57cc Honda powered MTD Ridgeline

[Ed Penney]

I got about 8 more cords to buck and haul if they don't shut the mountains down for fire restrictions, then I'm going into it. I"ll do some posting soon as I open it up. thanks for the info

 

[Bill G]

We hope to hear

 

[Ed Penney]

That saw is a zenoah 45cc saw clone.
It's not a honda at all lol.
It could be a 45, 50 or 54.5cc, they're all the same on the outside.

If you want to mess with it.
They perk up quite a bit with a wide open muffler, a little grinding and ditching the base gasket.
My latest/best running ported 54.5cc one has a stock height exhaust port with 1/8 off each side of it, the top of the piston cut down 1/16 beside the transfers ( this is like raising the transfers but easy to do with a dremel) and the bottom of intake port flattened out but not lowered (it's very rounded stock) with 1/16 off each side of it. I also open/flare the bottom of the transfers out a bit on the exhaust side.
If it's a 45cc (43mm bore) spend the 20 bucks on the 52cc (45mm bore really 50cc) cylinder. The 45.2mm bore cylinder isnt a big bore for the smaller saws it's for the longer stroke 54.5 cc saw and is 2mm taller so it runs badly on the smaller saws without a ton of work.

Sold as a 57cc I will do the mods pretty quick when I done with my wood I am gonna tear into it, but I'm gonna run the piss outta it first. I'm gonna make sure it holds up 8 cords left of bucking 18" 20" rounds if it don't hold up I ain't wasting time on it.

 

[Ed Penney]

That saw is a zenoah 45cc saw clone.
It's not a honda at all lol.
It could be a 45, 50 or 54.5cc, they're all the same on the outside.

If you want to mess with it.
They perk up quite a bit with a wide open muffler, a little grinding and ditching the base gasket.
My latest/best running ported 54.5cc one has a stock height exhaust port with 1/8 off each side of it, the top of the piston cut down 1/16 beside the transfers ( this is like raising the transfers but easy to do with a dremel) and the bottom of intake port flattened out but not lowered (it's very rounded stock) with 1/16 off each side of it. I also open/flare the bottom of the transfers out a bit on the exhaust side.
If it's a 45cc (43mm bore) spend the 20 bucks on the 52cc (45mm bore really 50cc) cylinder. The 45.2mm bore cylinder isnt a big bore for the smaller saws it's for the longer stroke 54.5 cc saw and is 2mm taller so it runs badly on the smaller saws without a ton of work.

thanks for that info

 

[Ed Penney]

Not long ago I picked up a neotec 853 which is a 543xp clone, which is a zenoah gz4350, which is the slightly newer version of the zenoah gz4000. It was under $200.00 with shipping. Wasn't impressed out of the box, very doggy hard to idle. (I was warned by a few members here what time expect.) Few pictures of what I found. Stratto ports completely blocked off, port sizing off on intake and exhaust. The transfers were actually pretty good, but uneven by several degrees. Build quality was over all decent. Castings were pretty nice. Spark plug is suspect at best and carb looks like straight up garbage, but works. I cleaned the cylinder up and made it match the oe cylinder the best I could. The transfers are just going to be 2* higher and not much I can do about it. I did manage to get the squish down to .024" from more then double that. Haven't had time to toss it back together. I don't expect much, but would think it should run as good, or a bit better then my gz4000.

thanks, I will post when I get going on it.

 

[Ed Penney]

That saw is a zenoah 45cc saw clone.
It's not a honda at all lol.
It could be a 45, 50 or 54.5cc, they're all the same on the outside.

If you want to mess with it.
They perk up quite a bit with a wide open muffler, a little grinding and ditching the base gasket.
My latest/best running ported 54.5cc one has a stock height exhaust port with 1/8 off each side of it, the top of the piston cut down 1/16 beside the transfers ( this is like raising the transfers but easy to do with a dremel) and the bottom of intake port flattened out but not lowered (it's very rounded stock) with 1/16 off each side of it. I also open/flare the bottom of the transfers out a bit on the exhaust side.
If it's a 45cc (43mm bore) spend the 20 bucks on the 52cc (45mm bore really 50cc) cylinder. The 45.2mm bore cylinder isnt a big bore for the smaller saws it's for the longer stroke 54.5 cc saw and is 2mm taller so it runs badly on the smaller saws without a ton of work.

when you cut down the piston on the transfers do you transition it smooth? I've done cylinder porting but never the piston trick any pics would be great. What about jetting changes if possible. I know it needs an open exhaust, I can barely hear it run. I think I might do that before I go back up.

