We kinda wandered off in the woods for a little, but here’s another little update on the little bobcat. The valve job helped quite a bit, but I made a few more changes. I installed a clicky-clack fuel pump, and ran it to the ignition so I can fill the float bowl before cranking the engine. That made a big difference in how long it took to start. I also installed a Pertronix ignition to replace the points. I also found that the flex hose nipple on my intake manifold was for a 3/16 hose, but the nipple on the advance unit on the dizzy was for 1/8, or in any case, smaller, and I never noticed. What that translated to was a vacuum leak, and the vacuum unit actuating erratically, which contributed to my engine running rough. So, hose replaced with a gooder one. Now the engine starts much more easily, and runs fairly smooth. It’s still surging a bit, which may be the governor. I have a fair bit of blowby, so my rings could be better, but once it’s hot, the blowby goes down a little. I’m hoping once those rings seat in, it’ll be better still. I also finally replaced the water pump, so it’s now got proper coolant and I ran it hot yesterday. The engine ran better the more it ran, but I ran out of time and had to pause.
Today I’ll run it a bit longer, and try to determine if my surging is because of the governor or just the engine still stumbling a little. Since I have as much blow by as I do, I am assuming it’s the engine just not running quite right.