Predator 212. 6.5hp (any experience)

[Daron1965 644]

I was just given a harbour freight 6.5hp predator engine. It started on second pull and seems to run fine. Im thinking of doing some experiments on it. I may buy some of the performance parts for it.  Have any of you had any luck with aftermarket parts for these little engines?

[ebinmaine 63,072]

@Greentored

Scott loves the little buggers. 

[WHX?? 46,724]

@Achto did alot of mods on one and it goes like a raped ape. Says go to the go kart hop up sites for parts. He Wil chime in more when he ain't driving. 

@fast88pu did some serious mods too.

[fast88pu 3,313]

2 hours ago, WHX24 said:

@Achto did alot of mods on one and it goes like a raped ape. Says go to the go kart hop up sites for parts. He Wil chime in more when he ain't driving. 

@fast88pu did some serious mods too.

Yes I did, only thing stock is my block

[fast88pu 3,313]

They are big boring them now and spinning them 10k+ rpms and making 26+hp

[cschannuth 3,795]

I absolutely love mine. I got an inexpensive roller and dad had the engine on his shelf that he never used and I put it together about four or five years ago and it has been incredible. It has tons of power and even with my oversized engine pulley it will push snow in high gear without even breathing hard. As far as their toughness, my brother bought his kids a mini bike with a Predator engine in it about 12 years ago. He’s not one for maintenance and that engine has never had the oil changed once and other than me checking it whenever my kids ride it, the oil never gets checked. It still starts on the first or second pull after all these years.  Here’s mine with a few tweaks over the years. 

Edited June 23, 2021 by cschannuth

[Daron1965 644]

Well, you guys convinced me.  Didnt take much.  Lol.

I removed the governor. Took off the stock air cleaner and exhaust. 

 

Went ahead and ordered new air cleaner, larger jet, and top plate for a throttle set up. I plan on using parts I have to build straight exhaust.

[ebinmaine 63,072]

1 hour ago, fast88pu said:

They are big boring them now and spinning them 10k+ rpms and making 26+hp

 

 

[ebinmaine 63,072]

1 minute ago, Daron1965 said:

Well, you guys convinced me.  Didnt take much.  Lol.

I removed the governor. Took off the stock air cleaner and exhaust. 

 

Went ahead and ordered new air cleaner, larger jet, and top plate for a throttle set up. I plan on using parts I have to build straight exhaust.

Keep us posted please. 

Definitely sounds interesting!

[fast88pu 3,313]

Mine has a full roller top end and it built for 11k rpms. So far just broke in the cam and a few quick snaps to 7k. Idles at about 2500 rpms

[Stepney 2,314]

Buddy and I have a full mod HF 420 hemi single in a 1966 SkiDoo.. never dynoed, but we can pull 55-60 miles an hour on good smooth track. So 300lbs worth of machine, plus one of us, a heavy track, and snow.. Likely pushing around 20-25hp or so we figure. It'll lift skis for a solid few yards and it'll even take a second coach up to about 40. I'm not the biggest fan of them, but it is impressive. 

[Greentored 3,200]

Cant say enough good about these little Predators, especially for the cost!

We ran them in a 'backyard' kart racing circuit- I had one with a pipe, jet, bored carb, milled head, bumped timing, beefier valve springs, Mobil 1 5w20 changed weekly, and turned it 5500-5800rpms racing two nights a week for 13 MONTHS- stock rod, stock cam with plastic gear, etc...  The only reason I swapped it out was because it was getting tired and wouldn't run up front anymore. 

My dads was the same setup but with a billet rod and flywheel and a MOD2 cam- was a 7500rpm screamer!

The sky is the limit with these things, but most of us would be fine with just a better pipe, air cleaner and bigger main jet- that alone wakes these things up big time. They respond VERY well to mods- every change made a noticeable difference, especially a cam, pipe, or boring the carb out.

