Frank,
FINALLY, FINALLY, FINALLY … Someone else that runs a Predator for drag racing!
I’m running a Predator on my SBC 406 Cu. In., 578 H.P. @ the flywheel, ’67 Chevelle, TH 400 -w- brake, back halved, big tire, 3000 Lbs, blah, blah, blah.
I was (“was” being the key word) running a Holley 950 cfm (you know…the one that’s not really a 950). After 3 or 4 trips up to the track, tuning, tuning, and more tuning, I made a few more trips to the track making no changes so I can get an idea of consistency. I threw out the best & the worst times, and came up with the car running between 10.47 -to- 10.57, but averaging in the 10.54 range. Not bad, but when you’re bracket racing against guys that have been doing it for 25 years, that kind of consistency WON’T CUT IT!
So, I pulled the 12+ year old Predator out of retirement, with all of the linkage squeaking, the throttle plates dragging on the inside of the housing, the metering block spool hanging up, and last but not least an accelerator pump that was seeping C12, leaving a nasty green residue around the pump housing. I worked it over the best I could without a rebuild kit, and took it to the track just for giggles.
Long story short … Again, throwing out the best and the worst times of the day, I ran a 10.50, 10.50, 10.52, 10.52, and a 10.53! That’s during a 1,300 ft. change in air quality throughout the day! So far, I’m sold on the Predator! I know this was only one day, but I have never run a full day within a THREE HUNDREDTHS window!
So I ordered a rebuild kit, and re-shaped the #2 cam that was in it, to be closer to the profile of the #3 cam because the plugs were reading a little lean. The #3 cam that I had must have got tired of sitting on the shelf for 12 years and took off on me.
I’ll post an update after I’ve been to the track a few times with it.
Mike