Old School Carburetor Freak Show

The carb was changed into what we know as a Predator because it didn't work well.
If you notice the Predator has an accellerator pump... that is just one refinement that was needed to make it a funtional/reliable carb.

An old neighbor of mine ran a machine shop during the week and raced weekends. He ran the Predators on his race cars. I asked him why he didn't run a Predator on his street rod... He said "Because they SUCK for any use other than wide open."

He ran 2 on his BBC Nova! They were on an E-brock TRX style tunnel ram. By the time you got to the top of the velocity stacks, they towered over the roof of the car they were so tall.

Nice find, but not a practical one.

 

ok, ok. so it's a hi-tech napkin holder?
seriously, that would be so cool to run on a car without a hood just to get those "what the #*$! is that?" looks while you're parked. (and 200 mpg would be nice, too.) seriously, 200 mpg really is stupid as said before. im no engine person at all, but it would seem to me that the carb is only part of what determines gas mileage. if you ran it lean enough to get 200 mpg, wouldn't that be just the tiniest amount of fuel? maybe not even measurable? Like i said. not an expert, but i know internal combustion engines can't run without combustion, and that little fuel, i don't care how you atomize it, won't pull a car. MAYBE someone got it confused with one of those gas powered r/c cars?

 

I have no doubt you're right. But the tinkerer in me demands that I put this on an engine, even if only to take it down the road one time and see how it acts. I will be surprised if I can even get it to idle reasonably.

 

Plan on playing with the timing of the "venturii" gear to get it to run.
I was lucky enough (I was completely out of school in the 70s) to see a dyno test that featured the Kendig, a Holley and an AFB on the sam engine.
On a "top end only" pull the Kendig won by a small margin but in a dynamic pull the other two were miles ahead of it. The best one was the Holley for all-round use but the AFB was better on the low to mid-range and the Kendig was better on the top end. Holley won over-all because it had drivability like the AFB and produced almost as much power as the Kendig on the top end. Just what a good street/ strip carb should do.

 

Yep, I remember those carbs. As Ratio mentions, no accelerator pump made them unfriendly on the street. Even the original Predators didn't have an accelerator pump, within a year of introduction they were redesigned.

As far as increasing fuel mileage, modern carbs have about reached the limit as far as fuel atomization goes, there's not much more to be gained there and there is such a thing as over-atomization where you start to loose efficiency. Considering 60% of an engine's thermal energy goes out the tailpipe, into the radiator, and dissapates through the block and heads... That's where an IC engine needs to be made more efficient.

 

That is cool.

 

Only about 2% of the energy in your gas goes to moving the car with a modern IC engine. Frictional, heat and other losses use up the other 98%!

 

Just wondering if you bolted the Kendig on yet???

About 6 months ago I bought 2 brand new NOS kendigs complete with box, sticker, manual. They look like they where made last week! Even if they dont work they will be worth what I paid for them I have found a couple magazine articles from the 70's on them but not lots of info out there. You have the "later" model, the bolt pattern is similar to the Predator so it can be mounted in any direction. The fuel inlet line is also mounted higher on the body of the carb. Other than that the internals appear to be the same as the original 1000 model. I have a the user manual on pdf but the file is too big and wont let me post it, let me know your email address and I'll send it.

I got mine bolted on last night but it was too late to fire it up but I should have some time to get running in the next few days. After running predators and looking at this I would be surprised if it actually worked but who knows, its worth a shot. We could be the only 2 people in the world running Kendig carburetors

Jordon

 

That's awesome. No, I haven't bolted it on yet, still trying to figure out what I'm going to to for a linkage. Can you post pics of yours? You can email me at facelessnumber@gmail.com. Would love to see that manual!

 

I'll snap a couple pics tonight, I'm using a combination of a predator bellcrank linkage with a mr gasket throttle linkage kit. The pics in the manual look almost identical to the current predator linkages. Good luck!

 

Sorry, no pics yet, been kinda busy we just had our first child on tuesday... I think it was tuesday lol. 7.5LB Barris William Vogel , had about 6 hours sleep since monday LOL anyway did you get the manual I emailed you?

Jordon

 

Here are a couple of pics I all ready had on the computer.

 

Congrats! Don't worry, he'll start sleeping through the night pretty soon, then eventually you might too.

I did get the manual, thanks! Your carb sure does look to be about the same, and it's nice to see a pic of that float assembly. Also the pic of that linkage arm helps...

 

I was curious if you ever got the Kendig Carburetor mounted and running? The inventor just passed away here recently...looks like he was quite the inventor. http://www.tlawebstuff.com/kendigla.htm Some good information on the mechanical fuel injection that never got brought to market.

 

Interested in aquiring Kendig

We had a Kendig in '73 with no manual. We had it on a Boss 302 in a 71 Mav but could never get it to work - I am interested in acquiring one or at least the manual. If anyone has lead on one to purchase or if has manual please contact me.