MS200T Cylinders

[Grant More]

Hello Arb Heroes!

 

Stihl have finally run out of stock and discontinued 1129 020 1202, the OE 40mm piston and cylinder kit for the MS200T. The piston and rings are available as separate items, the cylinder is not.

 

There are a range of compatible/aftermarket/non-OE piston and cylinder kits available at a wide range of prices.

 

I have a number of MS200T saws earmarked for rebuild over the winter and I'd like to invite opinions and experience of these kits. I'm particularly interested in performance, reliability and overall comparison to the OE equipment.

 

Many thanks!

 

Cheers,

Grant

[gand]

Meteor is a good bet 

[Darrin Turnbull]

Genuine Meteor Stihl MS200T Cylinder & Piston Assembly (40mm Bore)

WWW.GARDENHIRESPARES.CO.UK

---

Genuine Meteor part suitable for Stihl MS200, MS200TBarrel & piston...

Maybe something for you 

[pleasant]

Genuine Meteor. Don't you just love sales blurb.

 

Meteor is a copy of Genuine Stihl.

 

Genuine Meteor suggests there are fake Meteor copies out there, but this Meteor is the real deal....whereas in reality even the Meteor is a copy

[spudulike]

It is a big shame that the OEM kit is now obsolete, using one of these and deleting the base gasket gives 200psi and a decent performance boost just by itself. 

I believe Hyway make the cylinders for Meteor, I have my own reasons for thinking this from my own experience, others may have their views.

I used Meteor pistons on these machines and other models for years and they are probably the best option beyond the OEM part. Hyway probably make the best of the Chinese copies but would use the OEM circlips as they can be a bit hit and miss on most aftermarket kits.

I don't think I ever had a machine in with any other kit than these that actually ran well. Significantly poor compression was present on most of them and it killed both torque and revs in the cut. I couldn't do much with the non OEM kit to make them work well and usually just informed the owner and went full OEM kit in the last few years of running my business.

[Grant More]

Thank you all for opinions and experience. Very much appreciated.

 

@spudulike, thanks for the extended explanation. May I deduce from your reply that non-OEM kits may be configured with variable, perhaps lower compression and hence a base gasket delete is necessary by default to maintain performance?

 

Thanks again!

 

Cheers,

Grant

 

[spudulike]

No, I have had some saws come in with non OEM cylinders and even after a base gasket delete and the compression being around 160psi, the saw was lethargic and in some cases pretty pathetic. Some I have had have been much worse than a well worn OEM kit and barely make 135psi with the base gasket in place.

The main issue is that OEM cylinders have a very decent piston skirt to bore fit and the AM ones can be well off the mark. This means that although the ring to bore may seal the top of the piston well, when it is zinging up and down the bore at 12,000rpm and the saw is hot, the compression, torque and power all suffer from the lack of the cylinder and piston fitting each other well.

The symptoms are a bit like comparing a saw fitted with a new OEM kit to a saw that has done 15 years on an OEM kit and the piston is pretty much shot.

The plating on many aftermarket cylinders is like cheese....try a carbide burr one and you will see it first hand.

I ended up fitting Meteor pistons and as these became difficult to find ( I once purchased 25pcs to see me through), I would fit a new OEM cylinder and piston just to get that 200psi and instant "new saw+" performance.

Your issue now is to replicate that without the OEM parts....probably Meteor and Hyway would be my initial possibilities.

Reducing squish and machining don't make up for poor piston to cylinder clearances in my book.

 

[Grant More]

@spudulike, thank you for the detailed and clear explanation.

 

I do now wonder if it's time to retire the MS200Ts.

 

Cheers,

Grant

[spudulike]

It just depends if you can find a good workaround that doesn't cost a fortune but it is a big dilemma. 

 

[spudulike]

Strangely, I found myself in the position of needing a MS200T top end today.

Even more strange was the fact L&S still had the 020T OEM part in stock.......do they fit the MS200T...hell yes... of course they do and will give pretty much the same performance give or take!!

Roll on 200psi with a base gasket delete...nice!!

PS - they still have two in stock!!