Steve, is the 361 a copy of a XL-12? I don't know but Mike Acres said it is so it must be right?
Seems like lots of people around here take everything from that site as gospel. Well I don't, it is a wonderfull informitive site and a valuable asset to saw collectors no doubt, but it has scattered wrong info and some opinons as well.
Please don't take this a a bashing of Mikes site, it is not meant that way and I really appreciate it but just giving my veiw.
Maybe the 361 was indeed patterened off the XL-12 and it dont really matter if it was but I have questions about who really copied who and like was said, there was a whole legion of other saws produced in that style. Who's to say that some other manufactures were not in the process of getting a saw of that style to market and Homelite just didn't beat them all to the punch? Good for them if they did, they put out a great product and it made them lots of money and really made that company as well.
The XL-12 from my info seems to agree with Acres and was introduced in 1964. The Poulan 361 was introduced in 1965 so that automatically means it was copied from the XL-12?
If Poulan got it copied, engineered, tooled up and on the market in only one year, that would seem to be a very large accomlishment back in 1965, at least I think it would have been. They had very little of the technology we have today to do that.
Like was already said, the 361 is very much like the XL-12 but other then ignitions I'm not sure of parts interchanging. Maybe a oiler line fitting or such but those were common off the shelf items. I think the top handle bracket may interchange.
The 361 was a 59cc 3.6CI saw compared to the 54cc of the XL-12 and they are a little stronger running because of it. There was also a 360 model at 3.6CI but I'm not sure what was different on them. That same platform was used to produce 4CI all the way to 4.5CI saws and even a 4CI with a auto oiler.
The 361 did have at least a 10 year production run being sold along side the early 200 series 3.6CI saws as well as the later 3.6CI 306A which to me were a superior design. The 361 was being more promoted as a ranch/farm saw in that lineup.
As far as quirks go, there pretty much straight foreward. Like was already mentioned, the fuel line bulkhead fitting is kinda a pain to get to and I have just decided the fastest and easiest way is to just go ahead and remove the carb and whole rear handle assy to get to it. Its really pretty easy to do that way.
You will need a small 5/16" ign style wrench to get the fitting out. The fuel line size that I use is a 1/8"id x 3/16"od for the in tank line and a 3/16"id x 5/16" od for the fitting to carb line.
The carb is a Tillotson HS and uses a RK-23HS kit and is a governed carb. Points are set at .015"
I have the service manual for it but it is too large to post here. PM me if you want it.
