McCulloch Chain Saws

[promac850]

Now everything else you might have is a lesser saw.

Until he finds something even bigger...

 

[RandyMac]

Until he finds something even bigger...

Bigger doesn't always mean better or more powerful, run an 090 and see.

 

[promac850]

Bigger doesn't always mean better or more powerful, run an 090 and see.

Oh, I'm not babbling about the 090 boat anchors...

It would be a custom bred Mac...

 

[Steve NW WI]

Good deal, everyone needs to have at least one 250.

Happy birthday Joey!

Our house went into escrow today, looks like we will be moving by September.

Happy Birthday Randy, and since it's past midnight out east, happy belated Joey!

Hopefully this 250 will be a runner soon. The seller was a good guy (like most of my CL experiences, the only "bum" deal I got was before I knew much about saws, and neither did the seller - learned some, no big deal), his wife bought it at auction in one of those box deals, he had no use for it, is moving, and put it up yesterday. I made the usually CAD fatal mistake of checking CL on payday and there it was. Practically on my way to work, and $25, how could I say no. I promised myself a couple weeks ago no more saws till some of my project saws were running, but you know how that goes. I did get the XP1000 running, so I guess I didn't break my promise, even if it only took fuel and a muffler swap to do it.

The saw looked fairly good in the ad, before I got there he had wiped all the dust off, and from the little I looked at it before work, I think it's original paint. Once it runs I'll have to put a bigger bar on it, the 16" pipsqueak on there now looks wrong, just glaringly wrong.

BTW, a C series should have an HL141 on it, at least my C-5 and C-91 do.

I think this saw may be as easy of a runner as the XP was, I'm gonna give it a shot this weekend sometime and report back.

Time for a nap, headed back to work for OT in the morning, taking the truck and trailer to "increase my take home":hmm3grin2orange: Got some really nice skids at work when we got some new machinery in, they'll make a great floor for my new saw shop shed.

 

[heimannm]

Good on you Steve for being environmentally conscious, before the new garage/workshop I used to recycle a lot of materials. Fact is my basement is paneled with lumber from the black forest courtesy of crates some large rolls were shipped in. My two sons often fondly remember nights spent staightening nails so we could re-use them.

I don't really miss those days...but I do have an large supply of heavy duty countertops in the attic if anyone needs to build a new work bench.

Last night in Vietnam tonight, on to Tokyo tomorrow and home later in the week.

Mark

 

[Eccentric]

All of the "regular" 250's came with a Tillotson HL. Parts, kits, and information on the HL are quite widely available. If you've spent a lot of time working on the cube style carburetors the HL will seem strange at first, but the are pretty simply once you start to look into them.

Most Super 250's came with the choke equipped flat back, many of the other, earlier saws with flat backs were primer models.

The McCulloch flat back carburetors are the ones many will tell you are trouble. I have had pretty good success with both, and a few failures with both as well. The McCulloch carburetors to seem to be a bit more touchy when it comes to making adjustments. The primers can be hard to find, but for a saw you will only run occasionally you can get by priming it manually to get started the first time.

Mark

The first year 250's (1964 only) had the earlier Mac carbs. 1965 and later 'standard' 250's have HL63 variants. The Super 250 IPL's show both choke-flatbacks and HL's. 650/660 gear drives had primer-flatbacks, HL63's, and choke-flatbacks. They're all in the IPL. I've had ZERO luck with flatbacks.....and have done several successful HL swaps...

The HL carbs are no problem..I've rebuilt a few this year, just wondering about that flat back. I know both these saws have chokes on them so I guess that's a good sign. I took a peek under the air cleaner cover on one and it did appear to be a Tilly but I thought the Tilly and the Mac looked similar so I wasn't sure.

I just looked and it appears I have a spare Tillotson HL carb. Don't know about the fitment though, it came of an old Homelite C7.

A C/XP Series Homelite application HL would take some work to adapt to a Mac. The throttle shaft and arm is all wrong. Mac on the starboard.......and Homelite on the port side.

The magic HL carbs are HL-19 .. HL-63 and HL-109. I just don't know off the top of my head which ones fit which Macs the best. Aaron should be along overnight sometime and fill in the holes for me.

You've almost got it my friend. The Mac HL's are HL19, HL63, and HL103. HL63 is best for the front tank saws because it has the AF stud (grab the front tank HL adaptor plate if you can). HL19 and HL103 are best for the top tank Macs. No AF stud or hole for it. No adaptor needed for HL's on top tank Macs. The 'stud thing' can be dealt with if the 'right' HL cannot be found when needed.

The 'flatback application' front tank gasket must be used between the adaptor plate and the tank flange on a front tank saw. The HL gasket is used between the adaptor and the carb when using an HL. Top tank saws use the 'HL application' gasket......no matter which carb is used. This all has to do with impulse port locations. Now......a 'wrong' gasket can be made 'right' with the addition of an impulse hole in the right spot. Mac COULD have had ONE gasket with holes for each application....but they didn't...

 

[dieselsmoke]

I believe I have said enough for one evening........


I know I have thread going already but just wanted to show it off some more.........

Very nice score, you shouldn't be disappointed. These saws were dubbed "the King of the woods" in PNW. And rightfully so.

 

[Steve NW WI]

Just got home from work, and got some better pics of my new 250. Thought I'd share em:

Looks great from the outside. Not as shiny under the hood though. Previous owner had put the air filter in 90° off, and they don't do a very good job of sealing that way! The AF itself is pretty rough too, but I didn't snap a pic of it. I imagine these are NLA new, or can some be found on Epay, etc?

