Accessibility has always been an overriding philosophy with Sniper EFI products, both in terms of cost effectiveness and ease of use, and that’s exemplified by their latest offering for 1BBL carbureted engines.

Sniper EFI retrofit kits are typically associated with burly street machines and weekend racers due to their growing popularity in those circles. But as word has gotten around about these no-nonsense fuel injection systems, it’s given Sniper the opportunity to develop solutions for applications that otherwise tend to see less support by the aftermarket.

“The idea was to create a fuel injection system that could replace a carburetor without requiring the user to be a whiz at tuning,” says Matthew Lunsford of Holley Performance.

For full features and Specs on Holley Sniper EFI electronic fuel injection replacement for Autolite 1100 carburetors, click here.

“Initially it made sense to start with the big hitters – the stuff you’d normally see running a 4150-style carburetor today. Any of the historic Holley four-barrel carburetors typically use a 4150 flange, so it covers a wide range of applications. And as we saw success there, we started to focus more of our engineering efforts toward specialized applications – stuff like the 2300 flange 2BBL, the Dominator-style 4500 flange, Quadrajet-specific applications, the Carter BBD for Jeep CJ, and the Rochester 2GC. And this new one-barrel offering should be interesting – there’s just nothing else out there on the market that’s anywhere close to this.”

Designed to fit under the stock air cleaner, Holley's Sniper EFI for Autolite 1100 systems bring modern fuel injection in a compact and easy-to-install package.

Modern Tech For Your Weekend Cruiser

With Sniper EFI’s latest system, all of the benefits that these EFI retrofit kits have brought to the aforementioned applications over the years is now available as a purpose-built piece for vehicles originally equipped with the Autolite 1100. “We try to use customer feedback to help guide our development roadmap whenever we can,” Lunsford explains. “So when we started hearing things like, ‘Hey, I need something for my six-cylinder classic Mustang,’ or ‘I’d really like to put EFI on my old pickup that came with a one barrel,’ we took notice.”

Folks were looking for a something to get these cars to run better and more reliably, but at the time Sniper didn’t have a solution that was really purpose-built for the job. “At best, if you were lucky you could get an adapter that would make the two-barrel 2300 system work with a one-barrel intake,” he says. “But the 2300 is ultimately designed for a two-barrel system, and that can lead to fuel distribution issues when you adapt it to a single opening. It’s just not ideal. So that led us to start the development of the one-barrel system back in 2018, and research showed that one of the most widely used one-barrel carburetors out there is the Autolite 1100.”

The one-barrel Autolite 1100 carburetor was used as factory equipment by a several different automakers on a variety of vehicles throughout the years. Perhaps the most notable instance comes from Ford, which used the 1100 on all 1964-68 Mustangs that were equipped with six-cylinder motivation.

Found on many Studebakers, Internationals, and even some Chryslers, the 1100 was also standard issue on Ford Falcons and Galaxies in the early '60s, along with F-100 trucks and Econoline vans, and later used on six-cylinder Mustang power plants. “With Fords, basically anything that didn’t come with a V8 had an Autolite 1100 on it.” Lunsford points out. “So that made it the obvious choice here. For a ‘64½ to ’68 Mustang, the throttle linkage and everything else is identical – it bolts on exactly like the factory stuff.”

And as with Sniper EFI’s other offerings, this new 1BBL unit is designed to get your fuel injection system up and running with zero hassle. “It’s four wires plus a wire for the fuel pump,” Lunsford tells us. “And once it’s installed, it’s self-tuning – when you first turn it on, the system runs you through a wizard that asks you a few basic questions about the application that you’re putting this Sniper on – displacement, cylinder count, type of ignition system you’re using, etc – and it creates a fuel map and timing curve based on that information. And as you drive the vehicle, the system continues to refine the calibration specifically to your engine.”

Along with its ability to control cooling fans and air conditioning, the system has a few hot rodding tricks up its sleeve as well. “It does have nitrous control, too,” he says with a chuckle. “That’s probably not huge priority if you’ve got a one-barrel system, but you never know!”

Holley has a plethora of fuel pump options to make the conversion from carb to EFI extremely painless. This Muscle Car EFI Module drops directly into a factory fuel tank and includes a high-pressure EFI pump.

Plug And Play Ready

In years past, converting a vintage vehicle to fuel injection could prove to be a convoluted process, but systems like the Sniper EFI have simplified things substantially.

“The biggest piece of the puzzle is the fuel system itself,” Lunsford says. “All Sniper EFI kits require a high-pressure fuel system that can support the horsepower of the engine. That said, this one-barrel system uses a single 100 lb-hr injector, so there isn’t a ton of fuel flow required here. This Sniper system has a fuel pressure regulator built into it, so basically all you need to make it work is an EFI-rated fuel pump, good filters, and a return line.”

To learn more about drop-in EFI fuel systems, click HERE!

He also points out that folks who’re converting to EFI have a choice to make when it comes to ignition timing. “With a basic setup you can leave it so that the factory mechanical advance distributor controls the timing and the factory ignition system is running. In that configuration, the Sniper is just controlling the fuel. Or, if you’re willing to go for a bit more advanced setup, you can have the Sniper EFI system also control the timing if you use a Holley, Sniper, or MSD distributor.”

The latter configuration offers the ability for the system to create a more specialized timing curve, which will potentially yield a better idle, improved fuel economy, and sharper overall response. “I always say that if you’re only controlling the fuel side of the equation, you’re only using EFI to half its potential.”

This new 1BBL Sniper EFI system will be available in two variants – one will be the throttle body by itself (PN 550-552), and the other will be a universal in-line fuel system package and the throttle body (PN 550-552K).

The system also includes a 3.5-inch screen which can be used to display real-time engine information – or not. “Once you’ve run the wizard, it’s not a required component for the system to operate,” he says. “A lot of folks do mount this display on their dash so it can provide engine RPM, air/fuel ratio, coolant temperature, etc – it becomes their true gauge cluster. But there are also a lot of folks who unplug the display, put it in the glove box, and leave it there.”