Fantasy to reality, hot saws... Spud? and others

[wyk]

These days when I do mod a saw, I tend to try and go more conservative than hot. I have an 044 that has had nothing but a dual port muffler added and some timing adjustment, and I am quite pleased with it's performance.

 

I also meant to mention previously the fact that the EPA also makes certain other agreements, 'suggestions', and assertions aside from KwH emissions with manufacturers. Of those, the ones we know well about are making it difficult for unauthorised persons to make carb adjustments. But what was eluded to beforehand, is the EPA have admonished manufacturers to not share this information with customers. They've also agreed not to sell exhaust that are easy to modify as well; such as the old two piece STIHL exhausts.  Some manufacturers have made it difficult to adjust timing, whether due to the ignition system, or the lack of a woodruff key. Some might even tell their retail outlets not to share any technical data or specs regarding emissions.

[David Dobedoe]

Lots of great debate here, thanks.

I also like french bread.

Any thoughts as to starting with a factory fresh saw or something that has been used?

[Mick Dempsey]

8 hours ago, David Dobedoe said:

Lots of great debate here, thanks.

I also like french bread.

Any thoughts as to starting with a factory fresh saw or something that has been used?

I’d go with an older pre auto tune model, I have a Husky 288 that’s barely used these days that would be ideal.

[spudulike]

Just done a 288XP....bit of a funny one in so much as the owner had trouble starting it and it turned out that he hadn't been using that thumb lever lock between the throttle safety bar and the top cover....weird!

 

I have ported new and near new saws. I do advise the warranty will be void though and it is best to get a bit of use from the saw to ensure the manufacture is good before modification but it is up to the owner.

[David Dobedoe]

Thanks Spud, sounds like a good working saw is idea and something that is repairable can be done at the same time as repair. 

[shavey]

18 hours ago, wyk said:

These days when I do mod a saw, I tend to try and go more conservative than hot. I have an 044 that has had nothing but a dual port muffler added and some timing adjustment, and I am quite pleased with it's performance.

 

I also meant to mention previously the fact that the EPA also makes certain other agreements, 'suggestions', and assertions aside from KwH emissions with manufacturers. Of those, the ones we know well about are making it difficult for unauthorised persons to make carb adjustments. But what was eluded to beforehand, is the EPA have admonished manufacturers to not share this information with customers. They've also agreed not to sell exhaust that are easy to modify as well; such as the old two piece STIHL exhausts.  Some manufacturers have made it difficult to adjust timing, whether due to the ignition system, or the lack of a woodruff key. Some might even tell their retail outlets not to share any technical data or specs regarding emissions.

Wes that little saw you done for me  was very happy with the work you put into it 

its still going strong and sounds awesome only addition is I put a spark arrestor gauze 

in 

[wyk]

1 hour ago, shavey said:

Wes that little saw you done for me  was very happy with the work you put into it 

its still going strong and sounds awesome only addition is I put a spark arrestor gauze 

in 

That saw has had a good working over. I contoured the lower transfer openings to flow more, raised the top xfers a bit, reshaped and changed the timing on the intake, removed the cat and a baffle, redid the exhaust oulet, and port matched the cylinder to the muffler. I think I also advanced the timing 6* or so. It had very good compression and squish, so I left those be.

I think the small amount of grinding on the lower transfers really helped fill all 6 of them rather well at most RPM's.

 

 

Here it is in a relatively hard and goopey larch, and then buried in horse chestnut. It was wearing a standard kerf .325 chain on a 16" bar.

 

 

[Stubby]

Strong saw that .

[wyk]

6 hours ago, Stubby said:

Strong saw that .

It's difficult to convey how much pulling power a saw has in a video unless it's sumfin crazy like that MMWS 044 I had with finger ports and set to run at 15K RPM I like to show here on occasion. I was pushing it in to that chestnut and it just kept cutting. The 420sc in this vid is sort of a big saw for it's discplacement, so the bar doesn't look as big as it is. But it weighs the same as a 241CM, and I think they are set up great from the factory. It had like .028 squish at it's max measurement, and produced 178PSI according to my records without any break in. A good saw that I highly suggest.

 

Ah hell, why not show folks what the other end of porting is like. This is what happens when you take a saw, grind it to within an inch of it's life, put a bigger carb on it, and mess about with the chain just to be safe, and then put way too much bar on it. Here's my Mastermind Work Saws 044 by Randy Evans. It was one of his personal saw test beds, so is rather drastically ported, more than he would do for a work saw usually. Back in 2010 or so, Randy and I had many discussions about the dynamics of what makes a saw work. The guy is pretty sharp, and I highly recommend his saws:

 

 

It might not look like it, but I am babying it and trying not to dog it in to the wood too much - I was afraid it would blow out the bottom end or bend the conrod.

Edited December 5, 2018 by wyk

[Aspen@AAOIL]

On 03/12/2018 at 08:08, Woodworks said:

Just quoting what I have been told when asked about ported saw previously. Never used one myself. I want clean emissions without going to the expense of Aspen

Sorry to be the bringer of bad news but you will never get close to the emission benefits of running Aspen without actually using it.

 

An old chainsaw will have much lower benzene emissions running on Aspen than the leanest burning new models on the market running regular petrol.