Magnetic & Hall-Effect Crank/Cam Sensor Setup

[andyfanshawe]

Thank you Danny. I'm a FuelTech man in the UK trying out Holley's HP EFI systems. Obviously, I have a lot to learn!

[Danny Cabral]

You're welcome.

[andyfanshawe]

Just my thoughts here before I go off and do my research. I've just completed a FuelTech 500 install on my Camaro with the exact same MSD distributor magnetic pickup, etc., and working superbly. Yes, I had to put my scope on the signal wires to set the threshold, but that was it. Wonder why Holley is not as simple as that? Don't get me wrong, not knocking Holley, I may quite like it. I'm just thinking out loud.

[Danny Cabral]

Yes, I had to put my scope on the signal wires to set the threshold, but that was it. Wonder why Holley is not as simple as that?

It is that simple, IF someone is willing to oscilloscope (or System Log) for the "Minimum Signal Voltage" value. Holley actually makes it easier with their integrated System Log (oscilloscope view of crank & cam sensor signals). Either way, no one can provide a definitive answer for that. But why not use the better Hall-Effect sensors (see post #88), as opposed to a magnetic pickup?

[andyfanshawe]

Hi Danny. Good question. This is a customers car that the engine and box was sourced from Prestige Motorsports in NC. They dynoed it and videoed it (https://youtu.be/kJjxYAaM8xAIt). It was then shipped over to the UK in 2016. As the car was being assembled the shop went into liquidation and was transferred to another shop. They also went bust so it was trailered out of there to the customers home. I was then asked to step in to try & pickup the many pieces the car was in (loads of things pinched off the car). He has now got invested nearly $150,000 in the car and is rightly fed up. Prestige ran the engine up with the setup it now has successfully. Using the HP EFI that is in the car. If I tell the customer it needs another distributor I know what he is going to say, "it ran before in NC, it should run now". And he's right. I'm going to try to contact Prestige to find out how they wired it. But it over three years ago, so I haven't got much hope. But you're absolutely right. Hall-Effect is the way to go. But I'm going to have a tough time telling the customer that! LOL. Thank you so much for your input though. Greatly appreciated. Our knowledge of EFI in the UK is slightly behind yours!

Had a good read of thread #88. In a nutshell, the threshold values won't have any effect on certain ECUs. Software version is 2.2.0 build 4. No idea what the firmware version is until I can get back to the car later today. It will all be way out of date since the car (and the owner) has been through hell over the last three years. I'm assuming this is not one of the ECUs with no revision label. Is that correct? So does that mean whatever value I put for the threshold won't matter anyway? Thank you. Andy. This is a photo of the ECU on the car in question.

[Danny Cabral]

Contact Holley Tech Service (LINK).

[andyfanshawe]

I'm going to do a team effort with Prestige Motorsports Inc (https://www.prestigemoto.com/) on this one, and do a live interaction between NC and the UK on engine fire up with the magnetic pickup. Plan B is to go with the dual sync distributor, which Prestige Motorsports even recommended also, since the engine was dynoed way back in September 2015. Anyway thanks again Danny. You're a star! Andy.

[Danny Cabral]

Plan B is to go with the dual sync distributor, which Prestige Motorsports even recommended also...

Yep, the Holley Dual Sync Distributor has Hall-Effect crank & cam sensors.

Anyway thanks again Danny. You're a star! Andy.

You're welcome and thanks for the compliment.

[68n73]

Here are my stats:
440 Chrysler
60-2 wheel - Hall-Effect pickup 12V
Cam sensor fitted from 4.0L 12V
LS2 coils

For first startup I set:
Ignition 60-2
Cam no sensor
Output waste-spark

I did my pre-checks and straighten out my wiring mistakes, set timing offset and delay, warmed up engine, Learned fuel table around idle and got it to idle decent. I then set output to DIS, started engine and idled like before, life is good. Next I changed cam to 1 Pulse/Fire, tried to start the engine, no spark. i did a System Log and I have no smooth cam trace, but Cam A/D shows a signal. I changed back to no cam and did a System Log and I have a smooth cam and a Cam A/D signal. Any ideas?