EXTRA-TECH: HOLLEY CONVERSION

IF you’ve spent any time off-road with a carbureted vehicle, it probably didn’t take long to find the limits of a bowl of fuel sitting on top of the intake. Angles are not friendly to this dated, but effective, technology. You can solve this problem using an electronic fuel injection system that replaces your carburetor with a more efficient throttle body injection. The Sniper EFI, provided by our friends at Holley Performance Products, is a complete solution containing everything needed to complete the job.

- Daniel Maffett

The vehicle going under the knife today is my 1980 Jeep CJ7. The drivetrain is an AMC 258ci with a Weber 32/36 Carb, T176, Dana 300 JB conversion 4:1 kit. This powers the factory Dana 30 Spartan Locked front axle, and AMC 20 ARB Locked rear axle. Both have 4.56 gearing and alloy axle shafts from Ten Factory. The Jeep sits on about 4 inches of lift, between body and suspension, and 35 inch Milestar Tires.

Let’s get started. First up, out with the old; although this Weber carb has treated me well for many years and is far superior to the BBD Carter that the Jeep would have come with from the factory, I have reached its limits on the rocks. Removal is very straight forward. First, disconnect all fuel and vacuum lines. Follow this by disconnecting the linkage and filter assembly. Remove the four mounting bolts and the bolts holding the adapter to the manifold. What you’re leftwith is a bare BBD carb mounting flange in need of a quick cleanup. At this time, remove all metal and rubber lines from the old mechanical fuel pump. These will not be reused.

Just like that, the fun is ready to begin! The Holley Sniper kit provides four new mounting studs; these were installed with a dab of blue Loctite. The gasket was placed over the studs and the Sniper unit placed on top. In hindsight, trimming a bit of the length from the mounting studs would have made installation easier, as the studs’ installed height made finding the correct socket combo difficult.