Scrounging Firewood (and other stuff)

[Squareground3691]

Not on saws, but I used to run Wiseco pistons on one of my bikes. I tried to get a Wiseco for the 500i from CCC, but they were back ordered...that's the reason I machined a 660 piston to fit into the bore. They both reach the same tuning goal I was after, but a forged Wiseco would've likely been a much easier swap.

Yea , those forged pistons are very nice.

 

[chipper1]

Same here...my 372 and my 044s usually just sit in my toolbox in case I come across a tree down in the winter. If I'm out doing side work, it's either the 400 or the 500i for falling saws. My one front-line adjustable carb saw is my 2511t, but IMO the weight advantage lets me work faster compared to running my 201tcm. Some people think it's silly that I'd prefer a lighter saw when talking about a 9lb Stihl top handle, but they've never climbed with a 5lb top handle that cuts as fast or faster than a stock 35cc saw. The only time the 201 gets pulled out anymore in a work environment, is when I'm doing a removal on a broad tree, with less cuts than wrecking out a tall pine tree. The added grunt of the 201 is also nice for those hardwoods.

Your offer is tempting...I might just mess around with the 48mm cylinder for now, assuming it's in good shape. I haven't spent much time grinding on quad port Huskies, so I'm still making a few tweaks to how I do the transfers. Timing the uppers is a bit different from how I do front-fed, quad-port Stihls.

On the hybrid pistons that have room to cut them, I've been doing a lot of taper cuts and domes on pistons. It's not something you do on a saw where being able to swap in a stock piston is important, but they work well on spicier builds. The compression bump is probably negligible compared to a pop up, but IMO they have a performance advantage over a flat top...probably in how the piston edge interacts with port flow. Domed pistons are kinda the "thing" now in performance 2 stroke applications like dirtbikes.

I'm not a full time saw builder like those guys, basically it's just a way to pay for my tools and to increase my own knowledge of 2 stroke tuning. I've got some spicy builds and then some more mundane stuff...I'll go a little crazy on some of my own stuff, but I won't do anything that requires custom parts on a work saw that's getting used every day. Most people don't want to have a special piston made just to rebuild their 500i lol.

Running the 241 I picked up I could tell after the first tank that it got better fuel economy than the 242, both are ported, similar power for both. While I like the handling of the husky better it doesn't make as much of a difference when they are that light, so the stihl will work, plus it has the side tensioner instead of front .
I like my 2511 for the same reason and it's not ported or even modded at all, yet .
Well, you're way ahead of me in the area of porting, machining, and carbs, wait, that would make it plural and should be written areas . I know very little about those things, but I do know how a good running saw feels in my hands .
I wonder if you could do a domed 268 piston .

 

[.358 win]

Today's scrounge, a standing dead ash has been sniffin for the saw for awhile.. More punk than expected , but a good firewood tree.. Finally got to spend a day at the barn.. That new saw is a gas guzzler for sure. Those rounds turned into a wrestling match.. They caused me to go the beverage cache.

 

[Squareground3691]

Running the 241 I picked up I could tell after the first tank that it got better fuel economy than the 242, both are ported, similar power for both. While I like the handling of the husky better it doesn't make as much of a difference when they are that light, so the stihl will work, plus it has the side tensioner instead of front .
I like my 2511 for the same reason and it's not ported or even modded at all, yet .
Well, you're way ahead of me in the area of porting, machining, and carbs, wait, that would make it plural and should be written areas . I know very little about those things, but I do know how a good running saw feels in my hands .
I wonder if you could do a domed 268 piston .

Of course he , we can Lol

 

[Kodiak Kid]

You did well in my book. My last two trucks have come with carpet and I'd take the vinyl option any day. I won't get into the Isuzu Duramax vs. Cummins debate, but I will say the Duramax's that I've been involved with were quite reliable and they pulled like a mofo!

Good to hear. Yes, I'm staying out off the diesel debate war myself!

 

[JimR]

Running the 241 I picked up I could tell after the first tank that it got better fuel economy than the 242, both are ported, similar power for both. While I like the handling of the husky better it doesn't make as much of a difference when they are that light, so the stihl will work, plus it has the side tensioner instead of front .
I like my 2511 for the same reason and it's not ported or even modded at all, yet .
Well, you're way ahead of me in the area of porting, machining, and carbs, wait, that would make it plural and should be written areas . I know very little about those things, but I do know how a good running saw feels in my hands .
I wonder if you could do a domed 268 piston .

