Stihl 038 Refurb

[Mark Wileman]

Hey,

 

I've been meaning to do this for ages, but I have an old beat up Stihl 038 I bought for £50 a few years ago as my 'first saw', far too powerful and unreliable to do my felling courses with so ended up using my Dad's Husqvarna 435 for my CS30.

 

Anyway I've decided to do it up using as any OEM parts as I can, it still has decent compression (can almost hold it by the starter cord without it unravelling) and from what I read online they are a great saw, it just needs some TLC.

 

My first question is, how do I tell what type it is? Stihl 038's had the stock, AV and Magnum versions, the stickers have all long since worn off (the side plate reads "Made in West Germany" so pre 1989). I guess the difference would be cylinder sizes, but don't really want to take the top end off just to measure, are there any other ways to tell what type it is?

 

I'm also struggling to find parts diagrams, and there are some differences between this saw and the MS381, so not confident to use 381 parts.

 

Any help will be much appreciated,

 

Mark

 

 

[peatff]

If you don't have to do anything to the piston and cylinder does it matter which it is ? From what I read the AV is 61cc, Super is 67cc and Magnum is 72cc.

[Mark Wileman]

1 minute ago, peatff said:

If you don't have to do anything to the piston and cylinder does it matter which it is ? From what I read the AV is 61cc, Super is 67cc and Magnum is 72cc.

Well knowing what cc it is will dictate what bar I run

[spuddog0507]

3 hours ago, Mark Wileman said:

Well knowing what cc it is will dictate what bar I run

Just runic on a 18" bar good combination .

I have some new parts for a 038 in my shed some where a exhaust and a recoil starter housing and there may be more.

[Mark Wileman]

9 minutes ago, spuddog0507 said:

Just runic on a 18" bar good combination .

I have some new parts for a 038 in my shed some where a exhaust and a recoil starter housing and there may be more.

I've just noticed the top fin on the cylinder has snapped off on the right hand side.

 

I'm assuming this will mean the right hand side won't be able to dissipate heat as well and therefore get hotter than the left? Tempted to throw an AM 52mm pot on and see how she goes...

Edited March 24, 2018 by Mark Wileman

[htb]

If its only 1 fin I would not worry about it, Its going to be better quality than the aftermarket one

[Mark Wileman]

Was looking for an excuse to fit a bigger cylinder 

[spudulike]

And taking off a far better OEM cylinder.......

[peatff]

I wouldn't go over 20" bar on it and any of the three sizes should pull that.

[Mark Wileman]

So did a compression test tonight and got a reading of 110 psi. 

 

Worth spending a bit of money doing her up or is that rubbish compression? I heard somewhere that anything over 100 is alright?