spudulike

I left out one thing, the bottom of the con rod (Big End) will often blue up if it gets pretty hot. You can do all the tests I mentioned to verify a failed big end without splitting the crankcases. Hopefully one of your mains has grenaded as it is a bit cheaper than a new crank. The crank is shared with the 461 - I repaired one with a secondhand 460 crank saving the owner a decent amount of dosh in the process.

If the first chamber (Pump Section) is full of petrol, the carb is pumping fuel up from the tank. This may mean that the impulse line is working fine but a machine can run without it if their is positive pressure in the fuel tank...warm day etc. Fuel in the second chamber (Metering section) means that the needle valve is working OK and the carb is letting fuel through so it can be drawn up in to carb bore to enter the engine. You say that the plug isn't getting wet, is this with trying to start the machine with the choke on? With the choke on, giving the saw 10-15 pulls should pretty much flood the machine. You say the saw engine has pressure and vacuum - if you have a BIG air leak in the crankcase, it can cause lack of fuel...was it checked with a vacuum and pressure pump etc. The kill switch description - the lack of contact would stop you from stopping the machine as the system connects the coil to earth to stop it. If you want to bypass the kill system, disconnect the kill wire from the coil and try it again. Closing the gap up to the very minimum, ensuring the two don't hit each other, can help maximising the spark, especially on weak flywheel markets and weak coils. Basically, you need spark, compression and fuel...compression is usually the first one to check....what is it measuring? I have heard..."Has Compression" too many times to find the piston has seized and all you have is friction and NOT compression - whip off the muffler and take a look.

It may well be the big end. Check for play in the bearing - Up and down not sideways. You can usually push the con rod big end to one side with the big end cage pushed the other then rotate the cage round with a craft knife or similar. Look for cracks and missing bits on both sides of the bearing cage. Not a nice outcome but a good learning curve for the future. I think your £150 maybe a pretty light estimation.

One little plug - the own baked full grain brown loaf from Tesco punches truly above its weight. Been through many big brands and bakers loaves and this single loaf is as good as Days the bakers (Hertfordshire) GI loaf. Pate, with soup, sea food/prawn sandwich filling...pretty much anything is good with it. There are a decent amount of pumpkin seeds in it that make a big difference. The loaf comes in a clear bag with the own printed Tesco label and bar code if you are interested - you can find it on their fresh bread racks near the bakery section. £1.45 for the big one - bargain IMO.

Blimey....what is your hourly rate

If you look at the link between the two cutters, the rivets are slightly polished and this is the link that joins the loop of chain hence the possibility of not having opposing cutters.

Will that mean we can rip round on Z1s and GSX1100s with the last 1.5' of the exhaust system missing wearing scabby leathers.......Lovely

If you have flooded it, not wishing either of us to suck eggs.....remove the spark plug, turn the ignition OFF, turn the saw upside down and pull it over really hard a few times. This really helps clear puddled fuel and you may see it drip or spatter out of the saw hence the ignition off and YES, I have seen this ignite one one occasion - pretty impressive but not good for hair on arms or eyebrows!!! I also find heating the plug up with a plumbers torch or gas cooking hob can help with getting the engine to fire but get it in and pull it over quick....no choke but fast idle position. At least a working module will prove if it is that or not. Has he got a good carb to try?

Probably easier just to grind and file the mushrooming back to sort it unless you want that look. I think your spell check kicked in...It is Brades Co not "Braces"....a decent manufacturer. The wedge - take a 3mm drill and drill the wedge out bit by bit. You may get lucky and be able to lever it out. There may be a metal wedge in there, nails, screws etc but if you are lucky, once the wedge is removed, the handle will knock off there the slot can be cleaned, a new wedge cut and planed to size then fitted. As I said, use some PVA wood glue to get a good bond and knock the wedge in good and hard then cut it to size.

The MS460 poly flywheel has a steel boss so is damn strong and yours looks fine as does the key. It is very possible that you are feeling the play between the rings and the piston and it is quite normal. Pop the muffler off and see if you can see the movement as you rotate the flywheel. It is likely the ignition unit has taken a clout and damaged it so the saw is sparking with the wrong timing but difficult to tell from afar. It is also possible it has a carb issue - did you check under the metering diaphragm cover.

