tmessenger
ArboristSite Guru
Holy baby bumble bee batman.........
This little guy came along as a free ride with another saw I bought so why not. This is a bit of a mix with a 170 cylinder / crank, an early 017 single ring piston and 017 chassis, so sort of a 017 in drag. This one got the muffler-ectomy, a cheap china fully adjustable carb and a micro .043g 14" B&C.
The saw went from being a dog before the mod into.............well another dog but a different kind of dog like from being a chiwawa into being a miniature wiener dog if you get my meaning, so in other words quite a difference.
The good: Ultra light at around 10 pounds wet with B&C. Big old oil and gas caps (others should catch on to this) so you can actually see in the tanks when filling and not over filling. The tanks are translucent so you can check fuel and oil levels on the fly. Lots of cutting on a tank of gas for you penny pincher. Easy to come by for not many $$ and loads of used parts around. With a mod and sharp micro chain it's a usable very light saw for thinning and limbing.
The not so good: Choke is either on or off, this saw would like half choke for 5 seconds on cold starts so when it's chilly out it usually has to be started a couple of times to get some heat into it to keep it running. The plastic case has lots of nooks and crannies that trap oily sawdust behind the engine and the only way to really get it clean is pull the engine. You have to pull the handle bar off to get the starter housing off (bad design IMO). The micro .043 Rollomatic is a junk bar and has no business wearing the Rollomatic name, they should call it the Rubomatic or Ruinomatic. I got a couple of them used cheap so I'm good but if buying new I'd look at an Oregon brand it might be better made. These clam engines are not very high compression (around 140psi if healthy) and there is nothing that can be done about it.
Things to consider: The early 017 and the 170 are different engines with different almost everything so mixing parts for the most part does not work. The 170 has quad transfers and a double counter-weighted crank vs duel transfers and single counter-weighted crank for the 017. The early 017 engine does not mod very well or run as smoothly and really is not worth the effort, I'd stick with the 170 engines. These saws need all the help they can get so the micro bar & chain are a must IMO. The china carb is a bolt on without tweaking, the stock throttle linkage works without any tweaking and the carb is under $10 shipped so not a bad deal. I did have to grind a little of the 017 plastic air filter housing off to clear the longer mixture needles on this carb and add another hold in the engine cover for the high speed jet adjustment.
And to save Mr. SawTroll the trouble: yes we know this is not a professional saw, never was intended to be and never will be and no I'm not going to throw it in the dumpster, well as least not yet.
Video disclaimer: This video was made by a trained professional, DO NOT TRY THIS AT HOME.
This little guy came along as a free ride with another saw I bought so why not. This is a bit of a mix with a 170 cylinder / crank, an early 017 single ring piston and 017 chassis, so sort of a 017 in drag. This one got the muffler-ectomy, a cheap china fully adjustable carb and a micro .043g 14" B&C.
The saw went from being a dog before the mod into.............well another dog but a different kind of dog like from being a chiwawa into being a miniature wiener dog if you get my meaning, so in other words quite a difference.
The good: Ultra light at around 10 pounds wet with B&C. Big old oil and gas caps (others should catch on to this) so you can actually see in the tanks when filling and not over filling. The tanks are translucent so you can check fuel and oil levels on the fly. Lots of cutting on a tank of gas for you penny pincher. Easy to come by for not many $$ and loads of used parts around. With a mod and sharp micro chain it's a usable very light saw for thinning and limbing.
The not so good: Choke is either on or off, this saw would like half choke for 5 seconds on cold starts so when it's chilly out it usually has to be started a couple of times to get some heat into it to keep it running. The plastic case has lots of nooks and crannies that trap oily sawdust behind the engine and the only way to really get it clean is pull the engine. You have to pull the handle bar off to get the starter housing off (bad design IMO). The micro .043 Rollomatic is a junk bar and has no business wearing the Rollomatic name, they should call it the Rubomatic or Ruinomatic. I got a couple of them used cheap so I'm good but if buying new I'd look at an Oregon brand it might be better made. These clam engines are not very high compression (around 140psi if healthy) and there is nothing that can be done about it.
Things to consider: The early 017 and the 170 are different engines with different almost everything so mixing parts for the most part does not work. The 170 has quad transfers and a double counter-weighted crank vs duel transfers and single counter-weighted crank for the 017. The early 017 engine does not mod very well or run as smoothly and really is not worth the effort, I'd stick with the 170 engines. These saws need all the help they can get so the micro bar & chain are a must IMO. The china carb is a bolt on without tweaking, the stock throttle linkage works without any tweaking and the carb is under $10 shipped so not a bad deal. I did have to grind a little of the 017 plastic air filter housing off to clear the longer mixture needles on this carb and add another hold in the engine cover for the high speed jet adjustment.
And to save Mr. SawTroll the trouble: yes we know this is not a professional saw, never was intended to be and never will be and no I'm not going to throw it in the dumpster, well as least not yet.
Video disclaimer: This video was made by a trained professional, DO NOT TRY THIS AT HOME.
