Took out some time and converted the ignition timing control duties over to the Holley Sniper ECU. Removed the brand new MSD 85551 distributor from the brand new engine and took out the weights, springs, and locked-out the timing. Also installed the adjustable rotor, MSD 84211 and got it setup. While following along with the Holley efi youtube video tutorial, I was able to set the timing on the engine balancer. Made the appropriate wiring changes and also changed everything that I needed to in the sniper handheld, which changes the GCF file in the ECU. Fired the car up and it ran rough at first but slowly the computer began to do its thing.
Then used the "static timing" feature on the sniper handheld to check static idle timing. it was good at 20*. used the static timing feature again to check the timing at higher rpm's and I noticed that it was retarding a few degrees, so I had learned to get this corrected by adding a few miliseconds into the inductive delay. After a few series of adjustments I settled on 130au (130 miliseconds) and that worked very well. took the car out for a good 20 minute drive and at first it was a bit jittery. during the drive the computer was learning and by the end of the drive it was much improved. Also took the car out again today for about 45 mins and again, everything is improving. It has a long way to go (to learn) but that's its job.
I am going to be working with a tuner via the internet who is pretty reputable. Mad Science Motorsports
https://mad-sciencemotorsports.com/ I sent him a bunch of engine info and car info already and he will be creating a base tune ( GCF - global configuration file) for me in the next few days. It can be used as a separate tune from what the sniper ecu is learning now on its own. he/we can also create many different other tunes and revise them as many times as we need to (like a higher octane fuel tune, or e85, or several nitrous tunes). They will be stored on the SD card and I can just pick which one I want with a few taps on the handheld. Pretty Cool ! I sold a bunch of car parts online recently and made enough money to afford this investment. Basically it only cost $300 and tuning services last for life, so anything I do or change I(we) can rework the tunes accordingly. he can even remotely tune via laptop if I have my car on a dyno for testing, which I do plan to get this car on a dyno locally one day.
here is it running while sniper ecu is now controlling timing.... just a few minutes after I finished the conversion, getting the engine temp up.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7rPreVuJa14
I have been spending some time diving into the Sniper EFI software program and looking at my datalogs. It is new and exciting to be able to see all this stuff, and I know I am barely scratching the surface of what is able to be logged and adjusted.
Also, took a few hours and cleaned up/sanded/painted my OEM original old rear IROC-Z wheels. Its not a flawless job, but they were in pretty rough shape from being unused for the past 17 years. I didn't go crazy with the level of detail since the plan is to use them for non-show purposes. Bought the Mickey Thompson ET Streets that I was discussing above and they will be mounted on these iroc wheels one day soon. I have missed having these wheels on the car so it's pretty cool to bring them back to life.
Couldn't make it to Island Dragway today for T&T, but perhaps next week if they are open. By then, I hope to have several revisions of the new tune and the drag radials on.