If I had to bet, I'd say that's the original paint, either that or someone did a good job with a repaint, there's no overspray where it doesn't belong. The block number is 6248 if that tells anyone anything. I got a spare chain with it, but it's as wore out as the one that's on there, if not worse.

 

[Eccentric]

Nice 250 Steve. 64281 is the 'standard' block number for a 250. NOS AF's are plentiful on feebay for various prices. There's also a seller or two with filters for these saws cut from 'MaxFlow' material if you want to save a few bucks.

 

[promac850]

I hope that one doesn't need a rebuild... a dull chain and a misaligned air filter can't possibly have good results...

 

[Eccentric]

I hope that one doesn't need a rebuild... a dull chain and a misaligned air filter can't possibly have good results...

You'd think so, but these saws are extrememly tough. I parted out an ugly, dog-eared 250 that had broken covers and tank castings a year or so ago. ALL of the cylinder fins were PACKED with oiley sawDUST (as in cutting for hours with a dull chain) and pine pitch. The flywhell cover and clutch cover were too. This saw SHOULD have had a fried P/C from lack of cooling. Carbon in the muffler said cheap oil (probably motor oil) too. Lots of sawdust in the carb box (like Steve's saw). It had great compression, and when I tore it down I found that the piston, cylinder, and rings were in fantastic shape. Still had crosshatching in the cylinder. Bearings all looked fine too. I saved the P/C to use on some roached saw in the future.

 

[promac850]

You'd think so, but these saws are extrememly tough. I parted out an ugly, dog-eared 250 that had broken covers and tank castings a year or so ago. ALL of the cylinder fins were PACKED with oiley sawDUST (as in cutting for hours with a dull chain) and pine pitch. The flywhell cover and clutch cover were too. This saw SHOULD have had a fried P/C from lack of cooling. Carbon in the muffler said cheap oil (probably motor oil) too. Lots of sawdust in the carb box (like Steve's saw). It had great compression, and when I tore it down I found that the piston, cylinder, and rings were in fantastic shape. Still had crosshatching in the cylinder. Bearings all looked fine too. I saved the P/C to use on some roached saw in the future.

Cool... someone really tried to kill it and failed.

Try that with a new saw these days. Wonder how long it would last...

 

[Steve NW WI]

Kyle, I don't think it's hurt much if at all. Compression won't rip your arm off, but it's solid. I'll get into it when I get a chance, life's been kinda busier than I like it lately. I depressed myself when I put it and the Homey in the storage shed tonight, there's a dozen projects in there I haven't got to yet, along with 2 or 3 in the garage and a couple in the basement that I'm working on. I REALLY need to stop buying and start fixing!

 

[Eccentric]

Kyle, I don't think it's hurt much if at all. Compression won't rip your arm off, but it's solid. I'll get into it when I get a chance, life's been kinda busier than I like it lately. I depressed myself when I put it and the Homey in the storage shed tonight, there's a dozen projects in there I haven't got to yet, along with 2 or 3 in the garage and a couple in the basement that I'm working on. I REALLY need to stop buying and start fixing!

They multiply Steve. No way around that. Make sure you build about 4 times as much shelving as you think you need right now.

One of many full racks of projects and parts saws......

 

[a. palmer jr.]

They multiply Steve. No way around that. Make sure you build about 4 times as much shelving as you think you need right now.

One of many full racks of projects and parts saws......

Yeah, I need some more shelves.

 

[promac850]

I don't even have any shelves bult yet... now I know I'll need to build one that goes from a little above the workbench all the way to the ceiling... and above the windows, etc.

My dad says no more until I sell some. Sure... I'll build shelves to get them off of the floor, cover the floor again, and repeat.

 

[RandyMac]

The number 64281 is from the last of the series. I have one marked like that, there are minor differences from the first series.. 250s can be placed into three groups, the first batch with the flatback carb, most of these appear to be upgraded 1-50s. The second batch is the most found, just stamped with 250, HL carb. Then the 250s with the 64281 stamping, my IPL suggests that auto oil was standard with these..

Early series.

WTF? Auto oil

Later, auto oil

LOL!
I don't have a standard "250".

 

[Eccentric]

My 62481 stamped 250 had the fuel tank that would accept an auto oiler pump (instead of the one piece tank/crankcase stuffer casting that won't take an auto pump) with a blockoff plate in place of the auto pump. That saw had a yellow 'long' AF cover. I'm sure some of the 250's had the auto pumps installed.................or at least had the pumps swapped in by dealers.

 

[Eccentric]

Randy that 250 with "200" lined out and "250" stamped under it is really interesting. The 200 and 250 block castings must've started out the same, and they just didn't machine the center exhaust port on the 200 blocks (giving the 200 two exhaust ports instead of three for those that didn't know). The scratched out "1-50" (overstamped with "250") is interesting too. The block stamping 'uniqueness' and the mixing of parts within saw models leads me to believe that McCulloch saw assembly was a "seat of the pants, use whatcha got in stock at the time" thing. The guy(s) in charge of keeping track of everything and organizing the IPL's would've had a lot of cause to drink......

 

[Steve NW WI]

Looking at Randy's pics, am I to assume that the round boss in the casting indicates an auto oiler? Sorry for the stupid question, haven't been around these much (yet).

Also I take it mine is the "long hood" version (covers the oil tank)?