**** a word about FLYWHEELS- although ive never seen it happen, they supposedly CAN chuck the magnet off if running over 6000 and really hurt somebody. A top of the line billet flywheel is only 100 bucks, so if you p[lan to rev one to the moon, do it to be safe.

 

[Daron1965 644]

Did you guys run the stock carb rejetted?, or did you upgrade to a Makuni Carb?  

My air filter kit and larger jet came in today. Still waiting on updated top throttle plate.

[Greentored 3,200]

14 minutes ago, Daron1965 said:

Did you guys run the stock carb rejetted?, or did you upgrade to a Makuni Carb?  

My air filter kit and larger jet came in today. Still waiting on updated top throttle plate.

stock carb and drill the main jet to .040 was the standard setup, then I ran a .625 reamer through one and it actually made a noticeable difference.

A couple guys ran a mikuni, and one even ran a small tillotson carb. If you try either one of these, two words-  HANG ON!

[littleredrider 408]

Gopowersports.com has hop up parts. I have a lawn ranger with one. I can never get rid of it, or have to give it back to a friend. A friend of ours committed suicide years ago, so has sentimental value. But anyways he had some crazy alcohol briggs 5 horse on it. So I'd like to build up the 6.5 as if he would. Too many projects, no time. Or money lol.  

[Snoopy11 5,713]

On 6/23/2021 at 12:35 PM, Daron1965 said:

I was just given a harbour freight 6.5hp predator engine. It started on second pull and seems to run fine. Im thinking of doing some experiments on it. I may buy some of the performance parts for it.  Have any of you had any luck with aftermarket parts for these little engines?

Uh, I hate to be a pessimist here, but DO NOT buy any parts from go power sports if at all possible. They are the biggest bunch of buffoons this side of hell. Buy from ARC Racing if possible. OMB warehouse is also worth your time.

 

Here is what I know about predator motors, which is quite a bit so feel free to dig in and ask away.

 

Predator engines are often somewhere between .060-.075 in the hole (piston top clearance). So it is safe to assume that you can put a +.045 billet rod in this motor. I am going to go ahead and warn you, if you don't go with a billet rod... it won't last long (in my experience). Whatever you do, don't float the valves for extended periods of time. The valves should float around 5,500-5,800... so... keep that in mind. Hear pinging... let off.  Additionally, since you removed the governor, think about changing valve springs out, which will give you more usable rpm range without valve float (which really means that at red-line rpm the engine is out of time, because the valve springs cannot keep-up). Always run mobil 1 or royal purple in these engines when you do performance builds. Make sure that you cit the hose that comes out of the valve cover so that you just have a tube coming out of the valve cover. You will get blow-by with rpm builds... so venting to the atmosphere is the only logical answer. You will notice a difference with hot coils and performance spark plugs, especially if you add fuel and air. More air, more fuel, more spark, more power. Paul's Karts makes a great hot coil. Note, you can also buy a stroker kit for these engines, with a stroker crankshaft from ARC racing. This will give you immense power increases.

 

If you use mobil 1 oil, change it as soon as the oil gets dark. (it takes a while for the oil to get dark with mobil 1, and when it gets dark, it is time to change). You will see metal flakes in the oil, this is normal. (metal chunks if you keep your stock rod)... LOL

 

Don't let anyone (particularly go power sports), to talk you into getting fuel injection. It's a bunch of bull crap. Jets are fine, if you upgrade to a real air filter. Mikuni carbs are fine... just put a fuel filter on if possible.

 

You can buy performance cams for these engines at Dyno Cams... (very good sounding engines with these cams).

 

Then wait until something breaks and replace it with even higher performance parts... LOL

 

Don

[Daron1965 644]

cleaned the Carb.  Installed a new jet.

