Decisions decisions Pro M or Holley Terminator X

tank76 · Dec 21, 2022

Hello all,

Recently, I have been getting a plan together on what to do with my 89 Fox automatic GT. The car has 87K on it and was driven by an older gentleman before I bought it of a mechanic making me the third owner. Asides from a tune up and some mild go fast parts, I haven't done a lot with it but plan on fully restoring it to a beast street car with some occasional strip usage. Before anything it will be getting a T-5 transmission and upgraded suspension here in a few weeks. After that, My plan is to go with an ON3 turbo kit. With that , the stock computer is gonna go. I have been reading about the difference between the PRO M engine management set-up and the Holley terminator X. Both seem like great systems but am leaning towards the more expensive PRO M because I like that it keeps the mass air meter in the mix and is somewhat more plug-n-play. However, Wiring doesn't really scare me either , nor does learning how to tune. I just wanted to get some opinions from people that may have ran either set to see what they have to say. SO for those running a term X what do you think. For those running a PRO M what do you think. IS anyone running either system with a power adder, what is your overall impressions with drivability, tuneability etc.

Thanks

TOOLOW91 · Dec 21, 2022

Term x hands down . Try and find tuners that use the pro m . I know you aren’t afraid to learn but no tuner knows everything . Using a system that is used everywhere makes it much easier to troubleshoot or move forward . Why keep the mass air In the mix and have another thing to worry about ?

Term x you aren’t limited to just a term x . If you grow out of it you could move Into a dominator for more inputs and outputs or the other features it has with a simple ecu swap .

I’ve had a Holley hp in mine since 2018 . I’ve done a bunch of installs and term x as we’ll. Never an issue . For me it’s Holley hands down . Other guys have other opinions. I just did one in a gt . Everything in that car works like it did the day it left the factory down to the AC and all the Factory gauges . The kid was thrilled with how night and day it and and the possibilities are endless for what you can do .

nickyb · Dec 21, 2022

What about a megasquirt plug n play?

rednotch · Dec 22, 2022

My only gripe with pro-m. It's a one man business and has been for years now, it's a custom Spanish oak ford ecu... Look up mass Flo efi, the kit the same owner marketed to the cobra kit car crowd. ... Not a fan of Holley these days, the x is cheap and fully potted but supply should be good for a long time and every one and there sister knows it these days.

bird_dog0347 · Dec 22, 2022

I used to have a Megasquirt MS2PNP in my car with a 302 HCI setup that ran well and was easy to use and used the factory harness. Now that my car is changing out to a 4.6 DOCH the plan is to go with the Holley Term X.

Mustang5L5 · Dec 22, 2022

Between those two, I’d go Term X

tank76 · Dec 22, 2022

Thanks guys. To answer some questions I prefer the mass air because I understand it better than a map sensor. I also feel like that would easier to tune for a street car. I could be entirely wrong who knows. I do know alot of guys in this area run the term x with good success and Holley has been around for ages so it's tried and true.

Don't know much about the mega squirt. I had some work done on another car from and engine builder in my area and asked him about the mega squirt and he advised against it and said go with a term x -- then again he was a Holley term x distributor so I felt that was a bias opinion lol

Still very much on the fence. I would also consider the mega squirt

I will be running an on 3 turbo so don't know if that changes the game on which one to use

96pushrod · Dec 22, 2022

Term x. MAF is completely unnecessary to have a perfectly running car. Speed density is used by many oems as the method of controlling fuel and spark. Ask literally any other efi company besides pro-m (or another that also sells them) if you need a maf, or even if they recommend one.

If you go to the track you will find people who will be able to help support you with the Holley. Pro-m is a very small niche market when compared to the Holley.

Plus pro-m uses a weird load based ignition and fuel tables as opposed to just manifold pressure.

Now I’ll say this - a lot of people who use the pro-m are happy with it, it’s just not what I’m looking for. You might be different.

Fwiw I use a ms3 based pimpxs and I really like it. With $1000 ecu and a $90 expansion harness you have a lot of options. Plus Wes and Shannon have really good tech support on their dedicate forum for their users.

TOOLOW91 · Dec 22, 2022

rednotch said:
My only gripe with pro-m. It's a one man business and has been for years now, it's a custom Spanish oak ford ecu... Look up mass Flo efi, the kit the same owner marketed to the cobra kit car crowd. ... Not a fan of Holley these days, the x is cheap and fully potted but supply should be good for a long time and every one and there sister knows it these days.

My gripe lately , the x made the Holley appealing to a market where those cars wouldn’t have ever considered a stand alone . So now you have 4 million people who have never used or installed a stand alone claiming they don’t work and have issues where 9 times out of 10 it’s install or setuo error . I still prefer a hp or dominator over the term x but It does work well for the price point it’s hard to beat .

Lately I have been interested in messing with haltech and fueltech.