 

[Ed Penney]

thanks for that info

 

[Ed Penney]

Not long ago I picked up a neotec 853 which is a 543xp clone, which is a zenoah gz4350, which is the slightly newer version of the zenoah gz4000. It was under $200.00 with shipping. Wasn't impressed out of the box, very doggy hard to idle. (I was warned by a few members here what time expect.) Few pictures of what I found. Stratto ports completely blocked off, port sizing off on intake and exhaust. The transfers were actually pretty good, but uneven by several degrees. Build quality was over all decent. Castings were pretty nice. Spark plug is suspect at best and carb looks like straight up garbage, but works. I cleaned the cylinder up and made it match the oe cylinder the best I could. The transfers are just going to be 2* higher and not much I can do about it. I did manage to get the squish down to .024" from more then double that. Haven't had time to toss it back together. I don't expect much, but would think it should run as good, or a bit better then my gz4000.

thanks for that info I post when I tear it down
.

 

[NSEric]

Here's how I port the chinese 52 or 58cc saws.
One of mine was sold as 62cc but is 54.5cc. My brothers was sold as 60cc but is 45cc, dont trust the claimed cc at all.

 

[joe25DA]

MTD
Made
To
Disintegrate
Or Machine Tool and Die.
Honda hasn’t made 2 stroke on a very long time, I don’t think I’ve ever see a 2 stroke Honda actually. Also, they don’t put their engines in junk. It’s a clone and not a Honda clone.

 

[Ed Penney]

Here's how I port the chinese 52 or 58cc saws.
One of mine was sold as 62cc but is 54.5cc. My brothers was sold as 60cc but is 45cc, dont trust the claimed cc at all.

thanks, probably first thing I do will be checking the displacement. Everything I read about it is vague, especially on the marketing side. It is the first full chinese saw I got new. I bought mostly Stihls over the years. Retirement put an end to buying top dollar new saws. Rebuilt Stihls and cheapies now

MTD
Made
To
Disintegrate
Or Machine Tool and Die.
Honda hasn’t made 2 stroke on a very long time, I don’t think I’ve ever see a 2 stroke Honda actually. Also, they don’t put their engines in junk. It’s a clone and not a Honda clone.

a website with a suppose to be a expert in chainsaws (Anthony@PocketSharpener) has a write up claiming the engine is made by Honda. I emailed him and let him know he needs to quit advertising this BS.

 

[Ed Penney]

there are several marketing sites for these saws and also blackmax brand claiming these saws have Honda engines with XTT engine Technologies. I was pulled in with their bait. I am know longer reading lying frikken marketing ploys. should of known better after working in retail big boxes for a short time before retirement.

 

[Sidecarflip]

I did. There is one website that says it's made by Honda, in China. Wich is laughable at best. The other comical thing is Honda hasn't made any 2 stroke o. P. E. In many years. Which is easily verifiable.

Many well established brands now have manufacturing facilities in China as well as Taiwan because of the much lower wages paid. Examples are: Triumph (England) builds their bikes in Taiwan, Ryobi, DeWalt and Milwaukee build their cordless tools in China and Taiwan. GM, the American Icon automobile builder has a Chinese factory, so does Tesla. They (manufacturers) term it 'World Class Manufacturing'. I call it chasing cheap labor. I remember back when the Chinese were branding stuff they produced as 'Made in USA'. In reality they named a town 'USA' and used that. Even Caterpillar builds construction equipment in China, some of it comes here as well.

So long as proper oversight is applied to Chinese or Taiwanese products, they can be quality products. It's when the Chinese or Taiwanese are left to their own devices, that is when quality goes down the toilet. While I don't really know, Honda could very well have manufacturing facilities there. All about inherent labor costs and profit.

