That’s a good idea, I didn’t even mess with it just went straight for a bung. It’s definitely a good easy solution for those that can not weld or plan to do it later.
Awesome, nice work on the install and I like where you mounted the CD box and coil. In my experience it’s worth taking the extra time to fine tune the calibration once the self tuning completes. You can really dial in the drivalbility once you get the hang of the Holley EFI software.
Install is about 98% complete with only some small loose ends to clean up! I was quickly running out of time this weekend so I had to cut a couple corners to finish it up enough to get a good roadtest in. Nothing major except for not being able to build and install the new plug wire set, I lucked out and was able to use my old set of wires for now by just changing an end on the coil wire. These are circa 90s era MSD 8mm wires and they had some terminology on the wire that had me worried they might be solid core which Holly made clear not to use due to increased RF noise they create. Once cutting the coil end off I was able to check the core and found they are not solid core so they should be ok for now. I have a brand new set of 8.5mm wires that are cut to fit and will clean up the install much more.
I also want to clean up some stuff under the hood. I have not spent much time restoring the engine bay as the motor has yet to be pulled out of this car. In the back of my mind I always felt unsure of how long this engine would run and would just do it all when it died and needed a rebuild, however its been long enough now and I’ve made upgrades along the way its starting to bother me that the rest of engine and engine bay isn’t clean and put together. However I don’t want to down the car for an engine rebuild when this one stuff runs well enough. Eventually I may just bite the bullet and do it anyway but I need to find a good local rebuilder first. The rest of the car is pretty well put together except for under the hood and of course that is what everyone wants to see when they ask you about your car!
Anyway things still left to do is clean up some wiring and tie downs, Fabricate a fuel hardline from the TBI to frame, mounting of the handheld screen or hiding it somewhere easy to get to, plug wires, and integrating the ac compressor for WOT control and idle up to compensate for the compressor load. I need to do a little more research here to determine how to wire it and utilize the holley software to manage it.
First start went well once the pump primed the system. The intake pump is a little louder then I thought it would be but once the car is running you really cant hear it. My old hand me down timing light died right as I needed it so had to run and grab a new one to verify everything was set right. Idle was a little rough at first but as everything warmed up and the Holley software quickly started learning and cleaning things up I could make the idle adjustments needed. The first drive was impressive and it quickly made the cost and time involved very worth it! My carb ran ok but never as good as this even on the first pull out of the driveway! Im sure there are guys that can get a carb dialed in way closer then I can but for me the increase in responsiveness, power and over all drivability is night and day better then a carb! I’ve always had a surge during cruise speeds that I suspected was carb related and/or timing advanced based on the mechanical advance(MSD mechanical distributor) not being dialed in right. All those quirks are gone and whatever was left got tuned out. No regrets at all with performance and the longer I drive it the better it got. I could feel, hear and see on the gauges as the system learned and tuned out the quirks quickly. Performance is night and day better than the carb, Not sure that can be stated enough, Its like a completely different engine all together and my engine is nothing more then a stock unknown history original. I can only imagine the improved performance I would get from a fresh engine build with proper exhaust, heads and cam.
If your on the fence on EFI I would Highly recommend! Its worth the money and time to do it.
First roadtest I put 25miles on it and while its still self learning I think its got most of the quirks out of itself . Looking forward to putting some more miles on it soon! I think I have used up my garage hall pass for a while with this project so all Ill be allowed to do it take it for drives!
ignore the messy plug wires but overall not too different from what a carb motor looks like
Finally got another short road test in today to see some family and not alot more to say then it’s a whole different car on all levels! Just as impressed this drive as I was previously. Cold start after two weeks was no problem. No long crank, no pumping the peddle, no idle time to warm up, no burning my eyes from stinky exhaust, just fire it up, back it out of the garage and drive. I should have got this thing installed a long time ago!. Drivability is so much better over my previous setup it’s not even comparable and it’s hard to describe all the improvements such as shifting improvements(yeah it’s a 4speed manual), less exhaust drone and overall quieter. I can only imagine how well a fresh motor rebuild will be!
One negative I would say is the 3.5” touch screen kinda sucks. I find my self fighting it most of the time to select what I want to see, the touch function doesn’t work well and is overly sensitive
Pic just because
I travel with a laptop in the seat next to me. Just get a y cable and you can have the 3.5” screen and laptop at the same time. Laptop has gauge screen that’s pretty good. You can also set gauges to alert if they fall outside of normal parameters
Im thinking of a more permanent solution. Having a laptop plugged in is good for tuning/diag etc but not something I want to leave hooked up normally. I like the larger screen holly sells and it would look good built into a center console but not sure if its touch screen is any better.
Diesel, great job on your car, that is going to be a fun cruiser! I recently installed the Holley Sniper system on my 67 and have had great results with the drivability. That little screen can be incredibly frustrating though. In my business, people love to drop off pens as business advertisements. I have a few with soft tips designed to be used on phones and tablets that work great on the Sniper touch screen, no more frustration with tapping the wrong icon and I just keep it on the console or glovebox.
Thanks for the stylist pen idea. I get promotional pen drop offs at my work all the time too, I’ll have to look for one!
Yesterday for the first time I loaded up the family and took the car to church for the evening. I think this was one of the only times we have all been in the car at once to go somewhere. Not to mention one of the longer drives I’ve made in it. Usually it’s always been short trips here and there to test things out, finally everything is coming together to feel more complete and can’t wait to drive it more. On the way home I realized I don’t think I have ever driven it fully at night. Dusk sure but never when fully dark, appreciate all those led interior and exterior lights! Halogen headlights not so much!