Reply With Quotemy cousin has 2 of them on his boat for 20 years.never had a problem with them.
I remember these things from the 1980's. They definitely have the Bling/WTF factor, but I am wondering just how well they perform for our (hot boating) application. Have any of you guys used one? Notice any difference in WOT RPM (drop or gain)? Idling characteristics better/worse? Throttle response? I like to do things a little different than the rest of the heard, but not at the cost of HP. Function before fashion.
http://www.mikesjunk.com/67engine.jpg
Predator Carb Website (http://www.predatorcarb.com/home.html)
-Seth-
my cousin has 2 of them on his boat for 20 years.never had a problem with them.
I heard they make great torque but fall off a little on the top end. A friend with a 12 sec 390" AMC used to run one ran great he said. A 850 picked up just a little top end for him. He said it made great torque.
I have an old one a got from another friend. The next time I have a sm'blk on the dyno I want to put it on to see what happen's. If I get around to it anytime soon I'll post some numbers.
Sleeper CP
Big Inch Ford Lover
I may be wrong but I always thought they were a kind of WOT or nothing set up, which I think would suck for a boat unless its all out racing.
Many years ago, I did some work for a guy in Calif. that owned some of the Predator carb company. They are a variable venturi carb. in other words the venturi gets effectively larger and smaller with throttle. SangerDave is correct, those carbs are WOT only, they dont work or meter well, at any other time. If memory serves they were offered in two flow rates, which were equal to small block and big block. Also back in the day they were offered in polished, or satin finish.
STEVE
Many years ago, I did some work for a guy in Calif. that owned some of the Predator carb company. They are a variable venturi carb. in other words the venturi gets effectively larger and smaller with throttle. SangerDave is correct, those carbs are WOT only, they dont work or meter well, at any other time. If memory serves they were offered in two flow rates, which were equal to small block and big block. Also back in the day they were offered in polished, or satin finish.
STEVE
Their website (which sucks and is not very informative) states otherwise, although it does say that thier carb will be less efficient and use more fuel durring cruise conditions.
From their Instruction Manual: ( Predator Carburetor Manual.PDF (http://www.predatorcarb.com/predator_manual.PDF) )
While bountiful low-end torque will be felt after bolting on a Predator, the carburetor
generally won't be as fuel efficient as your present fuel mixer. This is due to the fact that
our factory-installed cam is designed to meter an air/fuel ratio of approximately 12.5 to
13:1 throughout the entire rpm range. This contributes to the Predator's high torque and
smooth power band characteristics. Dual-purpose carburetors, on the other hand, are set
up to deliver approximately 14:1 in the idle to off-idle range and enrich the mixture on
the top end, a compromise at best.
While I appreciate any and all input, does anyone have any first hand experience? I find that the "he said, she said" or "I once knew a guy" type of info is usually not as acurate as I'd like.
So, are you telling me they are not suitable for our application?
It's been a while since I've seen one of these. Seems to me they made a street version too. My uncle had one that wasn't the street one on his car. I barrowed it to try on my jet boat. It had cams you could change to dial in the fuel curve or some thing like that. Any way, I got tried of messing with it and put my 850 back on. I didn't see any improvement from the predator. This was about 15 years ago.
I had an 11 sec Bracket car back in the '70s, (high 11s was kinda fast back then) and I ran an 850. I tried a Predator, (then it was called a Kendig), and it was about .2 slower. I think its top end problem was because it only had one small inlet for the fuel. Now a friend of mine runs one on his 21ft Hallet 460 BBF and has run it for years. Seems ok. The design was very simple. As it has been reffered to as a Variable Venturi Carburetor, Ford made an electronic version of one that they used on cars and trucks from the late '70s through part of the '80. They were so complicated to adjust, Holley finally made a Smog Legal replacement for it. People tried to replace them with a stock 2 barrel Autolite, but it would not work well because there was no provision in the intake manifold for heat from the exhaust. With out heat to the carb, you get about 8 mile to the gallon.
I heard they make great torque but fall off a little on the top end. A friend with a 12 sec 390" AMC used to run one ran great he said. A 850 picked up just a little top end for him. He said it made great torque.
I have an old one a got from another friend. The next time I have a sm'blk on the dyno I want to put it on to see what happen's. If I get around to it anytime soon I'll post some numbers.
Sleeper CP
Big Inch Ford Lover
Now that's what I'm talking about, a head to head compairison. Although, it wouldn't solve any questions about part throttle performance. Would it?
I have one still sitting in the garage that I tried on my boat for a season. It actually ran really well, had much more throttle response than the Holley DP. It did however use a lot more gas, if you look down the throat of one when you give it some throttle it looks like Niagra Falls. It was kind of finicky, sometimes it was hard to start (really hard actually), other times it fired right up, every now and then it would act funny in the midrange, WOT always worked though. Then I tried it on my Mustang with a 428, didn't work at all on the car. I finally left it in the garage because the Holley DP's are much easier to fix in the middle of the lake, if you have to remove the side cover on a Predator your going to have what seems like a quart of gas come out. It sure looked cool though.
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