Anyone with the Holley Dominator system?

cobra2547

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I have a 98 cobra with roughly 700 rwhp. I've hit a streak of bad luck recently. I had a motor go on me when the line from my methanol system came off the intake and leaned it out. Then after a new motor went in we suspect an injector went bad during a 1/4 pass and burnt a hole through a piston. I'm now in the process of building another motor and my tuner recommends going to the Holley system. He says it make the car run better all around and be safer if anything like that happens again. So does anyone have this system and what do you think of it.
Thanks
 

SlowSVT

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I would do your homework here and talk to other tuners who have experience with blown mod motors. There is a lot going on here and some aftermarket engine controllers spliced into the electrical system can introduce more problems then they solve plus everyone knows the OE ECU and it's a "plug and play" affair should you need to replace it 10 years from now. I was talking to a friend who is trying to work the bugs out of a Haultech system that cost $5000 and they are having problems with it and poor customer service. Me, I would stick with the OE ECU that money would be put to better use elsewhere.
 

badcobra

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I just put a Holley HP EFI in my car. The level of control it offers over the stock PCM is pretty staggering. The learn function automatically adjusts fueling and really is just amazing how it works. I would recommend getting the NTK wideband as it's more accurate than the Bosch. I just got my car running a couple days ago, but have already made some WOT pulls to get the fueling dialed in. Overall very pleased with the Holley and would recommend for that 'next' level of capability and performance.
 

MalcolmV8

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I just put a Holley HP EFI in my car. The level of control it offers over the stock PCM is pretty staggering. The learn function automatically adjusts fueling and really is just amazing how it works. I would recommend getting the NTK wideband as it's more accurate than the Bosch. I just got my car running a couple days ago, but have already made some WOT pulls to get the fueling dialed in. Overall very pleased with the Holley and would recommend for that 'next' level of capability and performance.

Did you install it yourself? If so what was involved? I was looking at the Pro EFI a while ago myself for a number of features I'd really like that are lacking in a stock ECU. I ended up doing other things and not pursuing it any further but it's still on the back burner thinking about it.
 

badcobra

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Yes a friend and I installed it. Here is the basic rundown. The processor sits inside the car on the passenger side and all the wiring and coil drivers will sit under the carpet. We used a hole saw and drilled a hole in the firewall large enough to push the harness through into the engine compartment. My battery is in the back so we ran the power and ground wires to the trunk and drilled a small hole in the battery box to get those in there. The fuel pump wire runs to the back driver side and taps into the trigger wire for the pumps (provided you keep the stock PCM in place). The cam and crank sensors plug right in, as does the IAC. You'll need a way to get IAT or MAT as Holley calls it, which I have a turbo car so that was easy using a Motorcraft screw in sensor. I don't know how you would get MAT after the intercooler so that's something you'll have to explore. Other considerations are you will need pressure transducers to get oil and fuel pressure. The pressure transducer will screw right into the service port on your regulator and for oil pressure just unscrew the stock sensor and get a 1/4 male to 1/8 female npt adapter and it screws right in. The holley harness plugs right into these two sensors. You will need to wire up the fan. I used the optional J1 A/B harness and wired it right to the CCRM and set it to come on at 180 and it works perfect. You can also use the C6 fan controller for variable/duty cycle based fan control if you wish. I also ponied up for the Holley digital dash which is awesome.

Holley Parts List:

Holley HP EFI 4V 550-617N (NTK sensor is more accurate)
Holley Digital Dash 553-106 (Steinman Performance makes a nice cluster insert to hold the display in the stock location)
Holley GPS module 554-140
Holley J1 A/B Harness 558-400 (for fan wiring)
Holley 160lb Injectors 522-168
Qty 2 Ebay 100psi Pressure Transducers (For oil & fuel psi)
Motorcraft screw in air temp sensor DY-1159
 

Nightmare302

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I would do your homework here and talk to other tuners who have experience with blown mod motors. There is a lot going on here and some aftermarket engine controllers spliced into the electrical system can introduce more problems then they solve plus everyone knows the OE ECU and it's a "plug and play" affair should you need to replace it 10 years from now. I was talking to a friend who is trying to work the bugs out of a Haultech system that cost $5000 and they are having problems with it and poor customer service. Me, I would stick with the OE ECU that money would be put to better use elsewhere.

