Aces EFI Killshot 2 Review – Nomadic Dyno

First Impressions

The very first feature that stood out: the shape and size now fit under a 14” air cleaner drop base! This is a huge improvement for vehicles like mine with a tall intake and low hood clearance.

The throttle bores are slightly larger in diameter; it appears to match the diameter of the Deuces Wild throttle bores. The throttle blades are lower in the throttle body; they now stick out below the throttle body base at WOT, the same as most other throttle bodies and carburetors.

There is a green electrical port on the side, facing the rear, that, as some of you already know, is for dual quad applications! This is great news for a lot of people—I can’t wait to try it out.

There are only fuel ports on the non-linkage side, which doesn’t affect me at all, but it might affect some people depending on layout.

There is an internal fuel pressure sensor. To me, this is great. If you are running a deadhead fuel system like I am, you will see spiky fuel pressure readings just by the nature of how it reads as the injectors fire.

The harness appears the same. I can’t remember if the KS1 harness has a TPS out on it or not, but the KS2 does. This will be handy for electronically controlled transmissions.

The ECM is the same part number as the KS1, so I’d expect the same capabilities between them. Not sure if the dual quad setup will have its own ECM part number.

After doing a very hasty installation while the Cuda was strapped to the dyno from other testing, I turned in the throttle blade adjustment a little ways and put in a wizard tune set to the mild camshaft and CDI RPM source, as I am controlling the ignition with the High Roller.

I did not go in and adjust a single parameter. I did not even finish adjusting the throttle blades and IAC for several days.

Within a minute or so of getting up to operating temp, I rolled it on the dyno for about 2 minutes, making sure the AFRs were safe to make a wide open pull on the dyno. I then proceeded to make 3 back-to-back pulls on the dyno. They were all safe, and they all performed well despite being a fair amount on the rich side. The very first pull matched the same curve as my previously tuned Killshot 1—the power numbers were just lower from how rich the AFR was.

I then drove the car to a car show across town in 30°F on frozen roads and drove it back to the shop, taking a long scenic route on the way back—all without adjusting a single thing (IAC still not adjusted). I took a few videos doing a standstill launch through 3rd gear.

Things I took away from this: I absolutely could not do this when I installed the Killshot 1.

The KS2 had significantly better throttle response out of the box and didn’t have issues with stalling when coming to a stop, despite the throttle blades being closed way too much. There was still a lean bog when slamming the throttle, but it would come out of it and boil the tires. For just regular cruising around, it was pretty good out of the box, with room for improvement.

After collecting some data and videos, I began actually adjusting and tuning it in (and I finally adjusted the throttle blades/IAC). It made a significant difference in drivability and throttle response with basic table changes and a healthy accel adjustment. The KS2 responded much better to accel table adjustments. Beforehand, there was a lean bog that I absolutely could not tune out of it, and after some time, I’ve basically eliminated it.

I will add that I drove it for a short while using the KS to control timing via the Blackjack coil and a magnetic distributor. Despite making the timing curve match the High Roller timing exactly, throttle response was not nearly as good. I did not play around with the advance coefficient between tables, but that should not have played much of a role, as I had the timing values matched up exactly in each RPM range between tables, so there was no “jumping” timing values.

High Roller was instant tire destruction; using the KS2 timing had a hiccup before it snapped the tires loose.

My favorite thing still is being able to use my drop base air cleaner.

Overall, I’d call it a great out-of-the-box improvement over the Killshot 1, but it still has some of the shortcomings of the KS1 with timing control and timing-related throttle bog. A part of me was expecting to get better 2D table resolution and additional accel adjustments with a new and improved model. Maybe that will be featured on a Killshot “Pro” rather than a Killshot “II.”

Bryant Stilwell
Nomadic Dyno
Rapid City, SD

Dyno Chart: Killshot 1 Tuned vs Killshot 2 Wizard

Dyno Chart: Blackjack Timing vs High Roller

Dyno Chart: Killshot 2 Wizard vs Killshot 2 Tuned