# Mods for MS 170?



## thekid95 (Jan 20, 2011)

does anyone know of any mods that can be done to a MS 170 ? im not looking to port the engine or anything but i heeard that maybe a muffler mod will help give it a little more oomph

if anyone knows anthing at all i can do to my saw to make it more powerful i would greatly appreciat it


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## oscar4883 (Jan 20, 2011)

Does the saw have a fullly adjustable carb? IIRC the 170 has a fixed jet which will be tricky to muffler mod. Once the mod is done you will need to tne the carb and a fixed jet carb may, or may not, be able to handle the change. Best bet is to practice your sharpening skills and get another, bigger, saw down the road.


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## murf (Jan 20, 2011)

The muffler mod will help it a bit, BUT ( you knew it was coming!) A Carb change will be in order. No worries though it's a cheap upgrade. I got mine for less than $15 on fleabay.

Click this link to some of my problems I had. There's other links in there as well.

http://www.arboristsite.com/chainsaw/131486.htm


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## CountryBoy19 (Jan 20, 2011)

murf said:


> The muffler mod will help it a bit, BUT ( you knew it was coming!) A Carb change will be in order. No worries though it's a cheap upgrade. I got mine for less than $15 on fleabay.
> 
> Click this link to some of my problems I had. There's other links in there as well.
> 
> http://www.arboristsite.com/chainsaw/131486.htm


 
This ^^^ You'll need a Walbro WT215 carb. You will have to modify the pulse port in the carb and slightly modify your throttle linkage to get it to work WOT.

I have a muff modded & carb modded 170 and it's pretty awesome for what it is. It's still a small saw, but it will really whip the pants off a stock 170 (my brother has a stock 170).

We use them to cut up brush and limb trees when cutting firewood. IMHO, you can't beat the small, lightweight saws for brush-cutting and limbing. Some people will argue otherwise and say small saws are junk etc. Right before they complain about being tired and having a sore back from cutting brush with a 20lb saw all day long.


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## JDNicol (Jan 20, 2011)

If you do decide to switch out the carbs remember to exchange the end cover of the carb or you'll be sucking in a lot of unfiltered air via compensator passage in airfilter. (Probably mentioned in the other links)


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## blsnelling (Jan 20, 2011)

A carb swap will likely be required for a MM. They already run lean from the factory.


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## Chris J. (Jan 20, 2011)

I can't offer any mechtech advice. Someone here posted vids of the MS170 in action and it cut pretty well in smaller wood, don't recall if the saw had been modded.


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## wse8562 (Jan 20, 2011)

blsnelling said:


> A carb swap will likely be required for a MM. They already run lean from the factory.


 
+1 and I would not spend too much time on this one. Pretty fragile little saw. Take it for what it is a decent lightweight limber


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## brages (Jan 20, 2011)

drop in a ms180 motor unit??


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## DavesMower&Saw (Jan 20, 2011)

brages said:


> drop in a ms180 motor unit??


 
Not worth the hassle for a 1mm bigger bore.


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## wse8562 (Jan 20, 2011)

DavesMower&Saw said:


> Not worth the hassle for a 1mm bigger bore.


 
I agree!


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## CountryBoy19 (Jan 21, 2011)

wse8562 said:


> Pretty fragile little saw.


 
Fragile? I respectfully disagree. I've literally beat the crap out of mine and it keeps on ticking. For a while it was my only saw. I cut 20+ cord of firewood in a 2 month period with it, including 4 cords of Hedge. If you maintain it and don't neglect it or operate it improperly it will last quite a while. The only thing I've seen as "fragile" was a bent connecting rod that brad posted, and that was on his heavily modded 180. You can't expect a stock rod to hold up to that much abuse, that would be like building a race engine and putting stock connecting rods in it. You may get by for a while, but sooner or later one of them is going to let go.


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