Discussion on BG carb and Special Thanks

[patmckinneyracing]

Well its been almost a month since my friend Hank "Stone" Kruse passed from cancer at the age of 69, ironic since he drove a 69' charger rt/se. But somehow he has found a way to reach out beyond the grave with the parts that he left.

My dad, our friend and Hanks old race buddy Mike Crowley, and myself spent all this past sunday going through Hanks little shed filled with parts. He had some cool stuff like 3 sets of charger tail lights and plenty of other mopar parts. I thought about keeping the original 383 big block in my roadrunner, but with all the parts I got from Hank's shed, I can build a very serious 440. This is what I picked up:

-Comp cams XE285HL-10 (.545/.545, 241/247 dur. @ .050)
-Cal custom valve covers
-Barry Grant 750 cfm carb
-Disc brake spindles with calipers and all the hardware
-An aftermarket dual plane intake
-Aftermarket mini starter

I could not identify the intake as it has been completely sanded and polished and there are no markings on this intake. It has very large runners which seem to be too big for edelbrock performer standards. Some other small things are rockers assemblies, poly torsion bar isolators, and a new master cylinder. Picked all these parts up for 300$.

My main question is concerning the Barry Grant Carb I picked up. I do not know much about this carb other than it is one of Barry Grant's first carbs produced and I believe it is the one that Holley sued him for because it was identical to their design. Has anyone ever run this type of carb? I think it is a 750cfm as 750 is etched in on one of the golden collars in the pic. The other number is A12401 and this carb looks to be brand new and unused. Were there any previous issues with this carb? I was considering sending it out to Barry Grant to have it rebuilt right.

Had to put a shelf in my room to have somewhere to put the parts lol.

 

[patmckinneyracing]

So no one knows anything about this carb or barry grant?

 

[Bonnewagon]

Sorry about your loss Pat. Cool old car guys are scarce these days. I don't know about that carb in particular but it looks a lot like the Street Demon my buddy has on his TA. After listening to loads of badmouthing about the carb and thinking it was junk, he asked me to tune it for him. I found it very easy to adjust and responsive to the changes. The Pontiac 400 it is on just roars now, and he is super happy with the BG. Unlike the Holley, it has never been touched again and the adjustments I made are still as they were, has to be 5 years now.

 

[megaladon6]

you could call a BG carb a "super-holley" they used to be, and supposedly are again, very good carbs for racing. and they're easy to tune. they have a neat 4-corner idle adjustment system. BG had problems for awhile where the carbs were absolute junk due to improper machining and cleaning methods. i've heard from a few people that the first things to do with them (brand new out of the box) is to do a complete disassembly and ultrasound and blow out the whole carb. that shouldn't apply here as it's an older one.
the A12401 is the metering block number.

 

[patmckinneyracing]

Eh no big deal about Hank. He duked it out an extra 12 years than what the doctor gave him. Got to the point where the cancer took his voice ( he was a country singer) and anytime he touched something, it would break his skin. So he couldn't even work on his cars anymore.

I know that BG makes Demon carbs. My old man is running a demon 750 on his 440 dart and from what I've heard BG is a reputable manufacturer. I wanted to make sure it was a good carb as a lot of people b*tch about how the holley's are a pain in the *ss and require constant tuning and adjustment to run right.

 

[Longroof79]

I've also heard a few negative remarks about BG carbs. Pretty much what Megaladon has stated, regarding machining debris in the carbs, etc. Also poor customer service. I always thought that Barry Grant had a good reputation, and was innovative in building and modifying Holley carbs. Demons are based on the Holley design with a host of refinements.

My friend has a Speed Demon on his '77 Cutlass 403 and loves it. He mentioned how easy it is to tune with the 4 corner mixture screws and how responsive it is. He had a Holley 750 on it and had endured nothing but trouble with it.

Looks like a good score of parts, Pat. Sorry about the circumstances in which you obtained the parts. I'm sure he would've wanted you to have them.

 

[patmckinneyracing]

Idk know about wanting me to have them lol :lol: I told him once my 71' Roadrunner is restored it was gonna kick his 69' charger rt special edition's *ss! I had raced him at the track in the 1/4 mile, and the malibu held up to his 440 for the first 1/2 of the track, then his big block pulled big on top end. I ran like a 14.2 and he ran a 13.2. There were some issues that we both had, as I was testing out a holley projection system that couldn't keep up with the power of my 350 and he had a loose motor mount preventing him from going full throttle as the torque would have thrown the engine completely over in the engine bay.

When did the issues with metal shavings start to occur? I remember hearing about this over in a different forum. I know this is supposedly a rare carb because it only lasted one or two years before Holley filed a suit. I plan on using it on the roadrunner as I was going to use a 750 Carter Competition Carb but this seems like a much better carb and the malibu will probably end up with the carter comp carb.