 

[Sidecarflip]

The other issue that arises is all on us. We want everything as cheap as possible but we still demand high quality stuff. The 2 don't mix well and why sites like Amazon flourish. Quality and cheap don't interchange. Like I stated, you get what you pay for. Being a machine shop owner and carded tool maker, I prefer LS Starrett precision tools and they are insanely expensive today. I own a set of Webber (Starrett) Croblox that set me back over 2 grand 10 years ago.

 

[Ed Penney]

Starrett.. haven't used mine on any O.P.E. except a couple of older industrial pressure lubricated 60's Briggs engines and a couple of rebuilt hydraulic pumps that needed machining, LMAO. If any cheap OPE equipment with bottom end noise, it gets to go in the scrap salvage/recycle pile. Ain't worth the labor and parts to fix unless I have salvaged parts. I have had some 4 stroke Honda GX Clones that did pretty good on log splitters and roto tillers. Your a machinist you know exactly what I'm talking about. Most people I do work for I explain the situation. Stihls need OEM. cost more but more life and dependable especially for commercial work. second choice quality aftermarket Comet and some Hyway. If they don't want to pay for good parts I won't give them a guaranteed repair. You being a machinist, I would not waste your time on anything I own except my truck, automotive and motorcycles engines. I am lucky that I have a good long time friend that owns a professional machine shop, honestly he laughs about what I work on for extra money. It's a throw away and replace planned obsolescence world. Thanks for your knowledge and understanding.

 

[sean donato]

Many well established brands now have manufacturing facilities in China as well as Taiwan because of the much lower wages paid. Examples are: Triumph (England) builds their bikes in Taiwan, Ryobi, DeWalt and Milwaukee build their cordless tools in China and Taiwan. GM, the American Icon automobile builder has a Chinese factory, so does Tesla. They (manufacturers) term it 'World Class Manufacturing'. I call it chasing cheap labor. I remember back when the Chinese were branding stuff they produced as 'Made in USA'. In reality they named a town 'USA' and used that. Even Caterpillar builds construction equipment in China, some of it comes here as well.

So long as proper oversight is applied to Chinese or Taiwanese products, they can be quality products. It's when the Chinese or Taiwanese are left to their own devices, that is when quality goes down the toilet. While I don't really know, Honda could very well have manufacturing facilities there. All about inherent labor costs and profit.

First, you haven't said anything I'm not aware of.
Second thats not the issue,.or even topic of conversation. Honda has nothing to do with this saw, or any saw unless you took a gc engine and strapped a bar to it.

 

[Sidecarflip]

First, you haven't said anything I'm not aware of.
Second thats not the issue,.or even topic of conversation. Honda has nothing to do with this saw, or any saw unless you took a gc engine and strapped a bar to it.

You seem to be **** sure of that. You might be surprised. Aware and acting uppity are 2 different things.

 

[Ed Penney]

Come on Sean, I guess we should of P.M.ed this. I am well aware and rather pissed at MYSELF for trusting someone working for a marketing company called "pocketsharpener" I should have listened to people on this site. It is obvious now. People here use and some know the stuff better than any retail marketer. Most people on arborist know which stuff is crap and is quality. I didn't really mean to make a big deal out of it, I just pretty much wanted info on how to tweak the engine up. Thinking it was a real non clone Honda was my screw up, screwed up my own research.

 

[sean donato]

You seem to be **** sure of that. You might be surprised. Aware and acting uppity are 2 different things.

I am, and nothing you've said or done has proven otherwise. I've sat through years of seminars from honda power products and never once seen or heard of them making a chainsaw, let alone a 2 stroke for outdoor power products.
Additionally, I nor anyone else with a brain needs a lecture where products are made, or what kind of quality we get from certain areas of the world. I've been around long enough to witness all this, and worked in fields that have been impacted by it.

 

[sean donato]

Come on Sean, I guess we should of P.M.ed this. I am well aware and rather pissed at MYSELF for trusting someone working for a marketing company called "pocketsharpener" I should have listened to people on this site. It is obvious now. People here use and some know the stuff better than any retail marketer. Most people on arborist know which stuff is crap and is quality. I didn't really mean to make a big deal out of it, I just pretty much wanted info on how to tweak the engine up. Thinking it was a real non clone Honda was my screw up, screwed up my own research.

I apologize for being a blunt ****, just how I am. I'm no different in real life. i think you and I are in the same page at this point.