Used the "rope trick" and changed the valve springs to 26lb.  (All I could get locally.)  Cleaned all I could. Replaced gasket. Going to order more parts.  😆

 

 

[Greentored 3,200]

On 6/27/2021 at 12:25 AM, Snoopy11 said:

 

 

Predator engines are often somewhere between .060-.075 in the hole (piston top clearance). So it is safe to assume that you can put a +.045 billet rod in this motor. I am going to go ahead and warn you, if you don't go with a billet rod... it won't last long (in my experience). Whatever you do, don't float the valves for extended periods of time. The valves should float around 5,500-5,800... so... keep that in mind. Hear pinging... let off.  Additionally, since you removed the governor, think about changing valve springs out, which will give you more usable rpm range without valve float (which really means that at red-line rpm the engine is out of time, because the valve springs cannot keep-up). Always run mobil 1 or royal purple in these engines when you do performance builds. Make sure that you cit the hose that comes out of the valve cover so that you just have a tube coming out of the valve cover. You will get blow-by with rpm builds... so venting to the atmosphere is the only logical answer. You will notice a difference with hot coils and performance spark plugs, especially if you add fuel and air. More air, more fuel, more spark, more power. Paul's Karts makes a great hot coil. Note, you can also buy a stroker kit for these engines, with a stroker crankshaft from ARC racing. This will give you immense power increases.

 

If you use mobil 1 oil, change it as soon as the oil gets dark. (it takes a while for the oil to get dark with mobil 1, and when it gets dark, it is time to change). You will see metal flakes in the oil, this is normal. (metal chunks if you keep your stock rod)... LOL

 

 

 

You can buy performance cams for these engines at Dyno Cams... (very good sounding engines with these cams).

 

 

 

 

Bingo!   

..although Ive had no issues buzzing these into the mid-upper 5k range with a stock rod, the billet ones are not that pricey. Cheap insurance!

[WHX?? 46,724]

On 6/23/2021 at 5:08 PM, fast88pu said:

They are big boring them now and spinning them 10k+ rpms and making 26+hp

Unbelievable but true. 

[Greentored 3,200]

52 minutes ago, WHX24 said:

Unbelievable but true. 

One of the kart guys I ran with was a big boy- 260lbs, couldnt keep up with us lightweights, but he had money.  He did a full tilt, big bore/billet head/mikuni carb monster, and could set his bumper on me coming off the corner and push me down the straightaways

I hopped on it once, and with my little 170lb butt on it, it never hooked up at all- would fishtail all the way into the next corner.....

[Daron1965 644]

On 6/28/2021 at 10:05 AM, Greentored said:

One of the kart guys I ran with was a big boy- 260lbs, couldnt keep up with us lightweights,

I can relate to the big boy stuff.  Add about 20ish lbs.    hahaha.

[Daron1965 644]

I recieved the top plate throttle linkage, pulse pump (relocating fuel tank), fuel filters and other odds and ends in the mail today. I will (hopefully) have everthing installed this weekend.

 

Im going to order a new cam and rod, but not sure what ones. What suggestions do you guys have?

[seven 202]

On 6/23/2021 at 5:40 PM, cschannuth said:

I absolutely love mine. I got an inexpensive roller and dad had the engine on his shelf that he never used and I put it together about four or five years ago and it has been incredible. It has tons of power and even with my oversized engine pulley it will push snow in high gear without even breathing hard. As far as their toughness, my brother bought his kids a mini bike with a Predator engine in it about 12 years ago. He’s not one for maintenance and that engine has never had the oil changed once and other than me checking it whenever my kids ride it, the oil never gets checked. It still starts on the first or second pull after all these years.  Here’s mine with a few tweaks over the years. 

I was wondering if it would work in a old (cub cadet) sorry ??  

[cschannuth 3,795]

8 hours ago, seven said:

I was wondering if it would work in a old (cub cadet) sorry ??  

I don’t have any experience with the Cubs so I’m not really sure. I would think if the engine could be oriented so the pulley ends up in a similar location it could be made to work. I’m sure they’re probably Cub forums that would be able to answer that question for you.

[Daron1965 644]

I have seen a predator in an older cub. Dint get a chance to look at it very long.  I can say, it ran well.  He was at a local plow day.