Who really is the KING of modifying?

[woodfarmer]

woods saws

why would anyone spend an extra $300 plus $50 in shipping to get a saw modded, spend the money, buy a second saw for your other hand and soon you'll be cutting twice the wood as these guys with their modded saws.

 

[NWCS]

wood: one of the reasons is pack around a lighter saw. second is more production because your packing that lighter saw and cutting more wood with it. that equals profit for timber companies and loggers. firewood cutters can get more wood cut, farmers can get more done with less time.. etc..

 

[Butch(OH)]

Question for the builders

Since I found out here that people rod chainsaws and how they do it I have always wondered why no aftermarket drop in parts that give us what you offer for "woods saws", no disrespect to you builders implied. I understand why the OEMs cant do it and meet emissions but from what I read here big gains come from lifting a piston skirt a tad, raising an exhaust port and drilling a few 3/8 holes in the muffler baffles? Believe me I am no 2 cycle engine whiz bang but I have made more than a few 4 stroke 8 cylinder chevys make fast left turns in between short straightaways and there doesnt seem to be any magic here? Seems like some saw builder ought to be tooled up and supplying us with drop in parts for at least 3 models of Stihls and same for Husky.

 

[Lakeside53]

.

Lake, I put the dual port cover on when I bought it, and had the shop tack it to make sure I was a little rich. After 10 tanks of fuel I had them set it at 13,000 and center the caps for me. I am not dissatisfied with the power of the saw, but now that I have my 066 for the mill, I can let this one go for awhile to open it up. LIke I said in the original post though, I would rather have the saw last a long time, than get more power out of it.

The 460 factory dual port cover is still very restrictive; it still has to meet EPA regs. Open up your dual port front cover to roughly 85% of the area of the exhaust ports as measured at the cylinder wall (subtract the existing rear cylinder outlet if you want, but it won't make much difference), re-adjust the carb, and you'll be way ahead...

The 066 dual port was "pre-epa", and is already a big as it needs to be...

 

[Tree Sling'r]

why would anyone spend an extra $300 plus $50 in shipping to get a saw modded, spend the money, buy a second saw for your other hand and soon you'll be cutting twice the wood as these guys with their modded saws.

How many modded saws have you run? I make a living with modded saws and when doing so make people with stock stuff look stupid.

 

[1953greg]

casey,

to address your request, "I would like to hear from those of you that have had you saws modified by the individuals here on AS".

i have a ms460 24" bar that has been modded what dean @ whs calls his stage II mods. it rips!!!!
wont run w/ a muf mod 066 but it is definitely stronger than the muf mod 660 my friend has and my big bore muf mod 460. for comparison the bb is also stronger than the muff mod 660. dont know why the bb 460 is stronger than the 660 but thats beside the point. the stage II 460 uses noticebly more gas than the bb460. probably bout 20-25%. but definitely 20-25% more power than stock. probably more.

whats all this mean. imho, a stage II 460 is markedly stronger than stock and all the saw i need. more than enough 95% of the time for cutting n bucking for me. i do some milling w/ the 066 42" bar 36" alaskan jig. i made 1 cut w/ the II 460 on it and it did the work but i wouldnt want to all day. just too much work for the II460. probably would handle a 24" cut ok.

am i pleased w/ the II 460? you bet. i do not have anyone elses modded saw for comparision.

one more point. i have tried the maxflo filters and they are great but the only mounting support they have is the air flange stem. too fragile of a mounting system for me. i bumped the filter cover and broke the flange so i have gone back to the original filters and covers on everything but the milling 066.

i plan on making the helsel gtg in manton on june 3. u can try it there.

good day 1953greg

 

[sawinredneck]

casey,

to address your request, "I would like to hear from those of you that have had you saws modified by the individuals here on AS".

i have a ms460 24" bar that has been modded what dean @ whs calls his stage II mods. it rips!!!!
wont run w/ a muf mod 066 but it is definitely stronger than the muf mod 660 my friend has and my big bore muf mod 460. for comparison the bb is also stronger than the muff mod 660. dont know why the bb 460 is stronger than the 660 but thats beside the point. the stage II 460 uses noticebly more gas than the bb460. probably bout 20-25%. but definitely 20-25% more power than stock. probably more.

whats all this mean. imho, a stage II 460 is markedly stronger than stock and all the saw i need. more than enough 95% of the time for cutting n bucking for me. i do some milling w/ the 066 42" bar 36" alaskan jig. i made 1 cut w/ the II 460 on it and it did the work but i wouldnt want to all day. just too much work for the II460. probably would handle a 24" cut ok.

am i pleased w/ the II 460? you bet. i do not have anyone elses modded saw for comparision.

one more point. i have tried the maxflo filters and they are great but the only mounting support they have is the air flange stem. too fragile of a mounting system for me. i bumped the filter cover and broke the flange so i have gone back to the original filters and covers on everything but the milling 066.

i plan on making the helsel gtg in manton on june 3. u can try it there.

good day 1953greg

This, This my friends is information!!!!! This is educational!!! This is informative!!! This is not about Simon!!!! MORE!!!!!! GIVE ME MORE!!!!!! PLEASE?
Andy

 

[SawTroll]

I'm with you...and damn glad I don't mod saws for this group.

I sure am with you on that one.....

..but this tread surely has taken a turn in the right direction since yesterday.

 

[CaseyForrest]

I sure am with you on that one.....

..but this tread surely has taken a turn in the right direction since yesterday.

Yes it has and I thank everyone with "useful" information.

 

[Mr.]

If people aren't answering your questions you are asking them the wrong way or don't understand there answers.

