Looking for a Holley Terminator X wiring expert.

[1700camaro]

Gary,

Hope you get it all sorted out in Havasu!

Sounds like you might have it out for our 1st TnT this coming Saturday. I should have time to come over & introduce myself.

The only thing we are testing is the drag quad. Hope to fire the Camaro tomorrow to put a heat cycle on the engine. We'll see if I did the install, software set-up & tune correctly on the Terminator X.

1700/781L

[Cglrcng]

Looking forward to it 1700, it is definitely ignition related (not yet getting a square wave rpm signal), and I just do not yet know what I need to know about the software yet. With no square wave signal the single injector will not fire. Everything else is working. Spark and air is great, but you also have to have fuel to make noise and power. (I ordered a couple of parts to see if we can accomplish getting a square wave patterned signal from a different distro p.u. that will be in after the first test and will take that completed once in to the local community College lab (where my wife is a faculty member and do a drill spinup test on a lab scope, as that may just resolve my issue. Not giving up, just delayed a tiny bit. A digital ignition box is the easiest cure, but wanted to wait on that next improvement. The total costs so far rose pretty fast even doing all the work myself.

I will be there on Saturday to test either way, as the car is currently right now back running on the old ecm/pm, and need to test all the other improves and move the car back to Vegas storage end of day. We certainly will not be complaining about the crisp cold air! It is cccccoooooold out!

[Cglrcng]

Well crap...MSD makes a simple $129 buck ($140 w/tax), Part # 8509 Module that converts the V sine signal of a magnetic p.u. to a square wave signal that works with either the white points output wire of an MSD Ign. Box or will work w/the crank/cam signal wires.

Ordered it last night so it can easily be installed by next week's test day, and bracket races 1&2. While I was out searching for the best solution it was available on the Holley website all along.

At least I am getting the conversion time between old and new systems down to about 2.5 hrs or less. That could help in a pinch. And I am learning.

[1700camaro]

Good meeting & chatting with you today in the lanes. Hope you get everything sorted out for racing next weekend!

1700/781L

[Cglrcng]

You also 1700, so (funny story about the harsh environments we race our cars in popped up last night), I got 5 test passes in yesterday and car runs right, working on the tree attempting to trim the stall correctly am happy with the test.

I move my car over to the storage unit 10 miles from the track and mark, take pics and remove my simple distributor to bring it home and I can barely move by hand the shaft of the distributor. How often once we find the sweet spot in timing, do we actually remove, clean and adjust 1 of the hardest working parts of our car?

How many actually de-pin (remove the roll pins), disassemble the unit down to the bare shaft, grease and reassemble it if it is working right? It was right just 2 seasons ago, but has been through a lot. I could turn it, but just barely by hand.

In the center of the shaft is a grease groove, and a machined spiral that drives any oil that may climb the shaft back downward in the normal direction
of operation, that was packed with dirt, hardened and solidified grease (and plenty of dirt track clay it appeared that was bound up between the shaft grooves and the brass shaft bushing).

I actually had to drive the shaft out if the
bushing and use carb dip to dissolve the
old grease and clay. It was a new part just 2 seasons ago. (1 really dusty event though in November 2023 at Vegas though when we needed to use leaf blowers to blow off cars and pit surfaces. The body was full of clay dust below the HEP plate. A nasty black powder.

The old saying if it is working don't touch it does not fly. It had to be robbing HP period. Lessons learned. But, hard to do, mess with timing once you find that sweet spot where it works right. Until it just doesn't.

It was borderline, and was about to cause major issues. If it were not for solving the square wave signal issue of the Holley ECU, that would have not been found until it bound up solid.

A blessing in disguise. And I already have the replacement. And a new item to add to the "maintenance it more often list" whether I want to or not.

That part is only 2 seasons old. A simple hall effect distro. But it works hard and has lived in a filthy windy/dusty environment and the charged ions internally attract dust, dirt and grime and has plenty of holes engineered into it to vent out those ions. And a spiral machined groove to drive the oil southward back into the block.

The smallest things can easily be overlooked.

[GTX JOHN]

I bet your car picks up a good tenth give
the HP level you are working with Gary!

Seriously, I have never encountered that particular
problem in the 60+ years I have been racing.

[Cglrcng]

I had not either John, I was shocked it would barely turn and had not twisted the shaft yet. It had galled the shaft and the stuff left in the bottom of the distro was definitely clay dust from that dirt track. There are 4 venting holes in the bottom and a big vent in the Cap to let out the charged ions, but it also lets in dust and dirt.

My guess as bad as it was bound up will likely be a tenth too (in the first 60 feet maybe)...we shall see again in just 5 days. You can see where the 2" bushing sleeve wear was in the pic above. The first shaft I have seen though w/ that spiral oil groove and that drives oil downward, but also dust and dirt too that finds its way in, packed it all tight into that machined grease groove. The stuff in that groove was like concrete until I put it in Berryman's Carb Dip. Then I could scrape it out easily w/ a pick.