Yet Another 42cc Poulan Porting Thread

[Jeff Lary]

Hey Chris how goes the battle?
I have a poulan pro 255 that I have been using to limb with this winter. I had pretty extensive shoulder surgery last spring and when ever possible I have to use something light . I can only drop , limb and yard about 7 trees in one outing. The little poulan has been a blessing I can tell you by the time I drop the tree and drag winch cable through the woods to the tree and then tweak the bight once or twice,... I am ready for the ride to the yard. As of last week I have next years wood all out to my wood yard tree length probably near 6-7 cords
Anyway the poulan has been revving too high and if I idled it down enough to stop the chain it would stall. I at first thought that I had a bad clutch but then I remembered I put a new one on it last spring. So I decided to give the carb a going over.
This is a non strato saw with a Walbro wa-82 carb on it. I must say I was surprised to see that. I figured it would have had a zama on it? Extensive muffler nod too. Anyway I just ordered 7- K10- WAT kits and got them yesterday. So I checked the jets before I removed them the Low was 2 1/2 out and the Hi was 3/8 out. I put in the kit and now the low is 1 1/4 and the high is 1 . she seems to run better and the chain is not turning so I will have to try it and see.

 

[Chris-PA]

Hey Chris how goes the battle?
I have a poulan pro 255 that I have been using to limb with this winter. I had pretty extensive shoulder surgery last spring and when ever possible I have to use something light . I can only drop , limb and yard about 7 trees in one outing. The little poulan has been a blessing I can tell you by the time I drop the tree and drag winch cable through the woods to the tree and then tweak the bight once or twice,... I am ready for the ride to the yard. As of last week I have next years wood all out to my wood yard tree length probably near 6-7 cords
Anyway the poulan has been revving too high and if I idled it down enough to stop the chain it would stall. I at first thought that I had a bad clutch but then I remembered I put a new one on it last spring. So I decided to give the carb a going over.
This is a non strato saw with a Walbro wa-82 carb on it. I must say I was surprised to see that. I figured it would have had a zama on it? Extensive muffler nod too. Anyway I just ordered 7- K10- WAT kits and got them yesterday. So I checked the jets before I removed them the Low was 2 1/2 out and the Hi was 3/8 out. I put in the kit and now the low is 1 1/4 and the high is 1 . she seems to run better and the chain is not turning so I will have to try it and see.

Hey Jeff - I hope your shoulder improves! I know it can take a while.

A WA carb on that is sure a surprise to me. From what I can know and what the IPL shows, it should be a WT-202, WT-239 or WT-289. The WT-202 is the largest - a WT-285 is also common on similar models. The carb body is the same size, but it's hard to imagine the linkages worked unless the shafts were swapped.

When you say you idled it down, was that with the L mixture screw or the throttle stop? If the L mixture is off it may not like having the throttle stop lowered.

 

[Jeff Lary]

No it was accomplished with the low side . The idle screw is about 1 - 1 and 1/2 turns in.
I know on the side of It, it said 82 but in your defense the needle jet WAS about 1/4 of an inch long as opposed to the wa 82 on the partners which is about 1/2 long. Maybe it was not an 82? my eyes even with glasses can be deceiving. I was also wrong in the above post. I only replaced the fuel pump dia on the poulan and then cleaned the carb. I rebuilt a wa-82 on a partner 500 today as well, so that is where I got confused I guess. I remembered because of the needle jet not being the correct length to use a new one from my k10 kits.

 

[Fubar]

hey Chris , how do you get the crank apart on a poulan , is it just press fit or is it welded ?
keith

 

[Chris-PA]

hey Chris , how do you get the crank apart on a poulan , is it just press fit or is it welded ?
keith

They're press fit, but I've never tried to get one apart.

 

[bikemike]

Im not at dogging poulans they are cheap husky s and i have a poulan pro 46 cc and it is a screamer my stihl 034 wont cut near as quick as my poulan i did a little porting work and built a cheap pipe for it nothing nice or precision just a hacked up pocket rocket pipe still has the stock ignition and carb but im sure it has over a hp more power and broad power range. Starts easy and wont overheat in big wood. I love my poulan i cant blow it up and i have worked it non stop WOT under load and it wont give up

 

[Brettl]

Thanks for this thread Chris. It's giving me a whole new respect for these saws. I remember working at a lumberyard 20 years ago. The girl in charge of returns told us to take 5 Poulans to the dumpster. We did, took them back out of the dumpster and to our trucks, she didn't say to leave em in the dumpster. We each came away with 2 good saws. I remember those saws, very impressive in hindsight.
Thanks again for the thread. I'm eyeballin a ' 85 Sears Best 3.3, looks well made and in good condition.

 

[Brettl]

Im not at dogging poulans they are cheap husky s and i have a poulan pro 46 cc and it is a screamer my stihl 034 wont cut near as quick as my poulan i did a little porting work and built a cheap pipe for it nothing nice or precision just a hacked up pocket rocket pipe still has the stock ignition and carb but im sure it has over a hp more power and broad power range. Starts easy and wont overheat in big wood. I love my poulan i cant blow it up and i have worked it non stop WOT under load and it wont give up

You're right, that 034 is crap. As a random act of kindness, I'll give you my address, send cost of shipping and gas. You shouldn't be bothered with such garbage....

