Installing a Holley Sniper on a 3.5 v8

JimC

Super Moderator
Staff member
The Sniper itself arrived, so now to theorize its installation. I’ve got the correct thermostat housing on order from RPI Engineering in the UK, hopefully that will arrive soon. It would be nice to get this manifold bolted down in earnest.

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JimC

Super Moderator
Staff member
Here‘s the correct thermostat housing/water neck. At 75 UKP it’s not the bargain solution, but it does solve this problem elegantly and in one go.

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JimC

Super Moderator
Staff member
Also, because this is a Sniper 2300, it requires an adapter for the 4-barrel edelbrock manifold. there were some crap plastic ones available, but I went ahead and got this nice machined alloy one from Holley. Not too worried about vertical clearance in the engine bay.

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RBBailey

NAS-ROW Addict
Callsign: KF7KFZ
I'm tempted to try this on a 4.2 that I have in the garage. It seems like several in this thread have something up and working, maybe not the exact same thing, but some variation of throwing the Rover injection system in the trash and getting on with life. Does anyone have any report they can give on once it's finished and running correctly? Long term?
 

1of40

Well-known member
I’ve seen Craig Jones’s and it seems to do everything he asks it to. He had his done by Sarek in Richmond VA.
 

JimC

Super Moderator
Staff member
I like the 14CUX, but I didn’t want to install it on this 3.5. I have probably 3 complete systems sitting here but they’re all 25-30 years old. My friend wants his truck to “just run“ and this looked to me like the most direct path to that. Hopefull...
 

RBBailey

NAS-ROW Addict
Callsign: KF7KFZ
Exactly. I'm looking at my '95 Classic, and I'm scared of all the computer modules that could go bad on it at any moment (like my driver's seat adjust) and there just isn't any easy way to repair/fix them. I just want it to run.
 

RDavisinVA

Technical Excellence Contributor
Careful with raising the 2300 too high as the hood clearance is tight and you'll need to fit an air filter or the adapter for one.
 

John boyle

New member
Hi I’m looking to do the same job and following with interest ,I’m interested you opted for the 2300 two barrel.
The kit in the uk is priced at £1600 but I can buy from the US for half of that.
is there a part number for the kit or just purely 2300.
great pictures following with interest
 

KGH

Well-known member
Jim, I appreciate your time on the phone the other day. As I stated, I am getting two V8 trucks that will arrive tomorrow. Rather than fight with carb synchronization and all of the other esoterica with that set up I will most likely follow your lead with at least one of them.
 

GynormousMellon

Well-known member
Jim C....any updates? I'm putting together a parts list from this thread. This is a big help!!

Interested in how you mounted the fuel pump and ran your fuel lines
Did you go with a return fuel line or use Hollys set up for the return
Wiring the holly
O2 sensor placement
Mounting of the coolant temp sensor

Thanks in advance
 

JimC

Super Moderator
Staff member
No updates except that I got the manifold drilled to accept the EFI coolant temp sensor. I kind of put this project on the back burner while I surged to finish my NAS 110. I’ll have to suffer with the cold and try to get this moving forward this winter.

Im debating just using the stock in-tank pump as a lift pump and installing the fuel pump heat the fuel filter, which on this truck is on the right side frame rail just behind the bulkhead outrigger.

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GynormousMellon

Well-known member
I'm doing this same conversion and JimC has helped me with some questions. He asked me to update with my fuel tank part of this install. I ordered the Holley in-tank Sniper fuel pump and when I dropped the tank, it was a mess with horrible rust and corrosion. No real surprises there. It was so bad, that I couldn't get out the fuel level sender on the side of the tank. Instead of attempting to clean the tank up, I got a new one for $200 which also included the cradle for the tank. Not wanting to deal with rust again, I had the tank and cradle coated at Line-X for $130. I don't want to go through replacing the tank anytime in the future.

Before I dropped my tank, I siphoned as much of the fuel out as I could. Then I used the drain in the bottom of the old tank to drain the rest of the gas. I was afraid if I just used the drain, I wouldn't be able to stop the draining of fuel without a mess when It filled a gas can. On the plus side, I discovered that I actually have a working low fuel light!! Never knew that before 👍

The stock opening of the tank is 2" and the Holley pump requires a 3&1/4" opening. I took a 2&1/8" fender washer and tac welded it to the opening of the tank then used a metal 3&1/4" hole saw and cut out the opening. Worked perfectly. Took some time to clean out the inside of the tank but got it done. A second reason I went with a new tank besides the amount of rust, was not having to deal with fumes when welding and cutting the new opening.

Holley fuel pump has three ports. Vent , out and return. I used a NPT fitting to close off the vent since I'll be using the factory vent. Next I'll be running all new fuel lines that were included in the Sniper kit, for the supply and return lines.
 

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