1985 white top 61

[Orange Ripper]

Picked up a new 61 as an addition to the saw shelf this weekend, needs a little tlc for sure but should be a nice little project saw! This one is a 1986 model, with the upgraded fine thread clutch, and what I believe to be the 266 top cover and brake, i only think this because I thought the 86 had a black top cover and the guy told me he had a full 266 in parts in a box as well , wanted 100 for it but I passed for now. I’ll find a top cover somewhere though because this one is cracked, but oh well for now.
Needs a new fuel line because the one on it turned to putty and I rolled it into a ball in my fingers and one anti vibe was broke.
The muffler is gonna be gutted but the baffle inside was cracked, but the piece was too big to do damage and was still in there.
Threw In a new carb kit, inspected all the linkages and butterfly’s and rods and cleaned a lot of oil and sawdust.
Looking like a 272xp conversion to me though

 

[JBplays]

Picked up a new 61 as an addition to the saw shelf this weekend, needs a little tlc for sure but should be a nice little project saw! This one is a 1986 model, with the upgraded fine thread clutch, and what I believe to be the 266 top cover and brake, i only think this because I thought the 86 had a black top cover and the guy told me he had a full 266 in parts in a box as well , wanted 100 for it but I passed for now. I’ll find a top cover somewhere though because this one is cracked, but oh well for now.
Needs a new fuel line because the one on it turned to putty and I rolled it into a ball in my fingers and one anti vibe was broke.
The muffler is gonna be gutted but the baffle inside was cracked, but the piece was too big to do damage and was still in there.
Threw In a new carb kit, inspected all the linkages and butterfly’s and rods and cleaned a lot of oil and sawdust.
Looking like a 272xp conversion to me though View attachment 1084939View attachment 1084944View attachment 1084945

This one looks like an IDEAL candidate for a 272 upgrade!

Do all of these old 61's have mega compression? I'm in my mid 50's now, and I've got 2 of these old saws. One has been worked, and the other is too purdy to be much more than an occasional use saw, that I'm gonna leave stock.
And, unless they're warmed up, it takes a few man sized pulls to start these old beasts...

 

[Orange Ripper]

This one looks like an IDEAL candidate for a 272 upgrade!

Do all of these old 61's have mega compression? I'm in my mid 50's now, and I've got 2 of these old saws. One has been worked, and the other is too purdy to be much more than an occasional use saw, that I'm gonna leave stock.
And, unless they're warmed up, it takes a few man sized pulls to start these old beasts...

I’ve actually got the conversion done now since I’ve posted this! The 61 I still have, and while this one was a 61, I didnt and still don’t find them horribly hard to haul over at all, from what I’ve been told they’re not super high compression saws.
Now since I’ve done the conversion, finding the 272xp definitely does have more compression than the 61, I also did a base gasket delete which raises the compression a bit too, but these usually come with a decomp release valve hole in the cylinder making them not to hard to pull over at all

 

[Orange Ripper]

First video is the saw as a 61 when I first got her and got it running.
The second is the 272xp conversion in its first cut ever in the wood, so it can still be tuned a little leaner once I get a couple tanks through her, I do have some mild port work done as well.
It definitely took off a couple seconds of the cut for sure, same log, same bar and chain too just for comparison reason.
I had to modify the orange top to fit the 272 head underneath, but it was cracked anyway so I didn’t care too much if it had another hole in it, has the white top from my other 61 on it in the video because it was the one that fit at the time View attachment IMG_0806.MOV
View attachment FullSizeRender.MOV

 

[Orange Ripper]

This is the hole I made to accommodate the greater angle of the spark plug for the 272 cylinder, and a pic of her fitted with the orange top that came on it

 

[JBplays]

The 272 upgrade certainly made a difference!

Did you port it yourself, or have someone port it for you? And, did you keep the 61 carb, or did you swap it to the 272 carb, with the L shaped intake?

 

[Orange Ripper]

The 272 upgrade certainly made a difference!

Did you port it yourself, or have someone port it for you? And, did you keep the 61 carb, or did you swap it to the 272 carb, with the L shaped intake?

I did port it myself! And right now I have the smaller tillotson hs163a from the 61 on it and it’s already powerful, just picked up a 266xp and a full parts saw and it came with the bigger tillotson hs224a from the parts saw to go on it, although the 266xp that runs has a hs225a on it, unsure of the difference of the 224 and 225, used 272 intake block because it has a bigger opening, but the filter mount from the 61

 

[ballisticdoughnut]

The HS225 came on the jonsered 630 super and I think some of the late 630’s. 224 and 225 should have the same size venturi so they’re basically the same carb. 225 should have the built in high idle function.

 

[Cantdog]

The HS225 came on the jonsered 630 super and I think some of the late 630’s. 224 and 225 should have the same size venturi so they’re basically the same carb. 225 should have the built in high idle function.

