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FE Technical Forum / Re: 1963 Ford Galaxie 390FE with Holley Sniper EFI
« on: October 05, 2021, 08:15:55 AM »
Thanks everyone - what a huge help. I really appreciate the reality-check.
Quick update: I got an awesome cold start, around town run and highway blast last night. First time since the new Holley.
Overall I spent 4-6 hours with the laptop hooked in over several days trying different settings combinations over countless test drives. I can't thank everyone enough for the great advice and baseline configuration parameters. It really helped to have a solid starting point.
Where I am at the moment:
1. I checked plugs all around. Slightly lean coloring, but not tragic. Noted some melting of the center electrode on all plugs. Running Autolite 45s.
2. I checked tightness of the exhaust at the manifolds. This has been an ongoing problem for me, as I have fixed piping with no flex. These needed snugging up. I need to bite the bullet and get locking nuts on these. @cody50 I suspect this may have been a factor.
3. I reset my Target AFR table to the recommended values. Idle: 13.7, Cruise: 14.0, WOT: 12.8
4. I reset my Timing table. I started with the recommended values, but had to walk them back as I had pinging. I am now at Idle: 15, Cruise: 36, WOT: 31.5
5. I installed a fuel pressure gauge at the inlet to the Holley. I ran the car for an hour with a camera on it and confirmed fuel pressure is solid and I'm not fighting cavitation or some other wacky fuel issue.
6. I spent a lot of time in AE vs TPS ROC and AE Correction vs TPS and got the soft, medium and hard launches behaving nicely.
7. I spent a lot of time in AE TPS vs Coolant Temp, Coolant Temp Enrichment and A/F Ratio Offset and got my Cold Start and Cold Running behavior dialed in.
8. Crank timing is set to 10 degrees @ 500rpm. Still playing with this.
9. I confirmed the distributor and spark box parameters were set correctly in my config.
10. I raised my cold idle. I found it really helped manners between 80-160 degrees to start at 1200rpm and ramp down to 800 (I had been starting at 1000).
I have attached screenshots of key settings as well as a ZIP of my current config.
Questions:
1. Spark plugs. I am concerned about the melty center electrodes. Not sure if I need to look into switching my Autolite 45s out for something capable of higher temps to suit the Holley Hyperspark setup?
2. What feels like "right" seat-of-pants timing in the car is low relative to the group's suggestions.
Multi-part question.
I have not commanded the Holley to specific timing settings and checked with my timing light. I obviously need to do that. I wouldn't put it past me to use the alignment tool but still be 4-8 degrees off, but that feels like a lot. My motor is bone stock with a bone stock cam. I just want to be sure the timing I'm seeing is truly low and that I am chasing the right marks?
I know I can use Timing vs Coolant Temp settings in the Holley to adjust timing based on engine temps. Is this a normal thing one has to do with Holley Snipers and FE motors? Any recommendations here? I don't see much in forums about people messing with this.
Thanks all!
Quick update: I got an awesome cold start, around town run and highway blast last night. First time since the new Holley.
Overall I spent 4-6 hours with the laptop hooked in over several days trying different settings combinations over countless test drives. I can't thank everyone enough for the great advice and baseline configuration parameters. It really helped to have a solid starting point.
Where I am at the moment:
1. I checked plugs all around. Slightly lean coloring, but not tragic. Noted some melting of the center electrode on all plugs. Running Autolite 45s.
2. I checked tightness of the exhaust at the manifolds. This has been an ongoing problem for me, as I have fixed piping with no flex. These needed snugging up. I need to bite the bullet and get locking nuts on these. @cody50 I suspect this may have been a factor.
3. I reset my Target AFR table to the recommended values. Idle: 13.7, Cruise: 14.0, WOT: 12.8
4. I reset my Timing table. I started with the recommended values, but had to walk them back as I had pinging. I am now at Idle: 15, Cruise: 36, WOT: 31.5
5. I installed a fuel pressure gauge at the inlet to the Holley. I ran the car for an hour with a camera on it and confirmed fuel pressure is solid and I'm not fighting cavitation or some other wacky fuel issue.
6. I spent a lot of time in AE vs TPS ROC and AE Correction vs TPS and got the soft, medium and hard launches behaving nicely.
7. I spent a lot of time in AE TPS vs Coolant Temp, Coolant Temp Enrichment and A/F Ratio Offset and got my Cold Start and Cold Running behavior dialed in.
8. Crank timing is set to 10 degrees @ 500rpm. Still playing with this.
9. I confirmed the distributor and spark box parameters were set correctly in my config.
10. I raised my cold idle. I found it really helped manners between 80-160 degrees to start at 1200rpm and ramp down to 800 (I had been starting at 1000).
I have attached screenshots of key settings as well as a ZIP of my current config.
Questions:
1. Spark plugs. I am concerned about the melty center electrodes. Not sure if I need to look into switching my Autolite 45s out for something capable of higher temps to suit the Holley Hyperspark setup?
2. What feels like "right" seat-of-pants timing in the car is low relative to the group's suggestions.
- My settings: 31.5 WOT, 36 Cruise.
- Suggestions: 35-38 WOT and 40-44 Cruise.
- At Cruise and WOT, in broad strokes, I'm 4-8 degrees lower than expected.
- When I go WOT around 200 degrees CTS I get pinging above 32 degrees timing.
- At lower temps (ie, 165-185), I can go WOT at 34 degrees or more (that's as high as I've tested) without noticeable pinging.
- The Holley distributor came with an idiot-resistant indexing tool, which I used during install.
Multi-part question.
I have not commanded the Holley to specific timing settings and checked with my timing light. I obviously need to do that. I wouldn't put it past me to use the alignment tool but still be 4-8 degrees off, but that feels like a lot. My motor is bone stock with a bone stock cam. I just want to be sure the timing I'm seeing is truly low and that I am chasing the right marks?
I know I can use Timing vs Coolant Temp settings in the Holley to adjust timing based on engine temps. Is this a normal thing one has to do with Holley Snipers and FE motors? Any recommendations here? I don't see much in forums about people messing with this.
Thanks all!