McCulloch Chain Saws

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CHainsaw short story.....a coworker of mine was yard saling and run across a guy who was moving and decided to sell it all. He had 2 saws. My friend asks how much and the guy says 5 dollars each...he buys em both. Calls me and says i got 2sawsfor you to clean up and get running for me. Ok i says...what are they. Both "off brand", but remember guys...5 dollars each...i said bring them to work ill get em checked out. The smaller is a cough cough stihl ms311. Needs a clutch and eclip and new chain. No worries. Fired right up and runs great. Number 2 saw...also orange and white, remember 5 dollars, is a ms462. A very expensive saw when new. All it needs is the oiler arm that the clutch drum catches. Perfect piston and cylinder, started great runs great. What a you suck yard sale story. 10 dollars he spent on saws.

Now for my good timing...today on ebay, a nos 82cc B engine block and oil tank, 50 bucks!! Now i need to start getting the rest of it to build another 82cc saw....winter project. Plenty of time. And yes i now own the 462 stihl..lol. He passed on the good deal. I gave a fair offer.
Ya better put an extra $10 in the offering plate Sunday Vinny for that $50 PM850 Cylinder/crankcase and B piston lol. Some up there likes ya! Did ya grab the second one?
 
So gang,
As most of you know I stay pretty busy with all the businesses I juggle. It's why I just pop in here and then seem to be gone for a couple weeks. Because sometimes I honestly am. As most you regulars know since the acquisition of the parts from Bob J I have turned very few wrenches on saws, even more so with the exception of a Frankein 82cc from Mark on my visit there I have bought zero saws in the past two years. I decided to change that last week. Not a big girl But one of the 10 Series A/V saws that I love. All she needed was a clutch sprocket, and points reset. Not even a carb kit or fuel line. Its been a bit since I added to my personal harem...

SP 60 1.jpgSP 60 3.jpg
 
Good afternoon. I have been lurking for some time and this is my first post. I want to first thank everyone for the wealth of knowledge and information that members freely share on this site and apologize for the length of this post. I have recently acquired a McCulloch Super 55A and have a few (ok, a bunch) of questions. I apologize if this is the wrong place to post this.
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View attachment IMG_1823.jpegFirst, I will give a little backstory for this saw so everyone can kind of see what my perspective is. This paragraph will just be story about the saw so feel free to skip it. This particular Super 55A belonged to my great grandfather. He immigrated to the United States in the early 1920’s from Switzerland. He became a logger in the Minnesota area and eventually moved to CA to log the west coast big timber. He bought this saw new in, I believe, 1959 or 60. In 1961 he was running the landing for a logging operation when he was involved in an accident that resulted in his death. I am not sure about details of the accident but the story I have been told was that there were “greenhorns” working above the landing and somehow they either fell or bucked trees that rolled down onto the landing and rolled over my great grandfather as he was running this particular saw. Legend has it that when they found my great grandfather’s body, the saw was still idling. After the accident, the saw was given to my grandfather. From the time of the accident the saw was used only occasionally, with the last time it had been run being about 15-18 years ago. Fast forward to today and I have acquired the saw with the goal to refurbish/restore it so it can have the potential to be a working heirloom for the next 60 odd years.

After giving the saw a good once over, I pulled the plug and checked for spark. It had good spark so I decided to add some 16:1 mix and see if she had any signs of life. After about 5 min of pulling to no avail, I put fuel directly into the intake and tried again. Finally the ‘ol girl sprang to life. She wouldn’t stay running unless I continued the redneck direct injection, so I figured a carb kit was in order. Once I got the new diaphragms installed and the carb body cleaned up (Tillotson HL-19D) I was able to get her to run off tank fuel. Now, here is where I reach the limit of my expertise and have some questions.

First, while the saw idles and accelerates well, it seems to either flood out or starve for fuel during extended periods (5-10seconds) at full throttle. The saw doesn’t die, but just slows back to idle with the throttle wide open. I’ve played with the high speed needle a bit, but to no avail. It never revs uncontrollably so I don’t suspect an air leak, but a new reed and throttle plate gasket are on the way.

Second, she produces a large amount of blue smoke when running at all throttle positions. I briefly ran it intentionally lean but the amount of blue smoke was roughly the same. The owners manual I got from “the bay” mentions in the troubleshooting section that excessive blue smoke could be a cracked muffler gasket so I have a new one of those on the way as well. My question on this issue is, could this be the result of a scored piston or bad rings? I took the muffler off to look at the piston and it didn’t look that bad. Had some minor marks but nothing looked like a smoking gun. I don’t have a compression testing rig, but, thanks to the internet, one is on the way as well. Also, could this be a leaky crank seal? I have noticed that after I run the saw, there is oil that leaks from either the muffler or possibly the crank. Not sure if this is just “normal” for a saw of this vintage or if it’s indicative of a larger problem. From what I have read, a pressure/vac tester is in my future.

Third, painting. I am on the fence about whether I should repaint the saw or maybe just clear coat over the current paint to let her “battle scars” show. If I do paint, I thought about powder coating, but read some negatives about it, but the internet is full of negatives. Does anyone have real world experience with powder coating saws? What about cerakote? Or is spray (either rattle can or automotive) paint the best option?

Lastly (for now), one of the dog ears on the block where the handle attaches is broken. I assume this was from the accident since it seems to have been “repaired” with some JB Weld like substance. Does anyone know if the dog ear can be welded back on without having to disassemble the entire saw?

Thank you all in advance for your advice and input.
 
Agreed, great story!!
Nice looking saw. Id leave it be personally but if you powdercoat. Its magnesium. Ive had several parts done with great success. It will look great powdercoated. I have a 55 from 1957. It runs but not great. Its fun though. The gear drives are slow and steady monsters. Get it fixed up and use it.
 
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