How about a 272xp piston and jug instead.

 

[JimR]

Somebody is watching out for me this week. I found a 36" like new bar for my 394xp today nearby for $60 on Craigslist. Then on my way home I bought two $10 lottery tickets and hit $100. The bar was free.

 

[JimR]

Well of course! Now I just need a bigger trailer.

We all do.

 

[JimR]

I bought my MKI brand new from a member on here when the MKII was just coming out. It was a good buy, but it never ran worth a **** right out of the box. We had a storm come through with some high winds not too long after I bought it, saws were in high demand for guys cleaning up their property, and I dumped it for a minor loss. Bought an MKII shortly thereafter and never looked back.

The MKII is a screamer. I have one too with a modded muffler. I love it.

 

[JimR]

If you do get to keep it, I'll give you $500 for the 394 . Yea like that's going to happen (lol).

Too many people know I have that saw in my possession. It has to go in May. I'll be dropping it off at the Highway Dept. They will have to keep it from disappearing. I just picked up a slightly used 36" bar this afternoon for $60 for my 394XP.

 

[Sawdust Man]

---

Well Gentlemen. My new used automobile.
2008 3500 Duramax with Allison transmission. Either it will work or it won't.
View attachment 1067334

Nice ride buddy!
I'm pleased with my 04 Duramax..... I bought it well used for $5k with 290k miles on it..... have put around 50k on it now (mostly towing) with no break downs.

I love the Allison transmission for towing.... especially on big hills.

They are good trucks.... nevermind what the haters say..... you're gonna like it!

 

[Sierra_rider]

Running the 241 I picked up I could tell after the first tank that it got better fuel economy than the 242, both are ported, similar power for both. While I like the handling of the husky better it doesn't make as much of a difference when they are that light, so the stihl will work, plus it has the side tensioner instead of front .
I like my 2511 for the same reason and it's not ported or even modded at all, yet .
Well, you're way ahead of me in the area of porting, machining, and carbs, wait, that would make it plural and should be written areas . I know very little about those things, but I do know how a good running saw feels in my hands .
I wonder if you could do a domed 268 piston .

Squareground already mentioned it, but yeah a domed 268 piston is a possibility. Really any piston is doable as long as there is enough material above the top ring groove.

At this point, I'd expect to know a little about porting and machining...I've thrown enough time and money at it. Even outside of the saws, I don't even remember how I lived before getting a lathe and a mill. They're really handy tools to have. I had no idea what I was missing out on until I got them.

For anyone that's interested in getting into modding saws, choose a saw that's easy to assemble/disassemble and has generous aftermarket support. Then buy about a dozen el cheapo chinesium cylinders and get to grinding. You won't unlock the true potential without machining capabilities, but there is a lot to be gained from working over the ports.

 

[Sierra_rider]

I ran the 365 a little bit today, cleaning up some busted trees from the snow fall. I gotta say that I'm pleasantly surprised by this saw. I guess my expectations were pretty low for a 20+year old pro-sumer 65cc saw, but it cuts pretty well. So we'll, that I'm curious if someone already upgraded to the 50mm p+c... probably not, but that would be a nice bonus.

Just barely got my 25" Stihl lightweight on there. Both Husky and Stihl spec 84dl loops for that size, but I had to find my most stretched out loop to just squeeze it on. If I was going to make a habit out of this, I'd probably add a couple links to the chain. I'll probably just get a 32" Husky lightweight or another Sugi, throw the 32" on my 372, and move the 28" Sugi lightweight to this saw.

Also put a thicker O-ring on the fuel cap, eliminated the horrendous fuel leak. What else? Pulled the fuel screw limiters on it. I wanted to just trim them, but the H side limiter was practically glued on and came off in pieces. I like to just trim the limiters and put them back on, as it helps find the screw when making adjustments.

 

[Be Stihl]

Supposed to be 20 here in KY tonight so I went and noodled up a couple rounds of ash I had left in the woods last year. I figured it was dry enough to burn and I was correct, my stove is setting at 500 degrees currently. Gotta love a good piece of hot ash.
The 400 ran like a dream today, RS chain that was sharpened on a cheap HF grinder. Took the rakers down to .040” and the saw cleaned up nice in the cut. Before with .028” the saw continued to “4 stroke” bounce off the rev limiter I suppose. It was annoying to the point I wasn’t enjoying the saw like I felt i should. It seems like this saw is hungry and likes a healthy load to be happy. I guess pulling the base gasket had an effect on it’s capable torque, sorry for the rant guys I had a good day and had to tell someone.

