I'll apologize ahead of time for posting a question about an LS1 swap because I know there's a ton of stickys and posts, but I think mines fairly easy, but I'm making it more complicated than it should be. I'm an adult and this is my first car I got back in 1996, it had a 2.8L. Over the past year I've painted engine bay and underside, installed every UMI suspension piece they make for 3rd gen, new 6AN fuels lines and 255 pump, new manual master and brake lines, disc brake conv, etc and I'm to the point of connecting some wires to make it run. I've done all the work myself, but this wiring is driving me nuts.
1989 Camaro RS with 2001 LS1 and 4L60e. The Holley Terminator X Max is all wired up to engine and trans. I took out the heat and air, so I THINK all I need is Fuel Pump and trigger the Starter...and windshield wiper motor (no wash tank)? Unless there's something else I need besides the harness for headlights (I've got that connected and ran through fender). Don't need factory fan relay or wiring, got a standalone harness for those. Yes I know I could trigger fuel pump from the Terminator, but it's a 255 pump in the tank w/ factory wiring, so I should be able to use factory fuel pump relay which was the first relay on the mount above the C100. I've got the C100 connected and all the wire loom off, so I can see every wire. I do have the wire diagrams and I was able to download service manual, but wiring is not my strong suit. Any help would be appreciated! I'm so close, but yet so far away and a year in the making!

 

Oh man that's sweet! I can't wait to get mine all painted and looking good.

I'd be thinking about upgrading that pump wiring with that 255 in the tank old factory wiring isn't gonna cut it. The terminator X, HP and Dominator can only support a pump drawing 10 amps max as the relay that powers the pump on the Holley harness also powers the coils in LSX apps. The green pump wire in the Holley harness should be used to trigger a relay then off to the pump.

 

Has anyone done an LS Swap on later model (89 in my case) 3rd gen and used Holley Terminator X Max and done away with the factory ECU??
Now I know why only one person has replied, not many probably know how to do this. Today I hooked up the red wires from C100 to starter then battery, purple to starter solenoid. Nothing. So for the hell of it I plugged the two connectors back into factory ECU and connected the C207 harness back in, everything worked except the starter. The brake light would come on when key was in cranking position, so I'm wondering if it's not detecting it's in park since the 4l60e is connected to the Terminator or the brake switch isn't wired right now since it had a wire connector going to some weird emissions plunger thing that was up by driver side fender/headlight area and it's disconnected now. Any ideas on this?
I would like to get rid of the factory ECU and that C207 harness, but I'm not sure if that's even possible now?? This wiring is nuts and p!$$ing me off!

 

Okay so those wires power the entire car. Purple wire is from the ignition switch. The grey wire from the Holley transmission harness goes to +12v on the brake switch. That's used for the TCC to unlock the converter when the brakes are pressed

On the main harness the red wire goes to switched +12v the red/white stripe wire goes to +12v while cranking.

Now if all of that is good to go then go ahead pull the drivers side kick panel off and you'll see a starter enable relay and pull it out. Jump the two thick wires and try to crank the engine, if it cranks then you need to bypass your vats. Which is easy enough to do

You don't need the factory ECU at all. I haven't had a factory ECU since I went Holley HP years ago and now I'm running a Dominator ECU

Oh yea one other thing is don't use the same switched power (red wire) from the main and transmission harness they'll back feed and you won't be able to shut the car off

 

Alright. Sounds easy enough, I'll give it a shot and report back. Thank you for the help! I've figured out I'm more mechanical than electrical lol. I really didn't think it'd be this difficult because I'm like all I need is fuel pump, starter, and the dang wiper motor to work, the Holley will run the engine and trans. I just haven't connected power to the Terminator yet until I can get fuel pump and starter to crank, so I've got the battery and starter laying next to car with the wires going to them.

