WhitsEnd Transformation

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The fuel return from the unit was simply plumbed into the filler neck. I think this is low enough that the fuel nozzle won't hit it when fueling. I haven't got a line on the inside yet, but I'll be adding a submersible line extending to the bottom of the tank so I don't have to listen to that little guy pissing all the time.




Luckily, there is enough room in the rubber grommet through the floor to add another hole and run the return next to the original supply line.

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The fuel plumbing was really that easy. The supply and return lines just got routed away from the exhaust and up to the back of the throttle body. A simple injection clamp to the AN fitting for each and it was done. It's very clean visually because the fuel hoses aren't even seen from the front.

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Next up was locking out the advance on the Duraspark. This was needed because I chose to have the Holley ECU control the timing. For now, I can punch in simple timing limits (idle, WOT) and the ECU creates a simple map. Later, I can create a very detailed map with their software and upload it.

I removed the vacuum advance rod, but left the canister in place because the cap locates on a feature on the housing.

Also removed the springs and weights, along with tabs on the rotating mechanism for the weights that interfered with the screws I installed to lock the advance plate.

Here you can see the two screws holding the plate from moving in either direction. The red dots were used for location after setting the distributor in place and locating the plate where I wanted it. The screws have a dab of high strength Loctite, but they really didn't need it.

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This close up highlights the roll pin that is used to time the reluctor wheel to the shaft, and therefor, the rotor.



I recently learned this trick on the FEPower forum to use that roll pin as a means to change the phasing of the rotor to the reluctor. I had originally planned to cut two rotors and then glue and pin the halves together with the top rotated for phasing.

Anyway, cutting a second groove in the reluctor with a triangular file did the trick.



OK, to tell the truth, I cut a third groove in it because I cut the first one in the wrong direction.

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To find out where the groove needed to be, or if I even needed to cut a groove, I first had to determine where the rotor was pointing at the middle point of the full timing sweep. At idle, this motor will be around 15 or 16 degrees BTDC. At WOT, I'm planning on around 36 degrees BTDC, to be safe on pump gas with my compression.
The timing will be maxed out fairly early on an FE, even though this is a truck. So, the average timing in normal driving will be somewhere around 30 degrees or so. The goal would be to have the rotor aligned with the center of the terminal post for a given cylinder at this middle point of the timing sweep.
After aligning the reluctor with the magnetic pickup and locking the distributor with the crank at 45 degrees before TDC on cylinder #1 (a reference point for the Holley software), the crank was rotated to my 30 degree middle point to check where the rotor was pointing.

Using and old (and dirty) distributor cap, I cut a hole in it on #1 so I could see the rotor. I also marked the center with a red Sharpie. This is before modifying the reluctor:



This is after modifying the reluctor:



Not perfect, but pretty good, considering it will sweep between 15 on one side and and 36 degrees on the other.

Coincidentally, the Holley reference video on YouTube uses the same idle and WOT timing numbers, so it made it just that much easier for me.

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The wiring was pretty straightforward. In my case, I'm using the ECU to control timing and I'll be using a CD box to fire the coil. However, that CD box is on its way back to Pertronix because I fried it. When a new one returns, I'll wire it in.

In the meantime, Holley has this cute little widget they call a coil driver. It can be used instead of a CD box, with slightly different wiring involved. For now, I'm using this tiny little device and its velcro'd on top of my mega fuse holder.

Going to bed now, but more pics of the wiring and whatnot later. For now, here's a teaser...if you could only hear it. Maybe I'll have to do a video too.




The old mechanical fuel pump is still on there, strictly to keep oil from pouring out. I should have a block off plate in a couple days.

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Never had this after installing a carburetor...

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This shot shows the power and ignition wiring. The fuel pump relay and fuse are screwed to the inner fender. The coil driver is that little sliver velcro'd on top of the mega fuse. That will get replaced when my CD box returns, so I left the input wires long (pink and white). The grey wire goes to the (-) side of the coil.
In the upper right corner of this shot is a red wire coming through the firewall. This is tapped directly into the ignition switch for a dedicated clean 12 volts in run and start modes of the switch.
Once the CD box arrives and is sorted out and mounted on the firewall, the wiring will be cleaned up more and wrapped in some nifty loom material that Holley included in the kit.

