Hi there the other day I got a predator carb from a buddy at work. He walked up on me packing this silver box of a thing called a carb. He said he was cleanin out his garage and didn't want it. I said sure. I'll take anything for free and it's wild lookin. He didn't have much info but did say it was a old drag carb. I was hoping if any of you guys knew anything about these. Also if you do know anything about them. Enlighten me about the pros and cons of it.
I did some diggin on the net I do believe they do. From what I gather their rare. They look like they're based loosely off a Holley, but they contain to throttle plates inside.
They always looked like something a do-it-yourself'er made in his garage! Don't think it would be more than a conversation piece to keep in my garage... There's rare, because they are hard to find and then there's rare because nobody wanted them...
I looked on ebay they're pullin in 500 smackers for a used unrebuilt one. I quess their cfm rating is based on throttle used because of the 2nd plates so you don't get too rich or lean of a mixture and no main jets.
They were popular with the monster truck and 4x4 guys for a while because they were said to not be affected by severe angles as much as the regularly available carbs. With fi conversions readily available I think most of them have been shelf ornaments for a while.
that one probally the reason I took it, it grabbed my attention, but it just sits there on the shelf beggin to be used out of curousity.
Kendig was similar and was before the predators... i was call the "kendigorator" if i remember correctly. NO experience with either, sorry
I had one on my mid 11 sec Camaro on the street, went faster with a dominator. even tried 2 on a tunnel ram. Its a realy simple idea, but every time you jumped on it you had to mess with it. They get that much? guess Ill have to look to see if I still have one. Doug
I see the coffee beans get poured into the top but where is the hand crank to grind them up? (I thought they looked more like a coffee grinder than a carburetor)
One of the early stock cars I worked on had one. The driver didn't care for it because it didn't have much throttle control, it was either wide open or off. It's like I try to teach new drivers, "That little pedal isn't necessarily an on off switch!" It would have been and I think was intended to be a drag race carb.
I met an old guy in Killeen, Texas once that had a Predator one barrel on an AMC Javelin. You could almost stick your whole fist in the carb it was so big. It was crazy. Only one I ever saw.
My father tried one on his pulling truck a long time ago. I'll put it this way; he didn't even make it 1 season before switching back to a holley. A lot of guys tried them on their pullers. They all took them off. We've had a couple of buddies try them on the street simply because there used to be a surplus of them in our circle of friends. I heard that they were extremely tempermental. I don't know anyone that runs them on anything anymore (wow, that's a lot of "any..." in one sentence!!!)
Sell the damn thing I tried using a set on my blown BBC it was cheaper to go with new carbs .Do not wast your time like I did If they worked so well you would see them on cars at shows.But If you decide to go that route Google Predator carb nice guys you can get all new parts but I would ditch that thing ASAP .My 2 cents
There were a couple different versions. The early ones didn't have an idle circuit. Making them horrid for street cars. They would idle with adjustment and only then at higher than a normal carb would allow. The later versions did have idle circuitry, but they were more expensive. I don't remember them working well even then. The last one didn't.
The Predator was supposily designed to work on any size engine. You had the throttle blade, but above that, you and a secondary blade that opened based on engine vacuum. I believe it was suppose to be good for 950 cfm. Never heard anything good about them but when it was Kendig, they sponsored Nicholsons pro stock pinto.
Don't know what most of you are talking about. I ran one of them on my P/U for about 8 years. Never had a problem with it. Great throttle response, LOTS of power. Never regreted buying it. Just have had no need for that truck anymore, otherwise I would still be driving it. You did have to play with it a little to get it setup right in the begining, just like any carb on a modified engine.
I'd like to try one, when I put the old Turbo Kit ( a Accel/Rotomaster Turbosonic ) on my '70's style Street/Strip Car. What should I look for ? How can I tell its the one with a idle circuit? What about Parts availabillity? ( rebuilt kits, etc...) Is the total height the same as a Holley? ( it looks a bit taller...) Or should I just forget about using one and stick with a Holley?
It's probably not quite twice as tall as a holley. I don't remember many problems with it other than it wasn't as versatile as a holley.
i had one and it was great loved it . it came with 3 cams one for 10% lean one for normal and one was 10% rich
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