 

[bikemike]

You're right, that 034 is crap. As a random act of kindness, I'll give you my address, send cost of shipping and gas. You shouldn't be bothered with such garbage....

Lol thats funny no im not getting rid of my 034 av super its in great shape and runs nice. Plenty of ppl tried getting me to sell it but i cant let it go

 

[Brettl]

Lol thats funny no im not getting rid of my 034 av super its in great shape and runs nice. Plenty of ppl tried getting me to sell it but i cant let it go

I know. A Super is a 036 in reality and a great saw.

Back on topic, love the pipe on your Poulan. When you guys look for tuned pipes like that, don't overlook the radio control market. Lot of pipes to choose from for different engine sizes.

 

[bikemike]

I know. A Super is a 036 in reality and a great saw.

Back on topic, love the pipe on your Poulan. When you guys look for tuned pipes like that, don't overlook the radio control market. Lot of pipes to choose from for different engine sizes.

Yeah alot of the boat pipes are screamers for the zenoa engines i had that thought cross my mind of using a pylon racer pipe too

 

[bikemike]

Nice scuffle at the end of the game. Good night fellow saw enthusiasts

 

[Fubar]

husky owns poulan and Jonsered , all the poulans i have are clamshell "i think its called" , are all poulans clamshell ? what about the husky and jonsered ? the older saws i have ,use a split case and a removable cylinder , i have not got to tear into a newer one or the homeowner variety ,the clamshell is a bit limiting in modding aspects, i just finished up porting a 33cc poulan and in the process of putting it back together with a muffler mod as a limb saw , i love poulans , people give them way with stopped up fuel filters , i wear one out theres another in line waiting , i had a old poulan that i bought back in the late 1980's at home depot that got stole in 2006 i forget the model # but it was about 70 or 80cc's with a factory 24 inch oregon bar , and it would hold it's own against any saw made ...

 

[Chris-PA]

Im not at dogging poulans they are cheap husky s and i have a poulan pro 46 cc and it is a screamer my stihl 034 wont cut near as quick as my poulan i did a little porting work and built a cheap pipe for it nothing nice or precision just a hacked up pocket rocket pipe still has the stock ignition and carb but im sure it has over a hp more power and broad power range. Starts easy and wont overheat in big wood. I love my poulan i cant blow it up and i have worked it non stop WOT under load and it wont give up

That is very cool, I'd love to see more pictures! I also have a 46cc (Poulan 2775), and have ported it pretty heavily. It runs very strong for 46cc and at 10.1lbs is a pretty impressive saw.

http://www.arboristsite.com/community/threads/46cc-plastic-poulan.260209/

 

[Chris-PA]

Thanks for this thread Chris. It's giving me a whole new respect for these saws. I remember working at a lumberyard 20 years ago. The girl in charge of returns told us to take 5 Poulans to the dumpster. We did, took them back out of the dumpster and to our trucks, she didn't say to leave em in the dumpster. We each came away with 2 good saws. I remember those saws, very impressive in hindsight.
Thanks again for the thread. I'm eyeballin a 'View attachment 400064 85 Sears Best 3.3, looks well made and in good condition.

Having access to so many parts and used saws is one of the attractions for me. That Sears 3.3 is a very good pro construction saw from what I understand.

 

[bikemike]

husky owns poulan and Jonsered , all the poulans i have are clamshell "i think its called" , are all poulans clamshell ? what about the husky and jonsered ? the older saws i have ,use a split case and a removable cylinder , i have not got to tear into a newer one or the homeowner variety ,the clamshell is a bit limiting in modding aspects, i just finished up porting a 33cc poulan and in the process of putting it back together with a muffler mod as a limb saw , i love poulans , people give them way with stopped up fuel filters , i wear one out theres another in line waiting , i had a old poulan that i bought back in the late 1980's at home depot that got stole in 2006 i forget the model # but it was about 70 or 80cc's with a factory 24 inch oregon bar , and it would hold it's own against any saw made ...

Yeah the newer poulans are clam shell the main bearings are held in by rubber cups also as the crank seals. I think the bearings isolated like that reduces a lot of the vibes from the engine. Yeah mine has every bit of 10 gallons through it and still has good compression and runs like a champ even on these really cold days

 

[SalahHH83]

This is awesome! I love this type of tinkering and design. You've really done an awesome job with that saw and it really rips for a 42cc. Makes me want to go grab one of these on Craigslist and try the same. I bought a 58cc Chinese husky knock off that I'm going to try to tinker with in a similar way.

 

[Chris-PA]

This is awesome! I love this type of tinkering and design. You've really done an awesome job with that saw and it really rips for a 42cc. Makes me want to go grab one of these on Craigslist and try the same. I bought a 58cc Chinese husky knock off that I'm going to try to tinker with in a similar way.

Thanks! This saw went on to be much more modified, developing some of the ideas I mentioned in this one: http://www.arboristsite.com/community/threads/reducing-squish-on-a-poulan-clamshell.273087/

It took a few tries but now it is reliable and runs very well - it gets used a lot.