Sniper 2 or maxefi from summit?
Hoping for opinions.
Thank you!

 

Sorry, I do not know much about either of those systems but it seems to me that the important parts is how easy and good is the tuning software. If you can find some threads of people who used the auto tune AND got a before and after of the same setup by a professional tuner then compare the numbers. The other thing I would look for is how hard is it to switch tunes. You may want a drive with the small kids tune, a mean sounding Sunday car show tune or a 1/4 mile speed only tune.

Make sure you get a good fuel pump setup. From watching a LOT of you tube it seems like aftermarket fuel pump failure are supper common. I mean the factory originals always seem to last 10 years or 100,000 miles yet I have seen brand new name brands aftermarket fail in less that an hour.

Keep in mind even best manufactures have some failures. When searching for reviews don't let a few bad reviews scare you two much. It might look bad if the sniper 2 kit has a hundred or bad reviews but if they have sold 40,000 units so what. Almost everyone that has problems post bad review but most people that have no problem never think about reviewing it.

 

While I don't have it, about every car I have seen with them, it was never plug and play nor self learn. To get it right, a tuner needed to be involved. This is after all the install bugs are sorted.

FI Tech and Sniper seem to be the most common.

 

Takes a ton or value out of the car but I would run the Sniper
Better plan on learning to be a tuner yourself

 

Most systems have had self-learn for the last 10 years. Before that there were added on computers that would self-tune your car for you. The cost was a bit high since the self-leaning systems cost as much or more then the EFI aftermarket systems. This was not possible until wide band O2's came on the market. Even software like HP tune has a self-learn add on. Most of the work tuners do today is above 90% throttle.

Does self-learn work everywhere? No. A fuel injection system can rely heavy on a MAF sensor or a MAP sensor. MAP sensor system are cheaper and simpler. The only downside to the MAP system is it relies on vacuum and with a monster camshaft vacuum is all over the place every place except wide open throttle. This is why you never saw EFI at the drag strip back in the 80's and 90's. The only real work around is a dyno tune. Rule of thumb, if you have enough vacuum to run normal power brakes then you can use a self-tune software. If you have get a racing style booster or a vacuum pump to get good power brakes then you will need a Dyno tune.

If you want jump to the 22 minute mark. He goes over the self-tune part of the sniper system. Another thing all the systems have in common is you need to answer the question they ask just to get it to start.


If you really want to blow your mind, check out the mega squirt system. They will sell you all the parts to make your own PCM or ECM. You can go to the junk yard and by sensor and injectors (or by them new at your local parts store). They will give you the software to load and there are 1000's of starter tunes all over the internet. There are also companies that will do as much of the work for you want for a fee and you can take full advantage of the free internet stuff. One product I think it is called mega squirt gold box you can buy turn-key with a self-learn add on and a diagnose box. That is a box and cable that comes with the PCM you can plug in to check to see if the PCM is working as it should and it will tell you what part is bad inside the PCM. I started down that path when I helped a friend but decided that was too deep a black hole to jump it.

Where some of the confusion comes from is many people just use Jail broke Factory PCMs, Unless you are going with a 100% stock engine, they need tuned. Stock PCM do not support wide band O2's. If the PCM needs to add more fuel than the original motor should need instead of fixing it assume something else is wrong it turns on the check engine lite and goes out of closed loop operation.

 

Ironically, on a carb motor, it makes more power than the same motor converted to EFI. Engine Masters went through all of this.

If you are doing a LS swap than yeah stay EFI

I have a gen 2 LT1 from a 96 I just swapped to carb for my 70 Nova. SOOOO much easier and cheaper than doing what is needed to make it work in the Nova. GMPP makes the intake and Opti block off plate for the LT1

I do have a 383 FI in my 96, but I use a tuner for it. That car is heavily modified so "stock" tune will in now way run it

Dealing with a LS/TKX swap in a 66 Chevelle now. Pro's and cons between Sniper and FI Tech. In the end, none are plug and play and are not cheap

 

If anybody does start a war around here none of our fuel injected stuff is gonna run
One EMP blast and we will all wish we had a car with points and a carb
Maybe put a spare processor and ignition module ion a lead box now

 

I used to tune dyno carbs for a race car way back in the day. The whole point of any fuel system is to maintain a ratio between air and fuel. For every 13 parts of air I want one part of fuel. Whichever system can maintain that mixture is the better system. If you dumped a fuel line directly into a 4-barrel intake and use fine flow adjustments for the AIr/fuel mixture for the max RPM then that would the system that gave you the most HP.

I call carburetors one trick ponies. When you adjust a carb or replace the jets you are working on a single thing. I want 13 to 1 from 4500 RPMs to 7000 RPMs. You may have to take accuracy away from 4000 RPMs to get accuracy at 7000 RPM. Normally you pick a mid-point and settle there. Carburetors do not adjust themselves for variations in environments. Changes in barometric and tempter may require an internal set change. Engines are basically air pump. There is a perfect RPM were one each engine reaches it maximum efficiently. This can vary some even one engine that are built with the same parts. Part of the dyno process is finding a range close to this RPM. So on a dyno with no changes of Barometric pressure or temperature and a small RPM range a carburetor can be set to be almost perfect Air/fuel mixture.

EFI is a reactive system that will adapt to changes in environments. You do not have to rob form 4000 RPM to make 7000 RPMs better. Every RPM and load condition has its own map for fuel. The system will even try to anticipate what you will do with your foot next. In a way this is one of the weaknesses of a Street/Strip EFI. Most of the time you a not racing so the system learns that so when you start racing the system needs to adjust and that takes time. The result of EFI is drivability It is the reason you can buy a 1000's HP car and drive it to school every day. Go ask any old timer that owned a first gen Z28 if they liked it. They will all say it was one of the fastest stock cars they have owned. Then ask how long they own it. A lot will say a year, most will say less than 2 years. Next question is why did you sell it? They won't remember. Reality was they were not fun cars to drive. They hated starting off slowly (Like you had a cop next to you) They shook, they hated cold weather. They were basically useless for anything but racing.

The technology is always getting better Computers are getting better and cheap. A good EFI system is not cheap yet. You can spend 6K on a Street/Strip system and the Pros can spend 25K. But when judging which is better just go to a real drag race and look at what the Pro's use. You are going to see a row of German made EFI Boush systems.

 

Hands down EFI motors are superior to carb motors for the reasons stated above. Swapping a carb motor to EFI is not cheap or plug and play buy all doable if your wallet is thick enough and a good tuner is involved DURING all driving conditions to dial it in with his laptop

EFI cars that are modified require other than "stock" tuning and there are several people doing these tunes on modern EFI cars.