Stihl MS 180C project saw

[Postpicspls]

I picked up a dead MS 180c pretty cheap. This is going to be a complete tear-down and rebuild with new piston & cylinder, porting and exhaust mods. Currently it has little to no compression and it looks like a scored piston, otherwise, cosmetically, it's in good shape. I looked over the porting and exhaust mod threads on here- that's what gave me the idea to try something like this. Are there any tips or pointers before I get started?
What can I use to clean up the plastic parts so I don't damage it?
BTW, I plan in using it to cut up some walnut I've been collecting. I got the 180 because it has a narrow kerf. That will help me not waste so much nice burl.
Thanks for any info!

 

[grack]

I'm rebuilding another one right now i use foaming shower cleaner and then pressure wash i like a clean saw i didn't remove the handle it's a pain if you do lol i drilled a small hole in the bottom of the handle to access the bottom engine bolt i left the brake flag on and just took my time and got the engine out take the black wire loose from the coil and the loom and the entire unit comes out when you take off or pull through the rubber intake boot oem piston kit 20.00 just rings alone 18.00 i bought the 4.00 chinese ebay piston and rings I've got three freebies to fix they are mine so i don't care lol

 

[Postpicspls]

I just bought one of those Chinese piston and cyl. kits. Lets hope it works...Comes in tomorrow.

 

[grack]

I just bought one of those Chinese piston and cyl. kits. Lets hope it works...Comes in tomorrow.

Use the old pistons circlips and bearing just check the ports I've had to just smooth them with sandpaper a little some were very sharp. Get some good sealer motoseal dirko threebond yamabond 4 etc I've done many of the stihl clams just takes longer than the pro style.

 

[Postpicspls]

The old piston looks like it's scored pretty bad, so not sure if it can be salvaged. I'll take a look when I take the whole thing apart. I figured one of them can be a test to see how good my porting skills are LOL!.
I'll try to post some pics as I go...
I was wondering what to use to seal the two halves together. I'll get some sealer. Thanks!

 

[grack]

Just the circlips that hold the wristpin i hate the Chinese one's they have been known to come loose and if your oem bearing is good use it much better quality i haven't had trouble at all with the Chinese pistons or rings i usually get oem or cabers not this time though.

 

[Postpicspls]

I just finished reassembling the saw. This is what I need up doing to it:
Basically a new Chinese engine.
The bottom end wasn't flat and the base of the cylinder wasn't the best either. I ended up taking a piece of cutoff granite countertop and spraymounting a sheet of 320 wet or dry sandpaper to it. Then carefully sanding it with some soapy water. Then did the same with the top until both were flat. Only took about 15 minutes for both sides.

I did end up enlarging the intake and exhaust ports, not much, but they were a decent amount wider (around 2 mm on each side) I wasn't sure I wanted to go any wider. I did check check around here regarding how wide I could go and could have gone more but this is my first saw mod. Did that to both intake and exhaust. Being careful not to mess with the top or bottom of the ports and keeping them flat.

I used an arbor press to put the bearings on the crankshaft and then assembled the engine together.
The flywheel was hitting the OEM coil so I used my Dremel to make the slot a little longer and then used a thin piece if cardboard to make sure it was aligned evenly.

The muffler was modded too. I took out all the holes behind the spark arrestor. Don't know if I did too much I figure if I did, I could always put in a small pice of sheet metal to add restriction if it was needed

I put everything back together including a new carb. BTW, I did end up taking the entire thing apart including the handle. It WAS a PITA but I learned a lot by doing it. Not sure if I would do it again though! Lol.

Last night I put fresh fuel in it and fired her up. You can't see the grin on my face but she screams like bat out of hell. It's a tiny thing but seems eager to cut. Had a few pieces of elm that had been cut down about two weeks ago and went through a 12" diameter piece like nothing. If I pushed it hard it would slow down but never bogged.

Pretty happy with it now.

Thanks to all the people who did previous posts with details about how to port and do mods. It was really helpful!

Kind of makes me want to find another dead saw or build one of those huztl kits.

And much thanks to Grack for all the advice!

 

[Khntr85]

That's awesome, I have pro saws, and have rebuilt all kinds..... when I buy 15-20 non-running saws at a time, I always eventually end up rebuilding 1-2 MS180c..... for what they are, they actually are not that bad if a saw.....

Did you put an adjustable carb in it

 

[Postpicspls]

I did end up getting both a stock AM carb and an adjustable one. Put the stock one on it first to make sure it would run.
I'm not as experienced with adjusting carbs so took the easy way out to be sure it ran before messing with too many new things that could go wrong.
Now that I know it runs well, I'll put the adjustable carb ad see if I can make it run better!