I completed 2 EFI builds in the last 6 months or so. Both use Holley Terminator ECM and harness, both use Holley fuel tanks with integral pumps and non contact fuel level sensor along with C4 Corvette fuel filter/regulator with single fuel line running from the regulator up to the injection. One injection is a Borla 8 stack on LS3 in my 67 coupe, and the other is a Rochester conversion in my 65 coupe. Both are pretty straight forward builds and thanks to Doug Rippie for his help along the way. I have about 800 miles on the LS Borla, runs perfect. The 65 Rochester conversion has minimal miles on it so far, but runs well on test drives around the block. Both are manual trans cars.

 

All this talk has got me thinking. Is there any problem with longer duration cams or tighter LSA on the TBI style system?
Thx in advance.

 

No, but you need to know how to tune them or know someone who can.

 

LOVE the 8 stack Borla look!!

 

I was reading that a car’s ECU last the life of the car. My nephew’s 2000 Chevy Impala is 22 years old and still has the original ECU with no problems. Aren’t all vehicle’s ECU built the same?



I was reading on the Holley Forum that sometimes the Holley ECU goes bad. What could make a Holley ECU become damaged?

 

No problem at all. I have a Holley Sniper setup on my 66 Chevelle 300 with a ZL1 427 Anniversary Motor stroked to 489 with an extremely healthy cam…dyno’d at 600hp Works fantastic.

 

Is this the white car I saw a picture of about a week or so sgo?

 

Welding on a vehicle with the ECU connected could fry it.
Believe it or not, but turning the ignition switch off and on rapidly has reportedly caused some Holley ECU's to erase the tune.

 

Yessir. Here it is parked next to my 63….which is also fuel injected, but that’s bc it’s a 605hp MAST LS3

 

Does Holley make their ECU's in house in the USA or are they made overseas? Just wondering if they are as durable as GM's ECU's? Thought ECU's with no moving parts should last 40+ years or more.

 

I know a lot of their products are " Engineered in USA, made in China " , my guess is the ECU is as well. I doubt they're as durable as a GM unit. I'd imagine the testing, quality control and manufacturing of a GM ECU is under tighter tolerances than Holley, especially bc of the number of cars the GM units have to go into. I have had an ECU fail in sportfishing boat I owned that had a Volvo D6 diesel 350hp....failed at about 10 years of use.

 

What are the symptoms of a failing ECU or failed ECU?
Do you know what makes them break?

 

No clue what it was on my boat, worked fine one day and dead the next. The ECU was located in the cabin of the boat and not subject to heat at all. And unfortunately those Volvo Marine parts are stupid expensive, makes car parts look extremely affordable.

I would think heat would be the top killer of an ECU.

 

Did you install your ECU in the engine compartment?

 

Its tucked up inside the upper part of the front fender. Protected from heat and debris by some custom inner fenders.

 

Mike-
OEM ECU's since the late 1980's have generally been reliable benefiting from robust construction, surface mounted components, hermetically sealed (and non-repairable) and more than that digital. Early day ECM, think 1967 Bosch D Jetronic and Bendix Electrojector variants were analog and used plenty of electrolytic capacitors to dry up and fail as well as solder joints and internal wiring connectors to in some cases multiple boards to loosen up. OEM ECU tend to be very reliable so long as jumper cables are not attached backwards.

Electronic equipment hardware failure is more often than not a latent manufacturing defect even at the semiconductor level, a bad solder joint, static electricity damage or over-current. All of this assumes that moisture infiltration and internal corrosion are not the problem as contemporary ECU is well packaged. Original Delco K66 boxes were known to have internal corrosion problems.

Aftermarket stuff is anything goes. Heed the experience of those here and follow the MFG instructions to the letter. Make sure you have a robust charging system to hold a level system voltage. I wouldn't use a mechanical regulator here.

Dan

 

What is a mechanical regulator part? Function of part?

 

I believe he is referring to original type with points as opposed to electronic ones.

 

To generate electricity we move a magnet in a coil of wire or the other way around, as long as they move relative to each other. A magnet can be permanent - like the ones that keep cabinet doors closed - or electromagnets such as the wire coiled around a nail and connected to a battery back in school.

Alternators do not use permanent magnets. They use an electromagnet - like the nail - to create the magnetic field inside the big coil of wire - the stator - where the electricity is made to flow. We call that nail the field coil or rotor, its job is to be the magnet. Since engine speed and alternator speed change so does the alternator output voltage so we want a way to control that, hold it so it does not exceed useful battery charging voltage of say 14.2 volts. The original design and correct for a C2 regulator does this by opening and closing the supply voltage to that "magnet" many times a second. With the cover off and operating you would look at something quite like an old fashion back door buzzer that sounded like one too. That's how they work, they open and close the supply to the magnet inside the alternator so that the average voltage is constant.
Over time those contacts erode and eventually a mechanical regulator is simply used up like a light bulb. They can fail stuck open or closed to under charge or over charge your battery.

Electronic regulators were introduced in the 1960's and appeared for a short time and under certain conditions on C2, passenger cars and a lot of Pontiacs. They do away with the metal contacts and instead switch the field magnet on and off far faster using a transistor-like device (s). These became OEM on every car by 1975. Voltage output is steady, not dependent on temperature of a mechanical regulator and they tend to last almost forever, until someone jumps the battery backwards for example.

Dan

 

I am currently installing an FITech tuned port injection with a Holley fi tank. I will update on how it works