MegaSquirt (MS3) or Holley HP EFI

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408scamp

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Looking for opinions. Doing a Turbo magnum swap into a Scamp. Want to stay EFI and have the tunability. Will be mainly street driven but want the ability to turn up the boost and go play on or off track. Anyone with experience with either system? From what i understand, the Holley is SIGNIFICANTLY more expensive. I guess the question is, Is it really worth the extra money when budget is a concern?
 
I have a Terminator X and I'm starting to sour on the whole Holley ecosystem. I would definitely encourage you to really drill down on what and how you want to set up your car before coming to a final decision. If you think you are going to want to run other brand modules over CAN communication, forget about Holley altogether. Also Holley does not support an 8x crank trigger, so you'll need to modify the flexplate or run another trigger wheel that they support somewhere else.
 
DNasty777 said:
I have a Terminator X and I'm starting to sour on the whole Holley ecosystem. I would definitely encourage you to really drill down on what and how you want to set up your car before coming to a final decision. If you think you are going to want to run other brand modules over CAN communication, forget about Holley altogether.
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Great info. What other modules were you hoping to run?

DNasty777 said:
Also Holley does not support an 8x crank trigger, so you'll need to modify the flexplate or run another trigger wheel that they support somewhere else.
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Looks like the Holley dual sync distributor is another option, too.

This guy has a pretty good video on setting up a Terminator X system on a Magnum.

 
You’ll have to define the build a little more to get better input but for a magnum with factory EFI and a 46re trans it’s hard to beat the jtec ecu with HP Tuners, prior to hp tuners support I ran an MS3 piggy backed on top of the jtec and that was a nightmare. I have experience with Holley dominator on a few different race cars and it’s awesome but I would not use it with the factory efi, it’s overkill. I absolutely love my AEM infinity ecu but support for that platform is gone since Holley bought AEM for the technology and adapted it to the dominator ecus (which may be why I like them). @DNasty777 what don’t you like about the terminator x?
 
TT5.9mag said:
You’ll have to define the build a little more to get better input but for a magnum with factory EFI and a 46re trans it’s hard to beat the jtec ecu with HP Tuners, prior to hp tuners support I ran an MS3 piggy backed on top of the jtec and that was a nightmare. I have experience with Holley dominator on a few different race cars and it’s awesome but I would not use it with the factory efi, it’s overkill. I absolutely love my AEM infinity ecu but support for that platform is gone since Holley bought AEM for the technology and adapted it to the dominator ecus (which may be why I like them). @DNasty777 what don’t you like about the terminator x?
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I honestly never thought about using the factory or the 46re. I have been thinking custom the whole time but may be over complicating. I guess part of my issue is that I don't have a distinct end goal in mind, which makes he whole thing complicated. Probably watch too many Sick Week videos LOL. Always wanted mid to low 9 second street car that was still comfortable to cruise around in. Wanting to have the framework in place to upgrade along the way.
 
408scamp said:
I honestly never thought about using the factory or the 46re. I have been thinking custom the whole time but may be over complicating. I guess part of my issue is that I don't have a distinct end goal in mind, which makes he whole thing complicated. Probably watch too many Sick Week videos LOL. Always wanted mid to low 9 second street car that was still comfortable to cruise around in. Wanting to have the framework in place to upgrade along the way.
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I’m in the planning stages of a drag and drive car for myself currently as well, and I’ll be using a turbo magnum 5.9 with a tremec T56 magnum. But mine will be blow through carbureted. I’d suggest narrowing down the hard parts of the build plan (engine, trans, diff) then decide on electronics (efi, carb, aftermarket or factory equipment) and then ask the same questions.
 
TT5.9mag said:
@DNasty777 what don’t you like about the terminator x?
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First one was DOA (which I hear is quite common), if I had installed it a week later Holley would have charged me for a replacement. Their CAN protocol is proprietary, they really want to lock you into their ecosystem. That’s fine for a lot of people, for most probably, but I like to do weird stuff. Their documentation is really good, especially if you are doing a run of the mill Chevy setup. Once you stray though, it’s not much help. Their documentation on their site is also now at least one revision behind.

The price point is weird, for like $200 more you can get an EcuMaxx Race or Haltech Rebel LS.

It’s probably just buyers remorse, but now the EcuMaxx natively supports the 8HP, and that’s the direction I’m going.
 
DNasty777 said:
First one was DOA (which I hear is quite common), if I had installed it a week later Holley would have charged me for a replacement. Their CAN protocol is proprietary, they really want to lock you into their ecosystem. That’s fine for a lot of people, for most probably, but I like to do weird stuff. Their documentation is really good, especially if you are doing a run of the mill Chevy setup. Once you stray though, it’s not much help. Their documentation on their site is also now at least one revision behind.

The price point is weird, for like $200 more you can get an EcuMaxx Race or Haltech Rebel LS.

It’s probably just buyers remorse, but now the EcuMaxx natively supports the 8HP, and that’s the direction I’m going.
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Haven’t heard of EcuMaxx race. Is this it?
MaxxECU - The modern ECU
 
TT5.9mag said:
I’m in the planning stages of a drag and drive car for myself currently as well, and I’ll be using a turbo magnum 5.9 with a tremec T56 magnum. But mine will be blow through carbureted. I’d suggest narrowing down the hard parts of the build plan (engine, trans, diff) then decide on electronics (efi, carb, aftermarket or factory equipment) and then ask the same questions.
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I have the 5.9 Magnum and Dana 60. I do have the 47RE out of the donor truck but it was a 4x4 truck and transfer case is in place of tail shaft and housing so was going to go another route. Just unsure of which transmission. There is a 904 in the car now, so to at least get it up and running will use that, but ultimately want to end up with overdrive automatic.
 
408scamp said:
I have the 5.9 Magnum and Dana 60. I do have the 47RE out of the donor truck but it was a 4x4 truck and transfer case is in place of tail shaft and housing so was going to go another route. Just unsure of which transmission. There is a 904 in the car now, so to at least get it up and running will use that, but ultimately want to end up with overdrive automatic.
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8HP70 out of a charger! Built in transbrake and manual valve body.
 
Personal opinion, hard to beat an 8HP70 or similar for a drag and drive event. As mentioned, built in transbrake, plus wicked fast shifts and more steps from first to 1:1 (6th) to keep the motor in the power band. Plus, after all is said and done, throw it in drive and cruise at 1500 rpm or something low like that. Might even be able to program a "sport mode" button for drag race snap your neck shifts and then tone it down when cruising to the next venue. Additionally, because first is 4.70ish, the rear gear can be something much milder and maybe cheaper because most people with a 2.94 throw/give it away.
 
I run the MS3PRO Evo on my turbo’d 5.9 Magnum. I love all of the features that are included ootb and use many of them. I will say that when I go to the track most folks run the Holley and there are plenty of tuners that know it. That said, Megasquirt has a very active and helpful community.
 
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