 

If you're using the factory relay and wiring for the fuel pump the GREEN wire from the Holley harness will go to the green/white wire on the factory relay

 

Thank you for your help. I've got the wiring for fuel pump, starter, and windshield wiper motor figured out. I don't think I had a ground connected right the first time. I didn't need to bypass the vats either as i have the factory keys. I need to wire up the power and ground to the Terminator, then wire up the fuel pump trigger to the Terminator and hopefully it'll run. Oh one last thing...I don't have brake lights which is odd, so I've gotta figure out what's up with that. There are two trigger type switches going to the brake pedal and there was another harness plug from there to a vacuum thing up under hood on pass corner, maybe that had something to do with it? Or maybe it's another ground issue. I was going to use one of those switches to the brake pedal to the Terminator for the trans unlock.

 

One of the switches on the brake pedal will be for the cruise control

 

Yes, I looked that up in the manual I only have one thing to figure out. I think i may have a ground for the brake lights messed up because I've checked both brake pedal connectors (cruise & lights) and they're 12v and then go to 0v when pressing the brake pedal and i think that's backwards, at least for the brake light one. It's supposed to go 12v when you press the brake pedal so it'll trigger the torque converter right?? I have tail lights, but the brake lights do not come on when pressing the pedal. Thoughts? Am I correct in that it should be 0v and then 12v when pressing the pedal? Thank you!

 

Yea should be12v when pressing the brakes

 

That's what I thought. Dang now I've gotta figure why mines backwards. I even used test light and multimeter and the light went out when pressing the brake too.
Wait, wouldn't my brake lights be on and then turn off when pressing the pedal then? I'm pretty sure they didn't work at all. Now I'm confused...as usual.

On a side note found a perfect spot to hide the Holley Terminator wires, in the heater box since I pulled out the heat and air Then I mounted the ecu to the front of the heater box under the dash.

 

Yea I've got no creature comforts in mine. I have my Dominator and excess harness under the dash

 

Ok that was a stupid mistake. I forgot while messing with the wiring the hazard fuse blew and that's why the brake light switch was 0v when brake pedal was pressed. Today I tried starting it and it ran a couple times for like 5-10 sec backfired a couple times first start so I shut it off, maybe I should have left it running to work itself out. Starter seems a little weak and kinda cutting out, so going to change it. I threw on the old plug wires, they seem to be a smidge longer which is good. I'll try again tomorrow.

 

Make sure everything in your tune is set right, fuel pressure, injector data, actual system fuel pressure, all sensors etc etc. Also when you pick your base fuel map pick something as close to what you have as possible. Then let it idle for a solid 15 minutes so closed loop comes online. After the 15 minutes of idle you should be able to take it around the block.

 

So about that. At first it wouldn't stay running, backfiring quite a bit and 7th light on the Term was Red, cam sensor. So I took intake off and swapped out the brand new cam sensor for the factory sensor that was in it and it stayed running, but backfiring and pretty rough idle. My injectors (GM 12561462) aren't listed in the menu, so I chose GM 12580681. AFR was running around 13ish, but I didn't leave it running too long. So now trying to figure that out.
2001 LS1 5.7L
BTR stage 3 N/A cam 231/244 .630"/.615" 112.5+2.5
92mm FAST intake
92mm TB
1 7/8 long tubes, just open headers for now (yup it's loud!)
New plugs and wires although they may be a little toasty now
All sensors are new exept the cam one I swapped out

 

I would think they would be fairly close on the injectors so I wouldn't think that would be a big issue. It will run a bit rough in the beginning but will smooth out. What plugs and gap?? Post up your tune file

 

I've tried uploading the .terx and .dlz files, but it says they're not supported. How else could I do it?

 

ZIP the files and upload them

 

The data log is very short because I didn't want to keep it running that long. I had it running for maybe a minute at one time, but it wasn't happy.