You honestly need to stop spreading YOUR feelings about YOUR build to other people. You try to force people into your own vision of what a Cobra should be. He isn't building a welded up 5k pound "road race" iron block "engineers" car. He has a 700+rwhp drag car with what I would imagine is B heads. He has killed TWO motors due to the inadequate abilities of the factory PCM when TRIPLING the power output it is designed to control.

Do you get that to make the factory PCM work with high end cars you literally have to LIE to it and use work arounds because it is unable to understand the amount of air the MAF is seeing and the amount of fuel the injectors are using? Does that sound safe? Are you aware that the factory ECU in those cars are too slow to process much information above 7500 rpm? If he is spinning that B head hard the factory ECU's processor literally can not keep up.

Standalones offer hundreds more parameters that can be adjusted and controlled. Fail safes can be programmed in. You can literally tell the standalone what to do when it sees knock down the specific cylinder.

The Haltech ECU LITERALLY plugs in. It is about the only unit that piggy backs on the factory ECU and uses all it's sensors and takes ZERO cutting of the factory harness. If your friend is unable to plug that cord in he needs a new hobby. Halltech also answers the phone EVERYTIME I've ever called. Instantly. No waiting, no call back nothing. They are INSANELY helpful and nice people. Holley is the same way and will talk to you anytime. ProEFI on the other hand has about zero manufacturer support.

The timing control, knock protection and heuristic learning are amazing features that the factory ECU wishes it could do. The aftermarket ECU can also control large injectors MUCH better and get them to work in lower pulse widths to help with idle and fuel economy.

badcobra is great help with the Holley list. The only time it gets complicated is when you want it to control boost and other sensors.

Holley is by far the easiest to use software currently out there for standalones as well and it's learning is pretty impressive.
 

SlowSVT

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You honestly need to stop spreading YOUR feelings about YOUR build to other people. You try to force people into your own vision of what a Cobra should be. He isn't building a welded up 5k pound "road race" iron block "engineers" car. He has a 700+rwhp drag car with what I would imagine is B heads. He has killed TWO motors due to the inadequate abilities of the factory PCM when TRIPLING the power output it is designed to control.

Do you get that to make the factory PCM work with high end cars you literally have to LIE to it and use work arounds because it is unable to understand the amount of air the MAF is seeing and the amount of fuel the injectors are using? Does that sound safe? Are you aware that the factory ECU in those cars are too slow to process much information above 7500 rpm? If he is spinning that B head hard the factory ECU's processor literally can not keep up.

Standalones offer hundreds more parameters that can be adjusted and controlled. Fail safes can be programmed in. You can literally tell the standalone what to do when it sees knock down the specific cylinder.

The Haltech ECU LITERALLY plugs in. It is about the only unit that piggy backs on the factory ECU and uses all it's sensors and takes ZERO cutting of the factory harness. If your friend is unable to plug that cord in he needs a new hobby. Halltech also answers the phone EVERYTIME I've ever called. Instantly. No waiting, no call back nothing. They are INSANELY helpful and nice people. Holley is the same way and will talk to you anytime. ProEFI on the other hand has about zero manufacturer support.

The timing control, knock protection and heuristic learning are amazing features that the factory ECU wishes it could do. The aftermarket ECU can also control large injectors MUCH better and get them to work in lower pulse widths to help with idle and fuel economy.

badcobra is great help with the Holley list. The only time it gets complicated is when you want it to control boost and other sensors.

Holley is by far the easiest to use software currently out there for standalones as well and it's learning is pretty impressive.



All I told him was to do his homework before making any decision and ask around which I think is prudent. I gave no advice whether it's a good or bad idea other then the risks associated with incorporating an aftermarket ECU into the electrical system.

Not sure how my build made it's way onto this thread but you are more than welcome to come see my car in person I can assure you will have a much different perspective.
 

cobra2547

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Thanks for the responses. Does anyone know if I can use the factory gauges or will I have to go to aftermarket gauges or of course the Holley digital dash. Also will this system (for example an injector goes out on a wot pass) save the motor or since it collects data from the other 3 cylinders on that side not recognize something is wrong until it's too late?
 

98 Saleen Cobra

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OP you started this thread in the other forum too. So I'll say that I ditched the factory ECU all together. And I'm running a Racepak IQ3 for my dash, with our dashed not being digital like the 03/04's it's a bit more involved, but basically if you get the racepak dash gauge pak you can get rid of everything from the stock ecu. Like I said mine is completely gone, I also recommend spending the extra thousand I want to say and get the Davis Technology traction control setup. The Racepak dash would replace the Holley Digital dash and imo look better but that's just me.

