Holley Terminator or Not
 

Gathering info for my swap:

Is the added expense of the Holley Terminator X Max worth it over a modified factory harness and re-flashed ECU?

Right now, just want to get the swap done, but in the future would like a bigger cam, steeper gears, and possibly a turbo.

The way I'm ciphering it, the Holley route will cost more initially, but save me in the long run because of the tuning.

Does anyone have an opinion either way?

Re: Holley Terminator or Not
 

I think if you're staying N/A, especially close to stock, then a re-flashed ecu is still a great option but for forced induction the Terminator is the way to go. For me it's a matter of how long after the swap are you going to boost it? If it's within a year then probably just get the swap running on the Holley but if boost is a maybe or way down the road then it probably makes sense to put off the cost of the Holley.

Re: Holley Terminator or Not
 

Let me preface by saying, I absolutely love what I got from PSI, their support, everything. High quality, good stuff, they've helped me a ton. I



But, I'm a tinkerer., especially with tuning If I did it again, I'd get the Terminator X Max (for my application) - it'd be the exact same as what I paid PSI and I'd be tuning it right now rather than having to find a spot in my budget to finally purchase HP Tuners and start tuning with that. Even though my engine is stock, there's some behaviors I'd like to change and am definitely comfortable with HPTuners to make the changes, just dont have the hardware to do-so.


My wife wants to do a swapped muscle car - when that day comes, I'll likely move my PSI Stuff over to her car to keep it on factory hardware, and if I haven't already, I'll run Holley on my truck which will see a lot more changes, a lot more often, and I don't care if it takes a little longer to boot up/start up or if I have to wait to get parts like injectors in/etc.


Also take into consideration what you plan on doing for gauges. With the factory stuff, to get by, I am using a cheap tablet and a bluetooth OBDII dongle. With the Holley stuff I'd be stuck to a tiny screen that comes with it, an upgraded Holley dash, or using Dakota Digital with their plug and play Holley box. That said, with the Holley stuff, you can often wire it into factory gauges, or aftermarket gauges of your choice, more easily. Because of my time constraints, I prefer plug and play-ish solutions over custom jobs at this point in my life.

Re: Holley Terminator or Not
 

I went through the same decision a few months ago and ended up with a PSI harness primarily due to what bnorth said. Mine was going to be NA and I had no plans for boost in the future. Install was really easy and I too experienced great customer service from them.

I do plan on purchasing HP tuners so I can start to learn a little more about tuning. I wanted to go with the factory GM platform because we have other cars we can use it on as well.

This truck is getting me hooked and I do think it would be fun to do another swap with boost in the future. If that was the case I would use the Terminator X. Looks like a really great product.

Re: Holley Terminator or Not
 

I only have my experience to go off so your mileage may very.

I have had great luck with the Terminator X Max. I have a 6.0/4l80e combo that I planed on swapping into my 67. After watching countless videos and doing a ton of research I decided on the Holley for the ease of installation and the "self learning" aspect of it.

The install was super straight forward, great clear and concise directions, and everything was clearly marked. The entire install from start to finish probably took me 4 hours and that was because I have everything tucked and hidden away. If I were to do it again I could probably do it in 1/2 the time.

The only thing negative I could say is that Holley customer support on the phone was next to impossible to get ahold of. Without exaggeration I waited on hold for 1 hour and 53 minutes (It was my day off and I had time). I would my questions that were emailed to them were usually responded to within 1-2 days.

In my situation Im happy that I spent the money.

Re: Holley Terminator or Not
 

The terminator x max, is what I plan to use for my 69 c10 lq4 4l80e swap.. it seems pretty straight forward and easy!!

Re: Holley Terminator or Not
 

all i can give is the fact holley will not ever get anymore of my money if i can ever help it after the crap product and support both phone and there chat forum i was given .

there is other brand options out there do some more reading and find another option is my vote .