 

That is running pig rich! Your closed loop comps drop to -50%, Also noticed your IAC is too high. After it's warmed up you'll have to mechanically adjust the throttle body to bring the IAC into the 10-15% range. The timing seems way low too. Try this file. I took a bunch of fuel out

 

Thank you. This is my first rodeo w/ anything like this. I figured it was way too much fuel especially with the flames coming out the headers, which looked cool, but not the kinda cool I'm looking for while trying to get it to run good. At least my suspicions were correct about that. I will have to give that file a shot tomorrow as my neighbors may kill me if I fired it up again tonight lol. Boy if it runs half way decent w/ your file I'll be happy and definitely owe ya!

 

Oh ya and your alternator isn't charging either. The log only showed a max of 12 volts

 

Yeah it came w/ the engine and is from a corvette and has a 4 or 5 pin plug, so I'm not sure what to do about that. I may just buy a one wire alternator? I also need to figure out the shift linkage because I had a v6 700r4 and my cable and linkage won't work with the 4l60e It's always something with this build. Then I might be able to drive it. Of course I need new wheels and tires too because I don't think the factory ones will cut it. My son who's 18 thinks I needed wheels and tires before anything else haha. I said I've still got the factory ones, they'll work for "testing/test drive" purposes.

 

Don't need to buy a new alternator if it's the flat 4 pin connector just need to put a wire with a resistor to pin "I"?? (I'd have to check again) and it'll work as intended

Are you using the internal map sensor or an LS1 map sensor?? I added an advanced table for injector end angle offset, made a better timing table so give this file a go next time and let me know. Oh and I updated your injector data. I found a thread where another guy was using the same injectors as you with Termi X. They are from a 04 GTO LS1

 

I'm using the LS1 MAP sensor that's in the back of intake. I just got off work, was going to load that last file w/gto settings and give it a shot.

 

Okay after you sent it to the ECU switch the map sensor from internal map to the LS1 map

 

Ok working on that now.

 

Mint! Hopefully runs a bit better

 

She was still backfiring quite a bit and idling around 1000/1100rpm. I'll attach a short datalog again.

 

Okay your idle speed is temperature based so it's gonna idle higher until you get it up to temp it'll start to drop as it gets warmer. Your IAC is already looking better than it was it's around 50% now. What fuel pressure sensor are you running??

You'll need to get it warmed up so learning comes online and it can start making idle corrections

 

fuel pressure sensor is part LDM7990100, Google says lowdollar motorsports. Never heard of them, but I got it from Scam Speed. I have an inline fuel pressure gauge before the fuel rails and it reads 58 lbs.

 

Okay give me a minute to change a couple things. I'll upload another in a minute. Fuel pressure on the log is saying 63 psi

The log isn't looking terrible it's night and day better than the first one closed loop comps are around 6% not -50%

 

We're checking spark plugs. I seem to have two dead at the moment because they're clean compared to the rest. Cylinder 6 and 8 are questionable.

 

I see I see. Hopefully something simple

 

So we took plugs out regapped to .40. Tested cylinder 6 & 8 with plug tester and turned over and they sparking. So we started it the first time which is data log 0003 and it was running around 1100 RPM and backfiring still. So then the second time is data log 0004 and we held it to 2,000 RPM and it ran quite a bit better and didn't backfire and didn't seem like it was missing either.

 

Alrighty I'll check these out. But yes you will be at a higher idle until it's warmed up and it'll taper down to target idle of 850-900. Okay try this one I pulled some timing, smoothed the AFR table a bit and smoothed out the idle. Learn function won't come on until about 160* or so and your fuel pressure sensor is still reporting 63 psi and the battery seems to be charging at 15.9 volts and hitting close to 17 volts. All in all it's getting better there's gonna be some adjustments needed along the way but it'll get there

 

We'll give it a go. It's only shot flames out of the passenger side which was the side the plugs we were questioning. I'm not sure i should try again tonight, I'm surprised the cops haven't showed up looking for gunshots haha. I appreciate all your help and work on this. You must be on here all the time or see the notifications. I owe you!

I may take those two coils off and move to the driver side just to see what happens.