The EFI unit basically has two harnesses coming from it:
One is for power control and ignition inputs and is basically what is utilized for what is seen here.
The other harness is for all of the outputs that can be triggered by the ECU (multiple cooling fans, Nitrous, tach, digital gauges, etc.). Most of this harness will not be used in my application, so the wires will eventually get pulled into the cab through one of the holes left by the old heater core connections. If I ever decide to add any features, I'll be able to do so.

I'm very happy with the choice of using the MIL battery terminals.

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I called the Holley tech line before the unit arrived and specifically asked about being able to directly hook up my throttle if it was currently attached to a Holley 4150. The response was a resounding "Yes, it will be a direct fit".

...NOT!

The throttle rod seen here was straight when used on the carb...

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This is a good overall shot of some of the connections. Fuel enters on the driver's side (right side in this pic) and returns on the passenger's side.

I didn't show the oxygen sensor installation (nothing not seen on a thousand other sites), but you can see the extra wiring for it coiled up behind the throttle body.

Brake booster line also hooked up to a dedicated port in the rear (I left my trans vacuum line plugged into the manifold)

In the front, the temp sensor is seen. I don't have another port for the factory gauge, but I may be able to use the gauge output from the harness to trigger something.

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From here, you can see all the wires from the second harness that are coiled up and hanging from a zip tie, waiting to be cleaned up later.

There is no mechanical provision for a kickdown if you're a Ford fan. That really tics me off because there are two holes specifically for GM trannies and Holley carbs always came with a Ford kickdown provision. It's sad because the throttle pivot has room to locate it, but I'm not about to try to remove the throttle shaft on this thing to tinker with it. I may pull the lever off an old throttle plate I have and see if I can adapt it.
If not, I'll be buying a Lokar kit (which Holley tells you to do). For me, that's a last resort because it's cable actuated. Any time I see cables on a carburetor, I think "redneck". It may be fine for a mini bike throttle, and I'm well aware many cables have been used by the OEMs (Ford included), I just don't care for it.



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You may notice I have a 1" spacer under the throttle body, just like I used for the carb. I don't know if this has any positive or negative effect with EFI, but I left it on there. It's a four hole spacer and I used a 4 hole gasket instead of the open gasket that came with the kit.

I will say this: It's more responsive than any older V8 I have owned or built, so I'm leaving it alone! I'm sure most of that is the EFI.

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It sure is nice to reach into the cab and hit the key and have the motor fire to life and idle smoothly. I found myself suddenly wanting to get the 950 double pumper off of my 428, in favor of the multi point injection I've been talking about forever.

Just a couple things to wrap up before this thing goes down the road. One of which is sorting out why my turn signals don't work and my hazzards go on when I hit the brake pedal I guess I didn't have the column wiring sorted out like I thought.

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I reviewed by steering column wiring harness again and everything is as expected. Meaning, I have the wires from my '76 turn signal switch wired into my '70 harness under the dash correctly pinned, based on the color coding and definition in the wiring schematics found here at Fordification.com and on Fordification.net.
Based on that information, the general colors of the wires and their stripes are the same between the two, although the shade of color may appear different.

If anyone can point me in the direction of sorting this out, it's much appreciated.

I have no turn signals left or right, but when I hit the brake, all four of them light up! And no brake lights.

[DuckRyder]

NICE

There are some reports of erratic idle on dual plane intakes, the fix seems to be an open spacer. I totally agree it is a shame the Sniper doesn’t have a Ford kickdown.

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NICE

There are some reports of erratic idle on dual plane intakes, the fix seems to be an open spacer. I totally agree it is a shame the Sniper doesn’t have a Ford kickdown.

I have no complaints, other than they really went out of their way to make the instructions simple and I think they went too far. They also have 2 different video versions of the setup between their homepage and YouTube.

I had low idle timing and didn't understand the fix until I stumbled onto a video from their website. The idle air control numbers were too low and I had to lower the throttle blades with the physical screw. This also fixed my idle rpm. The ECU will try to compensate, so you need to hit the target numbers for all sensors. I adjusted the IAC numbers by turning the throttle blades down and all is good. Timing is back up to my target, which is good because low timing is NOT good for a new motor. Things get hot pretty quickly.