IIRC, the big issue with these was the 'cam' they used to control the A/F ratio. The cam profile really needed to be tuned to the individual motor on a dyno to get the full potential, not something the average backyard guy could do. Each/any change required changing the shape of the cam which needed some rather precise machining to do. You could use up more than a few cam blanks during the process. They were also rather tall and didn't fit under the hoods of a lot of cars without a scoop. Ford attempted to use a similar 'carb' in the '80s on some production cars, they proved troublesome and quickly disappeared.
Yes, they've had a couple of moments of being the next big thing over the years, but ultimately were not. With a search you'll find a few HAMB threads about them.
We had a 440 in a abody Chrysler with nitrous and it a Predator and it worked great, instant throttle response. But as stated we had to put a hood scoop on it for clearance. But yeah they were a flop. Hard to beat a Holley.
I was always interested in Predators but never enough to get one. Knew a guy that ran a Predator on a built pontiac 400 in one of those "screaming chicken" cars. Everyone gave his crap for the year it took him to get it tuned - it eventually ran some quick times for what it was. He was always messing with it. Eventually switched to a 750 DP and ran better. Anyone running one now- have them figured out?
Had a buddy that ran one on a 500+ cubic inch big block ford and loved it. It was on an old rear engine dragster so it was full throttle all the time. Took him awhile to get it were he wanted but he got it done. He later put two in a street driven 62 starliner with 500+ cubes and he got it running good too. Ask him how he did it and he would just smile. Got alot of looks at car shows when he showed up with the car with a tunnel ram and dual predators sticking thru the hood. Ran great, sounded nasty and just plain good car to look at. He drove it on the street for 2 yrs then someone offered him some scary amount of money and the car headed north that same day. .
We ran 2 different Predators on a hill climb sprint car, one on gasoline, one on methanol. Still have the gasoline Predator, but the methanol one is long gone. Over time it was consumed by the alcohol! Even draining it and pickling with gasoline didn't prevent the corrosion. I'd include a picture of the carburetor, but it's in the shed in cold storage, and no lights. Anyone who needs instructions for a Predator let me know and I'll scan this. I found it easy to get them set up for the 400 cid engine we ran. The methanol one was not sensitive at all, but then again a/f ratio with methanol is not that fussy if fuel consumption is not a big concern. We ran Mt. Washington's hill climb a number of times, and the Predator was much better than a Holley as the elevation changed. The gasoline Predator was a little bit more challenging to get set up, but the company made us a cam based on our feedback. It seemed to be just fine, but now I have a carburetor that probably won't run on anything else without a new cam. Oh well... I'll get a picture of the thing tomorrow once I can see it in the shed.
I'd like to see good copies of the orig Kendig lit & specs. It was different than the later ones, & Predator too. Well, I'd kinda like an orig 1st gen Kendig carb, too. Marcus...
I tried one on my wifes well sorted bracket racer/street car. Initial impressions were that is was going to be faster. As stated by others, it had wicked throttle response and felt good. However , at the track it never went any better than the Holley750. Without a performance advantage , the driveability problems didn't justify keeping the thing on the car. Not as sophisticated as a Holley, if you can believe that. Had an original Kendig too. The Predator was far better engineered.The "Kindigarator" was really primitive.
I ran one on a big 409 for about a year...on the street !. Per what "Steve" said above...as I recall, they came with three or four different cams to experiment with ! I think it was three ground, and one "blank" so you cold experiment. Mine was an earlier...later version. Mine did not have an "idle" circuit to speak of. I didn't really understand, when the last version was released, it had a proper idle circuit. I never had any problem with mine, either during idle, or the transition between idle and power. Slow or fast throttle opening, didn't matter. Interesting fact, running my 1961, 420 inch, 409 Impala at Orange County Raceway, (yeah, that long ago !), changing between an 830 D.P. Holley and the Predator, the main difference, was with the Holley, the car would spin the tires on launch, the Predator would not spin the tires on the starting line. BUT the E.T. and MPH were very close. Sorry, don't recall the actual numbers at my old age, but I do recall, they were within a tenth and a half or so, and one or two miles an hour. The biggest deal with the Predator... Trying to drive at a steady state on the freeway was almost impossible. The gas pedal was SO...sensitive, that the heartbeat in my foot would speed-up or slow the car ! One afternoon, my then girlfriend even commented on...what was I doing with the gas ? I told her to step on the pedal and see what would happen ! She did. All of a sudden, we had picked up over 5 mph ! She said..."I didn't do anything!" I just smiled. Mike
Ran Predator early 90s on mild 400 sbc with 144 , I do not recall any issues after sorting out witch cam to use, there was 3-4 cams , 1st gen Camaro ,L60 BFG 3:55 gear, high 90s mph 7:50s I actually stumbled upon the Predator again in my multiple location of parts few mouths ago & seen rebuild kits still available.
Like the needle on an SU. Though stock SU needles should be OK-ish for a lot of applications. An idea I had was to take data from an O₂ sensor to design a needle profile and cut a needle, whereafter all the computerization becomes redundant.
Dug the Predator out of storage this morning. A couple of pictures of the carburetor and the tuning manual. Forgot that was in the box... hey, I'm not a spring chicken anymore! Went online to see if the company still exists. Not sure, the latest update was in 2021. Oh well, it still looks good. Haven't used it since the 1990s, so anyone's guess if it will pass gas. Kinda large for the 327 that's going in the Whatever project.
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