Most of you guys will come back around to carbs........Several are and more will follow.............

Some of the people with radical engines that buy the "self tuning" throttle bodies, maybe? Guys with Port Injection who take the time to learn it much like you need to learn a carb, very unlikely.

I learn new stuff with my EFI every time I use it, but I don't miss a carb.

I didn't ask my question correctly. I was talking about tuning the entire system- throttle body, timing, etc. Can this be done in a couple of hours or will it take 40 hrs to get the thing on the road running well. Thanks.

it will take hundreds of hours to dial in an OEM level experience. In my experience it took just a few hours to be safe and effective at WOT and so so driving around the street. The thing about having so much control is you have so much control. Imagine instead of having the half a dozen pump cams for a Holley you instead had an injection mold machine to make whatever shape of cam you wanted.
That's been my experience anyway, having only ever done 1 and still learning after 9 years running it.

All depends on how rowdy the engine is. The Holley Sniper is designed to bolt on a mild 350 inch Chevy engine. So the farther you are away from that the more time you'll need to spend tuning it. The Sniper I put on my 512 started, idled and drove just fine right out of the box. However, it wouldn't start hot because the IAC setting wasn't high enough. It can't learn that, it needs to be set manually, and it requires someone with some understanding of the system to know what the problem is and how to fix it. I was lucky since I knew who to ask to solve the problem. A random guy in his driveway might never solve a hot start problem like that. Just like some guys never get their carbs to work right.

Rich can probably get a Sniper tuned in less than an hour, maybe even 30 minutes on a good day. I can get one running decent in an hour but I don't know all of the tricks and all of the tables. Some guys on the Holley forum will probably never get their Sniper running correctly. You can tell from their questions that they don't even know what they don't know.

Of course, sometimes you get an error message like this and then you don't know what to do! I love this error message, so informative.......

You gotta love those software-writers that keep those stupid errors messages in the loop.


As for tuning, I'm somewhat seeing the same on the MegaSquirt-forum sometimes;
Folks who are just getting into the EFI-thing, and already starting to ask questions about boost or other 'advanced'-settings and stuff, while they barely have a proper, useful engine-tune to start with.

IMO, if you can (properly!) tune a carb, know about AFR-values, know how a good ignition curve should look like with the engine and fuel you're using, you'll be miles ahead when you take the step to EFI.

I'm running ignition-only with my MegaSquirt setup.
I had very usable ignition curve in the first hour, but it took months of daily-driving mixed with occassional laptop-tuning before I had an ignition curve that was truly tailored to my engine, at pretty much all engine-loads and rpm-ranges.

Same here, so many knobs to turn! I enjoy messing with it though, its easy to go back if you turn the wrong knob.

Yep, starting over can be a beouch for sure but seems some get it quicker than others and I will never personally go to EFI cos I know a good carb guy and he's not afraid to get his hands dirty............

It's not that bad to use the software when you have a base tune to start with. I've used hp tuners many times and the nice thing about it is you can usually find someone who did a similar build and can use that tune to get it close. I personally will not put a carb on a gen 3 hemi, but I like carbs for my older engines.

Dom is a little upset that he started his carb business
a little late and more and more people are changing to
injection..its what is here and getting easier ever day
due to technology... hell just a few years back there
wasnt any kits you could buy.. now... plenty and getting
easier to set up

Thanks to all that have replied. Sounds like it should be fine for my street driven 340 challenger and the 440 in my truck. Nothing radical in either. One more question- is the Holley system capable of having multiple tunes- say one for cruising in the truck, and another if I am towing something?

Yes it is.. its capable of multi tunes at the
click of a button

For anyone contemplating boost (now or future), and getting an EFI that includes transmission controls: try to get one with an input to retard spark on shift. I'm stuck with the Toyota factory (original turbo transmission) shift retard, need to go aftermarket to increase it, but it helps.
I have a gut feeling that some spectacular mid-track events are (partially) the result of a bad chassis reaction to a shift ("it launches straight, but makes a hard left 3 seconds out"). Being able to drop 200 hp for .25 seconds, at exactly and only the point that makes the suspension crazy may save it.

Go to my FB page then get back with me.........Truck pull champs, Drag Week, boats street strip cars, new best et's, ya Mike, I'm dying over here............lmao......... And while you're there, check out all of the EFI issues and how many are for sale.......... Monkey see, monkey do...........

The Holley Sniper will allow you to store a bunch of different tunes on the SD card but you have to cycle the key to switch between tunes. You can't switch tunes while driving down the road, you have to turn the engine off, select the tune, load it, cycle the key and then start the engine.

Towing (higher load) and cruising (light load) are happening in 'different areas of the ignition or fuel map', so I doubt you'd need different tunes for various driving conditions.

Cant take any kidding can you Dom.. I dont do
carbs anymore but I have sent guys your way

I think w/out smileys, we all take stuff wrong Mike............ All good on my end and I appreciate and will take care of anyone you send my way..........

If you notice I use only one of those emoji thingys
and thats the wave thing