Alot of this stuff is application and most of us are not teachers. I have learned as much from searching old threads here as anything.

I posted my pointers on the Gypo/KD 372.

It walks all over a 066. It'll be in MI.

Fred

 

[Kneejerk Bombas]

Now as for us here at Washington Hot Saws: Turn around time is approximately 6 weeks.

Six weeks seems like a long time, not that it's longer than many of the builders, but it seems to me that if you raised your prices a little you could get the turn around time down to 2 or 3 weeks and still stay busy. Or, hire an extra hand or two to help get things out the door faster.
I think most people would rather pay a premium and get fast (but still good) service.
Just my 2 cents...

 

[Gypo Logger]

It would be tough to be a saw builder these days since the world has become so much smaller due to the internet.
Because of the information readily available to us, we can learn more in one week reading than we can in 10 years trying to learn on ourr own.
We all learned from someone or somewhere, so in essence no one has a patent on figures.
As mentioned before anyone can modify a saw with varying degrees of gains, but here we are talking about a saw to either make a living with or cut a years supply of wood. Ultimately it's in the chain.
What's the point of having a viper if the tires are bald?
We have all seen the modded saw evolve here on AS from the basic muffler mod to the ported and polished woodsaw.
What is next? I believe it's the punched out 372, 385 and 394.
Anyway, next on the workbench is a modified 359 that developed an airleak , so stay tuned for some closeups and some timing figures.
John

 

[Kneejerk Bombas]

Anyway, next on the workbench is a modified 359 that developed an airleak , so stay tuned for some closeups and some timing figures.
John

Is that the saw that was pumping oil out the vent?

 

[timberwolf]

John, the 359 has lots on the table to be had, sure you will find good gains, BTW a viper with bald tires might not be a bad thing, Such a sport car would only be in it's element on smoth dry paved roads, which lend them self well to slicks. Don't see much tread on dry weather Nascar or F1 race tires.

Are you going to make a race car or mud bogger out of that 359?

 

[Gypo Logger]

John, the 359 has lots on the table to be had, sure you will find good gains, BTW a viper with bald tires might not be a bad thing, Such a sport car would only be in it's element on smoth dry paved roads, which lend them self well to slicks. Don't see much tread on dry weather Nascar or F1 race tires.

Are you going to make a race car or mud bogger out of that 359?

My Viper has Blizzak deep tread tires for our snow ridden winters here in Toronto, but yes, I will be making a Mud Bogger out of the 359.
Should make a good stumping saw.
Mike, no that was a 268 I made into a 272. I have since fixed that though.
John

 

[timberwolf]

Slicks on the tractor and mud tires on the viper, you are quite the guy John.

Keep us posted on the 359, so far it has been my best mod, though the 066 is gettin there too.

359 is physically easy to do but as always lots of room to screw it up.

 

[klickitatsacket]

Six weeks seems like a long time, not that it's longer than many of the builders, but it seems to me that if you raised your prices a little you could get the turn around time down to 2 or 3 weeks and still stay busy. Or, hire an extra hand or two to help get things out the door faster.
I think most people would rather pay a premium and get fast (but still good) service.
Just my 2 cents...

Mike I agree with you. I have been trying to get things to move faster in the shop but it is tough. If I am in the shop 8 hrs. a day I do not have time to talk with my customers on the phone or answer emails. This is a very new thing to most people and it takes an average of 15 minutes per person answer all their questions. some even more. If I stop to give customer service then I fall behind doing port work. The average saw in here takes about 8 man hours to complete. Finding the right person to take over in the shop to do most of the work under my supervision is a very tough thing to find. It is a balancing act and a bit of a learning curve. I just hired a new tech who is very good and has had a lot of experiance porting motor cycles. He has agreed to come work for me and do things my way. I am very excited because I have been after him for over a year and when Ben left it just so happened that his job had folded and needed work. Yesterday was his first full day. Besides having 20 years in bike racing he also offers tig welding (and the machine). this is going to give us some new options on port design that where too costly before. Like I said before; this year is going to be exciting for us. I will be able to spend more time improving our business end of things while the shop will get better with improved tooling for better production making it possible for better and faster designs to start emerging with more options to fit differant budgets.

 

[HELSEL]

Slicks on the tractor and mud tires on the viper, you are quite the guy John.

Keep us posted on the 359, so far it has been my best mod, though the 066 is gettin there too.

359 is physically easy to do but as always lots of room to screw it up.

HAHAHAHAHA Brian, We know where your nose is. And if any body would know how to screw a saw up it would be you!!!!So just keep taking notes and running them back to fast EDDY.Summers coming

Rick

 

[timberwolf]

It is that attitude exactly that makes me more inclined to place my sniffer elsewhere, bit dank and musty in some corners. I have heard this echoed by many others also.

I take notes for no one but myself.

So how is the chain race coming together, want to put out some details yet?

I have yet to screw a saw up, maybe I did not get all that I could have from some mods, but tell me hacking 2mm from the piston gives you 100% of a saws potential.

 

[HELSEL]

It is that attitude exactly that makes me more inclined to place my sniffer elsewhere, bit dank and musty in some corners. I have heard this echoed by many others also.

I take notes for no one but myself.

So how is the chain race coming together, want to put out some details yet?

I have yet to screw a saw up, maybe I did not get all that I could have from some mods, but tell me hacking 2mm from the piston gives you 100% of a saws potential.

What do you need to know about the chain race? We all ready said it was 72 drivers 50 gage. I take it you must have forgot.Its on (Hotsaws.com)I see you there all the time you must have missed that.


Rick