 

[Sierra_rider]

View attachment 1067446Supposed to be 20 here in KY tonight so I went and noodled up a couple rounds of ash I had left in the woods last year. I figured it was dry enough to burn and I was correct, my stove is setting at 500 degrees currently. Gotta love a good piece of hot ash.
The 400 ran like a dream today, RS chain that was sharpened on a cheap HF grinder. Took the rakers down to .040” and the saw cleaned up nice in the cut. Before with .028” the saw continued to “4 stroke” bounce off the rev limiter I suppose. It was annoying to the point I wasn’t enjoying the saw like I felt i should. It seems like this saw is hungry and likes a healthy load to be happy. I guess pulling the base gasket had an effect on it’s capable torque, sorry for the rant guys I had a good day and had to tell someone.

The 400 is a good runner, mine never disappoints me. I'm generally running shallower rakers, but I'm also pulling a 28".

BTW, did you check the squish after pulling the gasket? I'd have to go back and read my notes, but I remember my 400 being a little on the tight side for doing a base gasket delete.

 

[sean donato]

Man gone for a full day and there like 70 posts!
Anyway, the German oil burner is consuming time like crazy right now. Lots of stupid little things wrong with it, that are driving me crazy. Found the coolant leak the guy was telling me about. $5.00 part, that took most of the morning to change out. Figured while I was letting the air bleed out of the cooling system I would finish making hole repairs to the dash panels. So I dug out some aluminum flashing and set about to make little washers to go over top the gutted out plastic and panel bond them fast. Got that done and set them aside to let the glue dry. (Using the 4 min set time frp glue.) Don't know what kind of plastic vw used but every piece is kinda sticky and slick. So I'm not 100% sure how well the glue is going to hold up, but I figure it's gotta be better then doing nothing.
Me and the boy went for a ride after it was full of antifreeze, grabbed some lunch, then he got spectacularly sick in the back seat about 3 miles from the house. No warning just started puking all over the seat. Got home quick, got him cleaned up and settled, then cleaned up his car seat and the car. He went down for a nap and I turned my attention to the cruise Control not working. Like I suspected this was an auto car someone swapped to manual. Which kinda ticks me off as I was talking with the guy that originally sold this car to the guy I got it from and he claimed it was stick as long as he had it. (Title search showed I'm the third owner of it.) Vag-com showed me the clutch pedal switch was showing its always pressed, so it wouldn't activate the cruise control. Problem is, turns out there's no switch in the car for the clutch cruse Control, when I pulled the drivers side dash apart to check for it. They hacked the clutch start switch into the neutral safty switch wires, but the auto cars never had the cruise control clutch switch. So I'll have to get a wiring schematic and figure out which pin it is on the ecm and add it. Should be fun. The ecm is under the cowl behind the wiper linkage.... that will be for another time. Atilla need to figure out why the heater Control lights don't work too. All in good time I guess.
Oh while I was fixing the coolant leak, I found a loose bracket that had rubbed the wire off for the reverse switch on the trans, so I fixed the broken wire and repositioned and tightened the bracket up.
Ordered some 2.5" stainless exhaust pipe, to go with the down pipe I got for it. Should be able to tackle that when it shows up. Still waiting on injectors to get back in stock before I order them and a turbo, so I just may wait to do exhaust till that all come in. Rear mid motor mount is pretty hammered too, so I may order a new set of mounts and try to get it over to my uncles shop and up on the lift and do everything at once. We'll see.
Got 189 miles on the first 1/4 tank of fuel. Loven that.

 

[MustangMike]

The 400 is a good runner, mine never fails to disappoint me

???

 

[MustangMike]

Today's scrounge, a standing dead ash has been sniffin for the saw for awhile.. More punk than expected , but a good firewood tree.. Finally got to spend a day at the barn.. That new saw is a gas guzzler for sure. Those rounds turned into a wrestling match.. They caused me to go the beverage cache.

Welcome to the thread, nice cartridge, what gun is wrapped around it?

I've got a Model 71 348 and just built a 338-06 with a Shaw stainless barrel on a Ruger American Rifle.

 

[Sierra_rider]

???

Oopsie, not what I meant...omit the "fails to" and you have the gist of it.

I've edited it so the Husky boys can't hold it over me...

 

[turnkey4099]

Those thorn stems can get wrapped up quickly in a saw , Stihl bladed brush cutter maybe

They sure can get in there, Jammed my ms193T it came close to being a bench job to clear.