WOW!!! Thats a dandy Mike!
Can't wait to see that one in person at a GTG. That series of Poulan saws, the 6900, 7700, 8500 are the best looking Poulans in my book. I love the mix of green & black. Are you gonna keep it as a Bow, or going to put a straight bar on it also? I have an un-cut clutch cover for the 8500 if ya need one.
Gregg,
It will see duty both ways Gregg, thanks for the offer of the cover but a mutual friend from Canada by way of Cincy, has already hooked me up on that!!
It looks to be a very low hour saw, 100% paint on the rear trigger assy. That is usually one of the first areas that sweat and oils take the paint off.
It looks a LOT better than it actually was.
This saw has been used as a work saw (probably from a pulpwood cutter) in the Georgia pines.
The spark plug hole had stripped and the IDIOT that installed the repair set it so deep that it was hitting the piston.
Apparently it was ran that way at least for a while because there was a bad ding in the piston top, and the insert was badly deformed on the end. It (the insert) was also leaking badly and wobbling in the hole.
I took it to the WGM (Worlds Greatest Machinist) but when we tried to drill it and put in an overbore, the metal around the hole just kept crumbling away.
So the saw went into "back burner" status for a while, but not for long.
Lo and behold, I logged onto eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee-Bay one day and there was a piston, cylinder and muffler for a 5200 listed with a BIN or best offer.
I shot what I thought was a fair offer and just before the time expired on the offer, the seller accepted.
there weren't any rings with the new kit so here we go back into "back burner" and the search commences for rings.
The Greek only had a thick ring that was listed for that saw and I couldn't find any ANYWHERE!
I finally found a place that claimed to have them but two days after I placed the order, I got an e-mail saying they were backordered.
It took about 6 weeks but last Monday I received another email that they had been shipped!!!
So there you have a synopsis of my "problem child" 8500.
I don't think any two of the fasteners are the same and probably none are correct but it is back together and running like a top.
Mike