 

Yea it's no biggie man. I enjoy working with these systems I've been running a Dominator for awhile now. Yea definitely move the coils and see if it follows or maybe it's just the plugs

 

Got off work a little late tonight, but I did go check ohms on all the injectors just to compare all of them and checked ohms on spark plugs on cylinder 6 & 8 because they're definitely not firing as the plugs look brand new and the other 6 plugs are black (not horrible black but they're firing). The inline spark plug tester lit up on those two cylinders and the plugs smelled like fuel, but I'm really not convinced it's firing. Obviously it's a fuel or spark issue in those two cylinders. Hoping to flop those two coils to the driver side and see if it shouts fire out the driver side. Everything else is new on this engine I should have just bought coils and injectors lol. It's starting to get cold and tomorrow might be the last 40 degrees we see in a while which if you're up in British Columbia, I'm telling you anything you don't know about cold.

 

Sounds more like a fuel issue on those cylinders to me but it doesn't hurt to swap coils just to be sure. Are you sure the intake valves are tightened down on those cylinders?? Before buying new injectors I would have the current ones cleaned and flow tested. The LS coils are damn strong units and don't go out too often but like anything things do eventually break but I would be surprised if you had 2 coils gone out on you. Yea it's already getting colder than 40 degrees here somewhere in the 28 degree range now. My car has been in bed for a little over a month now I had another crappy Racetronix 340 pump get weak towards the end. I ended up pulling both pumps and putting a couple Walbro 350 pumps in place. Should be good to go for the spring now

 

This may sound stupid, but what do you mean by intake valves tightened down? Are you talking about gaps when valves are closed? I did lap them when I had everything apart. Maybe I'll try to find a couple used coils exactly like I've got.

 

No I'm saying maybe a couple valves were skipped over and the rocker arms aren't opening the valves but you most likely would've heard that. I would pop the valve cover off anyway just to give it a sanity check. But yea if you've got a couple coils laying around throw them on and see if anything changes

 

Hello, Threw two new coils on cylinder 6 & 8, but didn't make a difference. So I let it run for over 5min, but I had to hold it around 1600/2000rpm or else it'd keep backfiring out of passenger side and run like crap. We took the fuel rail off and the injectors are spraying (couldn't really see spray pattern). We took valve cover off and everything looked good there (springs, retainers, valves, pushrods), beside oil smelling like fuel now. I'm almost at a loss unless a valve isn't closing all the way, but I'd think they'd all be that way. I got the fuel pressure down to 57lbs, but the IAC is still high. I'll attach another log if you get bored and would like to take a look again? Thank you!

 

What do the plugs on 6 & 8 look like?? Any color on them?? IAC can't be adjusted until the motor is nice and hot then you'll mechanically adjust the throttle body, TPS autoset etc etc. And your battery is charging at almost 16 volts for whatever reason too

 

Well I took two of the decent looking old spark plugs and put in, so they were already used. I should have put my new ones back in to see if they turned colors after running that long.

 

Oh I missed that part, those injectors could either be stuck open or stuck half way. What does the oil on the dipstick look like??

 

I can smell fuel in the oil. The oil doesn't look horrible, it was new oil. The injectors sprayed while cranking when we had the fuel rails off, so at least they're working just not sure how well. I may have to just send them off for flow testing.

 

Yea that's what I would do for sure. Get them all cleaned up and see what's going on there before going any further. That could explain why you're blowing flames out on that side your pushing raw fuel out and 2 & 4 are igniting it. Check your alternator wiring too there's something going where it's charging pretty high

 

This is how your battery should look on the datalog. The green line up top

This is yours in yellow at the top. See the difference??

 

Yeah I forgot and left the charger on while it was running since I don't have the alternator wired up yet. I had my son turn it back down at the end. I did get a resister to wire into that alternator plug just haven't wired it up yet. 100 pack for $5 off amazon, not sure what I'll do with the other 99 haha