company needed to support large customer base.

Still seriously looking at going with the Sniper. Will probably break the bank and do the EFI tank install as well to support the system and keep pump noise to a minimum. Debating on upgrading the stock distributor with Pertronix flame thrower to a Holley Hyperspark to benefit in timing control as well. I do not like having a big CDI box mounted in the engine compartment so the distributor upgrade is all I would do. May hold off on the ignition upgrade for a little while. Not sure yet.

 
It is a good idea to get the EFI system on without ignition control at first so it is easier to troubleshoot. Once you have it running it as you want then you can add the ignition control. I expect this idea will apply to either system. That's what my plan is. So far my ignition is controlled by the good old distributor.

By far, I don't think any of the systems would work perfect out of the box as advertised. Even though they are self learning there will be tweaking needed to adapt to your engine/drivetrain/car.

 
It is a good idea to get the EFI system on without ignition control at first so it is easier to troubleshoot.
I have a v1 pertronix on a mallory basic dist. All fine. I wanted first see and also wait to see how that goes when driving. I don't really expect problems, but a dist managed by the unit is of course very tempting (very pricy too). The car was running fine on carb prior install. From a total rebuild, as I will have to deal with my 429, I think their dist with leds to set it up, might even be more easy than a basic dist to have a first successful start.

Will probably break the bank and do the EFI tank install as well to support the system and keep pump noise to a minimum. 
My tank was perfect inside and did not need much on the outside aside recycling a sending unit to have the return line on top.

I don't even think there were tanks avail for 7173 at the time I've ordered mine.

I must say the external pump from the kit is very quiet. Only noise is from priming, after that, I honestly do not hear anything. I have mounted it on a custom secure bracket and there is no really option for it to vibrate in it. I can imagine that if you use their basic clamps alone, that the pump would make noise depending on where you hang it.

 
Hi

I had the sniper for 2 years and removed it. It ran perfect for one year the all sorts of problems occured. My theory is that the ECU Electronics didnt manage the heat under the hood. I Heard others who had the same problems. So back to a holley 4150 double pumper for now. Im looking at the Edelbrock proflow system, that is a totally different bussines. ECU is mounted inside etc. Injectors are in the intake manifold. But for now they dont make a kit that supports the 351c Engine. I have a friend who installed the Edelbrock system in 408w and it outperformed the sniper and fitech units. Specially on low rpm with a hot cam. I do not recommend the sniper unit. Take a look at  Holley sniper forum. If I had to choose I would get the Fast 2 it seems that they had less problems of all. When the sniper runs its good no doubt about that, but when problems start it will freak you out.

Regards Rob

 
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Hi

I had the sniper for 2 years and removed it. It ran perfect for one year the all sorts of problems occured. My theory is that the ECU Electronics didnt manage the heat under the hood.  
Hey Rob, on first gen (late 2017/early 18) there were some software ECU bugs. They provided firmware updates that fixed all kinds of issues. Did you run the update? Check the version that you have, on the handheld go to local setup/local info and note the firmware version under Device FW Version.

https://forums.holley.com/showthread.php?22213-Firmware-latest-version

https://documents.holley.com/techlibrary_sniperefirevisionlog2x4update.pdf

https://www.holley.com/support/resources/#Fuel_Injection

@newAgeMuscle had a hardware problem and Holley replaced it.

May be you should contact them...

 
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Hi

I had the sniper for 2 years and removed it. It ran perfect for one year the all sorts of problems occured. My theory is that the ECU Electronics didnt manage the heat under the hood.  
Hey Rob, on first gen (late 2017/early 18) there were some software ECU bugs. They provided firmware updates that fixed all kinds of issues. Did you run the update? Check the version that you have, on the handheld go to local setup/local info and note the firmware version under Device FW Version.

https://forums.holley.com/showthread.php?22213-Firmware-latest-version

https://documents.holley.com/techlibrary_sniperefirevisionlog2x4update.pdf

https://www.holley.com/support/resources/#Fuel_Injection

@newAgeMuscle had a hardware problem and Holley replaced it.

May be you should contact them...

Hi Fabrice :)

I did Everything possible to do, but I couldnt get it right. I have a friend who got a new one from Holley. But now he runs with edelebrock pro flo, much better. Will se what I l do. Im waiting for the 4r70w Control in the Terminator ECU. I let you now what Il choose.

Regards Rob
 
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