Haltech vs Pro-M vs Holley...thoughts?

[killer5.0]

Next winter i will be disassembling the car down to pretty much a shell and slapping on a rotisserie to redo the undercarriage etc. Im contemplating upgrading the factory ECU to a standalone system that i can learn to tune myself. A couple years ago i rewired the whole car and removed all unnecessary wiring (i have no hvac, ac, smog etc) and wired all my autometer gauges, fan controller etc into the factory harness (no add on fuses or that nonsense). I like the way my car looks with my autometer gauges (i dismantled and modified my stock cluster to match my autometer gauges) and would like to retain them if i do decide to upgrade. My goal with this car is to look as if the factory built a high end street/race version of a fox. So i want to add to what makes these cars what they are and not essentially slapping a foxbody shell on a brand new car. I know the holley requires a bit of rewiring etc where as the haltech and Pro-M seem to be more plug and play. I may eventually want to go to a DIS system. If i do i dont want a dual sync dizzy i would rather run a setup like a price motorsports cam sync to clean up the look.
Haltech i know is speed density which means i can delete my MAF and vent my strim bpv to atmosphere which would also clean up my engine bay but unsure of the pros and cons of speed density on a boosted street only application. There is only 1 guy anywhere near me (2hrs away) who still burns chips (i have an sct) and its pricey when i take it down so to be able to fine tune myself would be a benefit in and of itself but im also looking for long term reliability etc.
Looking for some opinions and feedback. Currently at 500rwhp on stock block...hope to get a dart when i can and push to 700rwhp range.

 

[General karthief]

Check out this forum, it's a megasquirt tech thread,
https://www.stangnet.com/mustang-forums/forums/digital-self-tuning-forum.357/

 

[a91what]

Megasquirt.
Look at the Stinger pumps XS, fully plug and play full sequential injection. You can do anything you want ignition wise, I have a much cheaper version of these that is plug and play [diypnp] from diyautotune.com I run my car batch fire with Edis8 ignition crank trigger wheel and a cam sensor from an explorer. No more distributor.

These systems have a lot of versatility, I run all my shift lights, fans, watermeth, from it. Also has boost control, nitrous control, launch control, flatshift and much more built in.
We have entire threads on this site dedicated to this system, you also have the collective knowledge of the guys here who have already turned there cars. I can help you from start to finish with advice and even help you tune the car if needed.

 

[General karthief]

And he will take chickens as tips, I heard from his neighbor his chicken condo has vacancies!

 

[a91what]

And he will take chickens as tips, I heard from his neighbor his chicken condo has vacancies!

Darnit JR i dont need no more chickens!

 

[killer5.0]

Its funny because when i asked my tuner about systems like megasquirt or pro m etc he said all garbage...easier and better to tune the stock ecu...i feel he was just providing job security for himself...if people tune on their own they dont need him lol. Ill read up on these systems. I have all electronic full sweep autometer gauges (fp, oil pressure, oil temp, water temp,) a dakota digital fan controller, and an innovate LC1 wideband. Hatch mounted battery...relays for the headlights, dual contours etc.
How much of this can i keep? Or should i go a different route?
Is speed density better than Maf for my setup? I do like the idea of a bov vs my bpv.

 

[killer5.0]

@a91what thanks for offering advice/help...i might take you up on that if i go this route.

 

[a91what]

You can keep all of it, The megasquirt can be tuned SD or MAF.. heck you can even tune it both ways with both sensors hooked up at the same time! If you want to stay MAF you can still ditch the BRV and go BOV megasquirt can handle that.
IMHO you would want to go with the MS3 based systems they can and will do everything. All megasquirt systems are canbus compatible so any racepak device, wideband, or even micro processor that talks over canbus and uses a compatible firmware can be integrated.

Even if you decide to go with a moates QH or tweecer RT using BE the Megalogviewer software we use with MS is compatible with these systems.

 

[a91what]

yup tuners dont like these systems because they have a hard time with them, one member on here took his car in for a dyno run and a finish tune and the tuner messed with my tune heavily. the car barely ran the next day, it pinged so heavily that the owner could not drive it. I had setup some safety in the tune so it would pull timing when the intake temps would get really high, he was running a PD blower on the car, Imagine running a turbo with no intercooler. The tuner kept adding timing and my program kept pulling it out as the intake temps would climb higher and higher with each pull.
basically he would have melted the motor down with the amount of timing he wanted to command....
anyway to run one of these systems you will need some patience until you get things figured out for yourself, its not difficult to navigate and things are laid out well. but you will need to learn some tuning fundamentals to be system literate. Its not hard, i taught myself with no help in about a week.

 

[killer5.0]

This is probably a stupid question lol...but i think my tuner had a moates setup he tuned and burned my sct chip with...if he has my tune saved and i put the MS in...can he just use that file on the MS? And then tweak from there? Or it has to be tuned all over?
I dont plan to tackle this until next winter. Getting the car ready for this season and when i pull it apart next winter is when i would be doing this. Trying to get all my info so i can see which way im going to go and start reading up on tuning etc.

