I purchased a 843 Bobcat that someone pulled the original engine out of the installed a 350 Chevy in its place. When I first purchased it, it looked like a Frankenstein Monster! With a giant radiator sticking out of it's engine compartment. Much to my surprise it runs and works great! Now I cut the Radiator out and the radiator mounts they welded onto the back and had a custom radiator made for the top of it. I also took the 350 water pump & pulleys off and replaced them with the ones off the 327 which are much shorter and don't stick out as much. Now the engine does not sick out more than 4" at it's widest point. I can reinstall the original Engine compartment door. Does any know if the "8" series door work? And Where can I pick up a good used door? Thanks,
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OldMachinist
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From the pictures I've seen of 843's it looks like you should be able to fabricate one pretty easily. The metal on these is around 11ga. with 6 to 8 vent slots above the radiator. And you could give yourself a little more depth if needed with a custom door.
skidsteer.ca
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I'd like to see some pics of that. That 350 would hardly know it was hooked to the pumps.
Hows fuel consumption?
Ken
The problem with having more power behind the pumps is they can over heat.
My dad was speaking to our local dealer about engines for a 743, they run a V1702. He said not to put anything bigger than a V1903, the V2203's have too much power and cause the pumps to over heat. Obviously this is when the machine is working hard, with the one that it was designed for is installed it will simply bog down and there will be no rish of snaping shafts. With the extra power it won't bog down and you won't notice its under extra stress.
The only other issue i see is the fact that motor may not have a govenor, a guy i know that did a lot of welding as a kid had a V8 hooked up to a DC welder, it didn't have a govenor and when you sruck an arc it would just bog down. He then setup a little 1.5L engine with a govenor and it worked flawlessly. If you have any issues you may need to hook some type of govenor to it, if it works well like you said leave it be.
Just watch the hydraulic/hydrostatic temperatures.
I too would love to see pics of this beast!!!!
I have not ran this machine enough to tell you how much fuel it uses. But it does not seem to be too much. I only run it at a high idle and the engine does not notice it. I took a few pictures of it when i purchsed it and just now in my shop. You can see in the shop photos the new radiator in black on top. http://www.tocoolpc.com/oscar/bobcat/
skidsteer.ca
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I would think the stock tailgate would come real close to clearing the water pump. Or you could build the hinges back a inch of 2 if needed.
Can you squeeze the air filter and muffler in ok? Your using an electric fan on the rad? You still have your oil cooler I hope. If you are doing heavy digging where the wheels are pushing real hard, you may find the hydraulic oil gets hot because as Tazza said that engine is not going to run out of power.
You would need to run the engine at the same speed as the original would have run to get full performance, however 2/3 to 3/4 of th diesels rpm is general enough for cruising across the yard with a light load.Shes a beast.
Ken
My plan is to install the original tail gate and from what I can see the it would close now. I just hoping someone could give me some input where I could fine a good used door? And would I have to get only yhr door off an 843 or will any door work? It still has the oil cooler and 2 cooling fan under the Radiator catching both the oil cooler and the Radiator blowing out. I put up a drawing with the rest of the photos on the website. I have worked it the way it was in the first images for about 2 hours. At the time the oil cooler had an electric fan and I did not notice it getting hot at all. Granted I only run it at a high idle and nothing seems to slow it down. I don't think it is going to get any hotter then original if the operator is not an animal. I think if I were to run it at full RPM I might be able to drive it down the highway and outrun traffic! The 350 engine makes it surprisingly smooth to operate. You would not know it has been modified. With the muffler on it, it is super quiet also. As for the exhaust system, The old muffler was by the radiator inside the homemade frame they made. There is enough room to put it inside under the Engine and to one side, so I was planning on taking it to a muffler shop to have a custom made exhaust put on it that looks normal.
