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1980 Bobcat update

tarafied1

tarafied1

Well-Known Member
We bought our son a fabricated valve cover for his Bobcat for Christmas. I helped him install it yesterday/today. We ran into many issues. First, the valve cover is much wider. The Holley was already pretty close to the stock VC. So we got an adapter to turn the carb sideways. That required some fabrication of throttle linkage but that moved the carb sufficiently out of the way. The new VC didn't have a provision for the PCV so we drilled a hole and put a grommet in there but without a baffle it sucked oil into the intake and smoked a lot. So we bought a push-in breather to act as a baffle. That worked. We have also been trying to chase down and oil leak. I think we found it. Front cam seal that the machine shop installed doesn't appear to be a tight fit on the cam. So we are waiting for a new seal!
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my son pulled the seal today. Looks like the spring in the seal to keep it tight against the cam was broken.
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3175375 said:
Those things are bulletproof as long as you watch the timing belt
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It was his first rebuild. We had it bored and milled and so on. It's not super powerful but I'm sure it puts a bit more than stock. It's a fun little car.
 
well, he got it all back together. New seal seems to have fixed the oil leak. He just left to go to work but tomorrow we will take a longer road trip to see how it does.
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tarafied1 said:
it is weird and funky but cool! I'm proud of him. He picked it out, it was sitting for 6 years. He rebuilt the engine, trans and brakes including a lot of personal touches and mods. Not your normal 18 year old kid!
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That is awesome! He obviously has the self drive and as his Father, just keep the coals stoked. Proud you must be!
 
We drove the Bobcat to Bowling Green and back today, about a 50 mile round trip. No oil leaks! The car got 17 mpg rolling at 65/70 mph. He has only put about 200 miles on it since the rebuild so it's still not really broke in good yet.
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3175375 said:
Next: Paint n paneling!
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he wants to find an older Pinto or Bobcat front clip. They have more character. Plus those front fenders have been "tweaked" a bit. The right front is like a mason jar lid, if you touch it in certain spots it pops and pings!
 
I think shaving the front and rear bumpers would GREATLY improve its looks. And a MAACO paint job ;-D
 
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