It should save the motor depending on the safety parameters you setup. You can set it up by injector and wideband as well. So if one bank goes leaner then 12.0 we'll say it'll kill power and essentially shut the car down. (not actually shut it down, but kill all power and bring everything down)
 

badcobra

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Thanks for the responses. Does anyone know if I can use the factory gauges or will I have to go to aftermarket gauges or of course the Holley digital dash. Also will this system (for example an injector goes out on a wot pass) save the motor or since it collects data from the other 3 cylinders on that side not recognize something is wrong until it's too late?
You will need to go with a Windows tablet, the digital dash, or racepak as mentioned for gauges. And honestly, the data you get from any of those far surpasses what you get from stock gauges. You can trigger sensor warnings to cut ignition if it goes lean, loses fuel pressure, oil pressure gets too low etc.
 

Nightmare302

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All I told him was to do his homework before making any decision and ask around which I think is prudent. I gave no advice whether it's a good or bad idea other then the risks associated with incorporating an aftermarket ECU into the electrical system.

Not sure how my build made it's way onto this thread but you are more than welcome to come see my car in person I can assure you will have a much different perspective.

Oh?

I would do your homework here and talk to other tuners who have experience with blown mod motors. There is a lot going on here and some aftermarket engine controllers spliced into the electrical system can introduce more problems then they solve plus everyone knows the OE ECU and it's a "plug and play" affair should you need to replace it 10 years from now. I was talking to a friend who is trying to work the bugs out of a Haultech system that cost $5000 and they are having problems with it and poor customer service. Me, I would stick with the OE ECU that money would be put to better use elsewhere.

Your suggestion was based on your build. You said "money would be put to better use elsewhere". He's melted TWO engines that could have been prevented by a standalone. You also attempt to bash a company that you can't even spell the name of that literally does plug in and is beyond over the top with their support.

I am asking you to stop spreading misinformation because you "think" you know more than others. You have a very holier than thou attitude and you never ever back up your data unless it's to talk about how much work you put into your own car (that is not in anyway like this build) or that your an "Engineer".

Multiple other people here just backed up what the guy was asking about but your argument is he can spend his money better but you've listed no other parts or how the stock ECU can magically stop making him grenade motors.
 

MalcolmV8

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Is it possible to keep the stock gauge cluster functional by leaving the stock ECU in place and just piggy backing with a stand alone?
 

98 Saleen Cobra

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^^ Yes it is possible, a bit more work but possible. It wasn't worth the work for me, or the added weight of keeping another ECU around lol. 10lbs is 10lbs ahaha
 

MalcolmV8

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^^ Yes it is possible, a bit more work but possible. It wasn't worth the work for me, or the added weight of keeping another ECU around lol. 10lbs is 10lbs ahaha

Lol I hear you. Just weighing options. If I ever do a stand alone I'm 99% sure I'd keep the stock gauges with my speed hut gauges just because it's the look and style I prefer. Certainly not the most functional as far as features and accuracy but I like the look :)
 

Nightmare302

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Lol I hear you. Just weighing options. If I ever do a stand alone I'm 99% sure I'd keep the stock gauges with my speed hut gauges just because it's the look and style I prefer. Certainly not the most functional as far as features and accuracy but I like the look :)

For this reason I'm looking at switching to Halltech. They keep the entire factory ECU and it literally just plugs in.
 

badcobra

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badcobra - would love to see a cluster video of the digital dash both cruising around and doing a pull.
I'll get one soon and post it up. I'm still working on customizing the screen layout so I have all the data I want on one screen as well as trying to get the tune dialed in.

For this reason I'm looking at switching to Halltech. They keep the entire factory ECU and it literally just plugs in.
It's nice there is a lot of options these days. I have heard good things about the Haltech and I am sure it will be a great option to roll with.
 

cobra2547

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Some pictures or even a video of the digital dash would be great. I'm hesitate about getting it (though I might have no choice) cuz I've always prided the car as a street car ( full interior, only driven to the track, no big and littles) and looking as stock as possible and I'm afraid it will give it a race car look.
 

badcobra

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I drove my 1000hp street car to work this morning. I just need to fix why the digital readout for MPH isn't working. I have configured the screen to have the things I view most relevant....RPM, MPH, A/F, Oil Pressure, Fuel Pressure, Coolant Temp, Boost, and Manifold Air Temp. The data you get here is far more relevant than the dummy gauges in the factory cluster.

20160831_081916_HDR_PerfectlyClear_zpsherfjkrx.jpg
 
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