Yep and when installed on a Husky platform you will have both the choke actuated high idle and the thumb high idle. But if you put a Husky carb on the Jonserd 630 you will have neither.......LOL!!

 

[Orange Ripper]

The HS225 came on the jonsered 630 super and I think some of the late 630’s. 224 and 225 should have the same size venturi so they’re basically the same carb. 225 should have the built in high idle function.

Okay thanks, great info brother, I’ll leave the 225 on the 266 then, will the 224 be good for the 272xp? Should be better than the hs163 at least eh?

 

[ballisticdoughnut]

Okay thanks, great info brother, I’ll leave the 225 on the 266 then, will the 224 be good for the 272xp? Should be better than the hs163 at least eh?

224 is what you want on the 272 conversion. Venturi is the same size on 224, 254, and 260. Only minor differences between the three, mainly the idle speed adjustment screw. 260 has a replaceable high speed nozzle as compared to the built in nozzle of the 224 and 254.

 

[Orange Ripper]

224 is what you want on the 272 conversion. Venturi is the same size on 224, 254, and 260. Only minor differences between the three, mainly the idle speed adjustment screw. 260 has a replaceable high speed nozzle as compared to the built in nozzle of the 224 and 254.

Cool cool, what kind of difference in performance should I expect when I switch the 163 for the 224?

 

[ballisticdoughnut]

Cool cool, what kind of difference in performance should I expect when I switch the 163 for the 224?

On a 272 conversion the 224 is a must in my opinion. It will give a noticeable increase in throttle response and overall performance compared to the 163. 163 is good for the 48mm saws but 50mm and 52mm saws really need the 224. My opinion of course.

 

[Orange Ripper]

On a 272 conversion the 224 is a must in my opinion. It will give a noticeable increase in throttle response and overall performance compared to the 163. 163 is good for the 48mm saws but 50mm and 52mm saws really need the 224. My opinion of course.

Put a refresher kit in and put the 224(bottom) on the 272 today, fought an air leak at first, hard to start and wouldn’t tune, almost made me throw up, but I got it sorted and I do definitely notice a difference in throttle response, and also how fast it gets up to top rpm now compared to the 163(top), noticeable difference in Venturi size too for sure. Never had a chance to let her eat wood yet though, just bench tuned right now but seems good so far

 

[ballisticdoughnut]

You’ll notice a a difference in the wood as well. Not huge but definitely noticeable.

 

[Orange Ripper]

You’ll notice a a difference in the wood as well. Not huge but definitely noticeable.

I most definitely do notice a difference since changing it lol,

But question for you or anyone out there that can help, I’m Working on a new 266xp project now, OEM cylinder is fine but had a bit of transfer, got rid of most it so far, should clean up nicely by the time I’m done, but was wondering if you had any idea what the difference in these two pistons and is there a benefit to using either or?
What’s going though my mind is that the closed skirted one is directing the fuel/air mixture better into the transfers than the more open skirted one?
My thoughts now, is if the closed skirted one is of more desire to use, I did find a pop up one just like it from lil red barn I’d like to try

 

[ballisticdoughnut]

The full skirt “power flow” design is what came in most if not all two coil closed transfer port saws. Husky (and jonsered as far as I know) went to the more open non full skirt design on the single coil saws and beyond up until the strato saws. Some feel the newer piston design is better for flow into the transfer ports, I haven’t used that style of piston yet so I can’t really speak on that. Full skirt will be more durable and slightly heavier but I never really worried about that much. Personally, I’d stick with what came in the saw from the factory.

 

[Orange Ripper]

Well, back on the original topic of the post lol, the ol 61 white top is lookin purdy darn great with the new 16” x-force bar I picked up today! Bought the Bar for my 266xp project, but untill that’s done it’ll live on this ol gal for now

 

[Orange Ripper]

The full skirt “power flow” design is what came in most if not all two coil closed transfer port saws. Husky (and jonsered as far as I know) went to the more open non full skirt design on the single coil saws and beyond up until the strato saws. Some feel the newer piston design is better for flow into the transfer ports, I haven’t used that style of piston yet so I can’t really speak on that. Full skirt will be more durable and slightly heavier but I never really worried about that much. Personally, I’d stick with what came in the saw from the factory.

Cool buddy, love gathering the different outlooks and opinions on these things!
Shopping around and I found pop ups available in both styles if I decide to go that route, which I probably will lol, the 50 mm full skirted pop up I found says it’s for a 268xp on the site,I know it should fit bore wise, but I wanna find out will the 268xp 50mm piston work for me? Are they exactly the same as the 50mm 266xp ? Or are there any dimension or layout difference to say the skirt/pin placement/ height/etc.. ?