I’m digging the haltech r5 stuff

96pushrod · Dec 22, 2022

TOOLOW91 said:
My gripe lately , the x made the Holley appealing to a market where those cars wouldn’t have ever considered a stand alone . So now you have 4 million people who have never used or installed a stand alone claiming they don’t work and have issues where 9 times out of 10 it’s install or setuo error . I still prefer a hp or dominator over the term x but It does work well for the price point it’s hard to beat .

Lately I have been interested in messing with haltech and fueltech.

I’m digging the haltech r5 stuff

The ft700 looks like a bad mofo. Honestly that’s what I’d consider doing next. It’s just an expensive endeavor

Reddevil91 · Dec 22, 2022

I have pro-m system I haven’t installed yet. Been meaning to but I bought it used and it came with the universal hot rod harness, and was set up for COP which it came with everything. Harness, computer, coils, flow through tube, etc etc. I would need to order the correct harness for my 91 as I’m not a wire guru and would have no idea how to make that universal harness work for my car. I’ve had it for awhile but never gotten around to it. I thought about selling it, maybe going Holley but just got to a point where I want to get my car figured out with some current issues then decide what I want to do ecu wise. As mentioned the group I follow on FB for pro-m seems to like the set up but it does seem to be nit picky unit, but idk much about after market ecu’s or tuning so maybe they all are!!

a91what · Dec 22, 2022

I work with MegaSquirt systems on a daily basis and they absolutely cannot be beat for the money. They can do everything a holley can do and then some unless you are going with a dominator. Unfortunately Holley has been plagued with driver failure issues [ignition and injector] for the last couple of years. Dont get me wrong all of the companies are going to have ECU failures but I know quite a few shops that no longer install some Holley products due to the number of bad units they have had. I personally do not work with holley often enough to have experienced this myself.
All ECU tune relatively the same, the only difference is in the software its all fuel air spark.
I dont like how some of the ECU lock you out of the PID settings or they have a limited use for certain pins. This alone is why I prefer the MS systems.
I really like the FuelTech stuff as well.

If you want plug and play nothing beats a PIMPXS ecu for the foxbody. For the Mod motor stuff the MS3ProPNP from DIY is the go to for me as it literally has everything working in the factory harness [ for a manual transmission ]
If i want to replace the harness in a V8 project car, I buy an MS3pro with LS drop on harness and repin the harness for whatever firing order is needed.

rednotch · Dec 22, 2022

TOOLOW91 said:
My gripe lately , the x made the Holley appealing to a market where those cars wouldn’t have ever considered a stand alone . So now you have 4 million people who have never used or installed a stand alone claiming they don’t work and have issues where 9 times out of 10 it’s install or setuo error . I still prefer a hp or dominator over the term x but It does work well for the price point it’s hard to beat .

Lately I have been interested in messing with haltech and fueltech.

I’m digging the haltech r5 stuff

I'm just not a fan of potted none repairable electronics or where Holley is headed with the current owners, they work, though the sniper stuff is a cluster fck design. Hell I still use factory eec iv's for mild stuff and those are getting pretty damn old. The average x users by me would a brick with halftech or fuel tech stuff. Most are a cut up box, with a "hater pipe", a cheap China turbo and used and abused junkyard when you talking about fox body installs.

tank76 · Dec 22, 2022

I'll check out megasquirt and pimpx also not too familiar with those.

96pushrod · Dec 22, 2022

tank76 said:
I'll check out megasquirt and pimpx also not too familiar with those.

Pimpxs is essentially a ms3 based version of the ms2 plug and play ecus. Different company, but the concept is the same. Plugs into a factory harness, run a map reference line and install a wideband and you’re set.

Monkeybutt2000 · Dec 23, 2022

I would re-think a T-5 behind a turbo car. It'll live,for awhile.

tank76 · Dec 23, 2022

It's a built T-5 world. And anything is better than this AOD it's sucks the fun outta driving the car completely. Also I'm not looking for anything but 450 to the wheels. So it should hold up for a little while then when the motor is done maybe a T56

General karthief · Dec 23, 2022

Yeah, it will work but don't expect it to speed shift or last very long with sticky tires and clutch drops.

Monkeybutt2000 · Dec 23, 2022

tank76 said:
It's a built T-5 world. And anything is better than this AOD it's sucks the fun outta driving the car completely. Also I'm not looking for anything but 450 to the wheels. So it should hold up for a little while then when the motor is done maybe a T56

So you want to buy everything twice,got it.

tank76 · Dec 23, 2022

96pushrod said:
Pimpxs is essentially a ms3 based version of the ms2 plug and play ecus. Different company, but the concept is the same. Plugs into a factory harness, run a map reference line and install a wideband and you’re set.

Monkeybutt2000 said:
So you want to buy everything twice,got it.

Maybe I do, does that bug you? why don't you not be an *******

Decisions decisions Pro M or Holley Terminator X

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