 

[a91what]

This is probably a stupid question lol...but i think my tuner had a moates setup he tuned and burned my sct chip with...if he has my tune saved and i put the MS in...can he just use that file on the MS? And then tweak from there? Or it has to be tuned all over?
I dont plan to tackle this until next winter. Getting the car ready for this season and when i pull it apart next winter is when i would be doing this. Trying to get all my info so i can see which way im going to go and start reading up on tuning etc.

No, the tune files have no way to be reconfigured so they are moveable from one tuning system to the next.
There are many tuning videos out there on the net about tuning with megasquirt, if you can play a complex video game you can tune a car. Lol it's all about cause and effect I can help provide a base tune for you.

 

[stanglx2002]

I also have the Megasquirt system and believe it to be the best option currently available. I had before this system a Moates chip on the stock computer, but changed due to the lack of features and functionality I was looking for.

I also want to reiterate that you can keep all the current stuff you have set up now gauges wideband Etc. I am currently in the works of upgrading my instrument cluster to a digital LCD screen running the tuning software.


View: https://youtu.be/D-QsPCHsRR0


There are a couple of us running these systems so we can help you through the learning process. I am also self taught which is the reason again why I went with this system.

 

[General karthief]

Here is food for thought:
chips are limited and you have to change them when you add or change something, that means you have to go back to the 'tuner' and pay them to make the changes,
a standalone like ms or whatever else there is available you make the changes on a laptop, datalog a run, tweek it here or there and how much money have you saved?
you can have failsafe perimeters that will save your engine from a meltdown, ask your tuner what happens if he melts your engine try'n to get that 'little bit more', a good dyno tuner is worth their weight in horse power and I'm not knocking them.
I feel chips are old school just like 'b' cams, air shocks and mullet hair cuts.

 

[Noobz347]

Its funny because when i asked my tuner about systems like megasquirt or pro m etc he said all garbage...easier and better to tune the stock ecu...i feel he was just providing job security for himself...if people tune on their own they dont need him lol. Ill read up on these systems. I have all electronic full sweep autometer gauges (fp, oil pressure, oil temp, water temp,) a dakota digital fan controller, and an innovate LC1 wideband. Hatch mounted battery...relays for the headlights, dual contours etc.
How much of this can i keep? Or should i go a different route?
Is speed density better than Maf for my setup? I do like the idea of a bov vs my bpv.

Your tuner is not completely wrong. There is a big difference between tuners like the MegaSquirt and Piggy-back EEC tuning. If all you're doing is tuning to accommodate some bolt-in parts and have it run as close to stock as is possible in terms of drive-ability with those bolt-ons then EEC tuning would be the method I would choose.

If however, I were a hobbyist and I [know] that my tune is going to continually evolve as the modifications do, then I would be looking hard at a self-programmable system even if I were going to have someone else do the tuning.

 

[killer5.0]

Well im boosted and eventually want to build a dart so i can hit 700+rwhp so it sounds like one of these systems should eventually happen. Im not against running a digital dash or something and removing some gauges but since i already have them i may as well utilize them..
Would you guys run Maf or SD? Ill also be building a custom intercooler setup at somepoint and ditching the MAF and in doing so the bpv would allow me to clean it up nicely but i dont want to jeopardize driveability.

 

[killer5.0]

I spent alot of time making them match...

 

[stanglx2002]

Well im boosted and eventually want to build a dart so i can hit 700+rwhp so it sounds like one of these systems should eventually happen. Im not against running a digital dash or something and removing some gauges but since i already have them i may as well utilize them..
Would you guys run Maf or SD? Ill also be building a custom intercooler setup at somepoint and ditching the MAF and in doing so the bpv would allow me to clean it up nicely but i dont want to jeopardize driveability.

Personally I would go with SD as it seems to be easier to work with in my opinion. I also am like you in waiting to ditch items to make things easier.

 

[TOOLOW91]

Haltech 2500 is nice but real expensivene . Buddy has been 7s with his true street / drag week car with it .

Holley hands down is the best for the money in my opinion . It’s on some of the fastest small tire cars in the country right now .


I have the Holley on my car and love it . So does @MikeH686 . What it will do is basically endless especially if you go for the dominator with the extra inputs and outputs .

It also comes down to what your tuner likes at the end of the day . You want a guy who’s very well versed in whatever you buy to maximize the potential of the combo .

 

[FastDriver]

If I were going from scratch today, budget pick would be Pimp. All out would be Holley. As it is, I'm happy with my BS3s.

 

[Noobz347]

This crew has already shown though, that the level of experience in thread alone is over 95 years (go ahead and go back to count, I'll wait ).

My point is about which of these systems are going to be [the easiest for a Noob]. Lets look at pricing next. My vote for ease of install and operate is the Holley Commander.

Why or why not? What's better?