demon 98's.....and the new rod and custom

So you want them to sell them for a loss? Hard to stay in business that way.

I'd love to see them cheaper too, don't get me wrong, but you gotta pick your loss leaders correctly or you go out of business...

 

Of course they shouldn't sell them at a loss. Volume, margin and value engineering are the three aspects of any product which most commonly manipulated to arrive at a competative retail price.

It's also hard to make money and recoup R&D costs if you don't sell many.

 

It's Barry Grant, one of the largest and most innovative fuel systems companies in the world. Pricing a product according to what it is isn't going to hurt them, but make them more popular a**** the people who are into this type of thing.

The only customers who might be interested in these 98's is us... Not the street rodders with their EFI, not the drag racers with their huge dual quads, not the traditional guys who won't use it unless stamped '97', not the offroad guys, not marine guys not the autocross guys, not the roundy-round guys, just us. And if they don't see that...well thats just not my problem because I'll keep running this little Holley 4bbl that gives me plenty of power and reliability. To some people, looks aren't all that important, but the dent in wallet is.

 

Why else would you be doing it if not for looks? A single 4bbl will likely run much better...

 

I'd buy one right now for Flower's stock 8BA flathead if they (BG) offered it with a long throttle shaft/right side linkage so I didn't have to change the throttle linkage that's on the stock Holley 94. I am SO TIRED of farting around with that old carb and the pile of used up stuff I've ac***ulated to keep it running. Tell me it will replace our old Holley and put me in line for one.

 

These carbs are designed for a market niche. By implication that means dropping the price may not increase the demand enough to make more profit on volume. What percentage of the carb buyer's market wants a replacement 97? I expect that number is pretty low.

******ing some numbers out of the air:If they sell 4000 units at a 35% margin at $395 a carb they would have to sell 5600 units to get the same number of profit dollars at a 25% margin with a retail in the $345 range.

The fact that parts used in their construction are off the shelf replacement items indicates they are hip to cost containment.

I am a pretty old rodder but I am not a purist when it comes to a better mousetrap. I really enjoy my power disc brakes on my 50s era style 54 custom. I have toyed with the idea of 3 deuces on my car for a while now. If I decide to go that route price will be one of several determining factors in the decision.

I'm just glad firms like BG give us these options.

 

Would these carbs work with E85?

 

We're working on E85 calibrations for our standard 4bl carburetors right now. Once we see specifically what we have to do on the calibration, and if there is enough demand for it we may be able to offer these in an E85 calibration.

 

One question I've seen asked but not really answered is the size of these carbs. I had a 4X2 manifold on the '54 Chrysler Hemi in my vinatge dirt track car. 97's would fit, but 94's wouldn't (they were too long front to back). I believe that the same problem exists with Offenhauser 3X2 manifolds (but not Edelbrocks). Will these fit where 97's do but 94's don't?

 

These are the preliminary measurements and will be changing just a little prior to release but the minimum center to center is 4.700. The 97 carburetors measure 4.75 front to back whereas ours measure 5.07 . As stated,this will decrease a little but do not have the final measurement as of right now. We do have 3 of them sitting on the Navarro intake which is the tightest spacing we have seen so far.

 

Im all for the new mouse trap kinda thingy..sometimes..
my A will be running a hood top anyways..But for the price..no way..I just dont see why i should take the leap..I would love to see how they work on my engine, but think im going to be rebuilding some 97's. I understand all the market BS and the profit issue..but really if they wanted to get this thing sold in a large enough volume and to us guys who are their market for this particular carb, I think they missed their mark. besides a 97 Stromberg isnt that difficult to rebuild.
and if i cant get my hands on enough of them to do it..screw it..I'll hide a nice set of 4 BBls under that bonet.