My new/old Stihl 044

[Lakeside53]

looks good!

 

[RiverRat2]

Pretty Slick.....

+ 2

 

[sperho]

I think my deal on the saw may have taken a turn from "great" to "OK". Please comment on these pictures... I can feel the grooves in the piston skirt. The only grooves I can feel in the cylinder wall is above the exhaust port. SawBum - looks like your explanation is very reasonable one.

Intake skirt:

Exhaust skirt:

Intake wall (nary a groove):

Exhaust wall (note the area above the exhaust port):

 

[Lakeside53]

Hone the cylinder.. If it's O.K., get yourself a new piston/rings... The piston is bad and the skirt so worn that it's tapping the top of the cylinder above the exhaust port.

 

[sperho]

If it's O.K.

Check with a micrometer? Not sure what O.K. is...

 

[sILlogger]

Hone the cylinder.. If it's O.K., get yourself a new piston/rings... The piston is bad and the skirt so worn that it's tapping the top of the cylinder above the exhaust port.

+1, ok to me means that the cylinder cleanes up and the grooves are gone.

 

[sperho]

The only thing I've ever honed are my skills at a variety of things and my woodworking chisels/plane irons. Never a cylinder. After some reading, I understand that I'm supposed to get a ball hone, lubricate, and go. Just hone until the grooves are gone to the touch?

 

[bcorradi]

Yes that is correct. Bailey's sells ball hones now so that may be a good place to pick one up. I had a hell of a time finding a local source for small ball hones where i'm at.

 

[sperho]

While cleaning the muck that was about 2 mm thick on the crankcase exterior, I more than likely got some of it in the crankcase. Because the interior sees a gasoline mixture, I would think that kerosene would be OK to clean out the crankcase. True? I don't want to use gasoline, really.

 

[Dadatwins]

I use a product called simple green or greased lightning and a garden hose to clean up chain saws. I find it cuts the grease amd muck better and is safer than gas or kero, and it smells better too. I have used this to clean out the crankcase also, and just spray some 2 cycle oil from a squirt can on the bearings after you dry it off and reassembly.

 

[Lakeside53]

Unless you are going to pull the oil seals and wash THROUGH the bearings (both directions), I would leave the inside of the crankcase alone. You are likely to put grit between the bearings and seals..


Having said that.. I have washed out cases before without pulling seals.. but ... and if you do use a water based cleaner, swish some isopropal alcohol around after to remove the water, then swish out with a gas mix.

 

[beelsr]

The only thing I've ever honed are my skills at a variety of things and my woodworking chisels/plane irons. Never a cylinder. After some reading, I understand that I'm supposed to get a ball hone, lubricate, and go. Just hone until the grooves are gone to the touch?

first, nice tool with the plastic. mother of invention and all that....

second, before you hone, clean the cylinder. it's got piston all over it. search for "muriatic acid" "q-tip" and "cylinder" and you should find the thread. be careful not to overhone. you don't want to remove material so much as you want to resurface the, well...., surface of the cylinder...

 

[sperho]

I received a Flex Hone today (320 grit, silicon carbide) and put it to work on the cylinder. I checked it after about 20 seconds and I determined that the crosshatch was forming, but the 2 grooves above the exhaust port still remained. I gave it another minute or two (with a few good lubes with transmission fluid interspersed in there) and the walls have good scratches, but I can still feel the dip of the grooves with my fingernail. They don't catch or anything, but I can definitely feel them. Give me the Good, Bad, and/or Ugly...

 

[RiverRat2]

Run that Puppy

I received a Flex Hone today (320 grit, silicon carbide) and put it to work on the cylinder. I checked it after about 20 seconds and I determined that the crosshatch was forming, but the 2 grooves above the exhaust port still remained. I gave it another minute or two (with a few good lubes with transmission fluid interspersed in there) and the walls have good scratches, but I can still feel the dip of the grooves with my fingernail. They don't catch or anything, but I can definitely feel them. Give me the Good, Bad, and/or Ugly...

They will fill in with carbon,,, You might be surprised how good it runs....if it dont run pull her back down and find a cylinder!!!!! dont get carried away with the hone,,,, wear through the nikasil and you will be looking for a cylinder!!!!!
:hmm3grin2orange: :hmm3grin2orange:

 

[Lakeside53]

I received a Flex Hone today (320 grit, silicon carbide) and put it to work on the cylinder. I checked it after about 20 seconds and I determined that the crosshatch was forming, but the 2 grooves above the exhaust port still remained. I gave it another minute or two (with a few good lubes with transmission fluid interspersed in there) and the walls have good scratches, but I can still feel the dip of the grooves with my fingernail. They don't catch or anything, but I can definitely feel them. Give me the Good, Bad, and/or Ugly...

A couple of light grooves will have little effect. Think about the "groove" of a piston ring end gap...

 

[beelsr]

A couple of light grooves will have little effect. Think about the "groove" of a piston ring end gap...

But there's TWO rings....... :monkey: :hmm3grin2orange:

 

[Lakeside53]

O.K., two grooves

 

[sperho]

Seems like a read a Lakeside post where he beat on the Nikasil for a long time with a ball hone. I've tried the magic search engine and have been unable to find that post to refer back to the details.

How thick are those coatings? Given than I've honed for 1.5 - 2 minutes with a 320 grit SC hone, would it be worth to go after it some more to see if things can be smoothed out any more or do you think I'm on thin ice now as it stands?

I don't really care about achieving 100% of maximum horsepower, but I do want it to be a puller compared to my 260, though. I just don't want to put the time and money into the thing and fire it up, run it for a year (or worse, less than a year) only to have the dang thing seize on me, thereby possibly turning the thing into a doorstop, when I could have just done a more appropriate thing with the cylinder...

 

[Lakeside53]

It's all relative.. how much did you had before you started honing.. and remember, I knock my hones down a little in an old cylinder or water pipe first. Brand new they are real aggressive.

1 to 2 minutes - you'll be fine...


A couple of fines lines? It's not worth grinding down the rest of the cylinder to get rid of them.

 

[sperho]

I put the old groovy jug back in. I'll consider it an experiment until Junky sends me a possibly less scored jug to try out should mine grenade or be unacceptable. I nearly have the whole thing put back together, but I'm waiting on the carb kit which I ended up deciding to install. I popped the bottom of the carb today to check the inlet screen and the rubber gasket wasn't exactly pliable. I reckoned that if that gasket wasn't pliable, then other things might not be pliable, so I'll just install the kit..

Oh, and I picked up an 046 dual port cover for the muffler as well. May as well, right?

After it's together, I plan to start the saw at about 1 turn out on the high speed screw (3/4 turn is stock), let it warm up a bit, then set the RPMs to 13,000 give or take a few hundred. Sound like a sound plan? I hope it runs.

If I could rep you guys anymore for your continuing help, I would, but apparently I've not spread the love enough...