Oh.....a little caveat is that when an engine stops when running at full tilt then it can often be a complete failure on the HT side, especially if the saw still has decent compression after failure. You could try removing the kill wire off the coil....just to make sure there isn't an intermittent earthing issue.

They may be worth £30- 40 each tile if they have a manufacturer on them - seen them on bargain hunt and can go for a decent sum. I am no expert but worth looking and learning before you make your table.

The flywheel moving thing - are you saying that the flywheel has a little play on the key when loose? This is entirely normal but if it is loose when it is torqued down, this is very wrong. The ticking of the flywheel - if the flywheel has clouted the ignition module then it may have done it some damage. I have known flywheel magnets loose their magnetism by being clouted but if you have a healthy spark, it would look more likely that the spark is possibly happening at the wrong time. An engine, in basic terms, needs fuel spark and compression - if only it was this simple!! The spark needs to happen at the correct time, the fuel needs to be metered and the compression - on a MS460 - typically 160-170psi.....they are usually pretty healthy on compression. It is very difficult to see if the machine is sparking at the correct time without using a strobe and you need a running engine to do that. It is possible something in the carb has failed and it isn't metering the fuel correctly but would expect the saw to flood or not be pulling fuel up correctly but perhaps check the carb over. MS460s do tend to build up a lot of shyte above the metering diaphragm, not sure why but they just do so check this out as well.

They are worth the sum that someone will pay for them. Someone said it is amazing what someone on eBay will pay for non working saws......this sort of tells you something: - The best option is always to sell as single units to anyone on the UK mainland on eBay The next best option is to sell all three to anyone on the UK mainland The next best is buyer to collect a single saw The next best is buyer to collect all three Gumtree - bit of a minefield and is one up from a car boot....give you a quid for it guv!! I have sold and purchased saws and other goods on eBay. I have done a bit here and there so personally, I would list each saw to end on Sunday evening, start the bids at £1 and let the good times roll. If you don't do this...and it is entirely up to you Mark, you will get less money and probably considerably less but they are your saws and your choice! Easter is coming - damn good time to get the saws up and most people have absolutely no knowledge of the value of things they own......I sold a 171 owned by a family member to a neighbour - he thought £30-40 was fair....I got £120 as the money was going to charity and it was a later model in clean condition, the neighbour was over the moon (after an afternoons tuition) and the family member was somewhat surprised.....everyone is happy.

Some of those hand painted tiles are both valuable and very collectable...in case you didn't know.

You can probably drill the original wedge out if it is wood. Make a new one out of hard wood - Oak is good and solid and use a bit of wood glue around the eye (Hole) in the axe head, on the axe head and wedge as it fills cavities and ensures a nice tight bond that will hold it all together well.

I know, I wouldn't normally but sometimes....... My money was on a damaged clutch centre but we will never know...annoying and as my old mum used to say...always say THANK YOU!!

Go Careful with longer screws, they have the habit of going in to areas they shouldn't and causing issues. Personally I would use a slightly larger diameter screw of the same or similar length.

Seems about right - perhaps it span off and did him in

TBH, I really don't know anymore and I have about as much a clue on this subject as on Quantum Mechanics.

You can't call it a "Black Art", it is now an Art of Colour unless it has changed again.

I do hate loose ends, It is a bit like watching 7 episodes of an Agatha Christie series and missing the last episode where all is revealed. Most unsatisfactory.

You're welcome.

I think the stamp says Brades Co Solid Steel. It is a "Kent" style head, the handle has a little worm in it and it looks like the handle could do with removing and a new wedge fitted. The top of the axe edge looks to have been dinged a bit then sharpened as it has lost its shape a bit and the back of the axe has been battered in its past but....nice little project to get it back in to shape. You could hang it the other way round as the eye is probably the same dimension through its complete length but check.

You either have a damaged clutch boss or the clutch is simply unwinding on the spool down and then wearing through the side cover because it isn't meshed correctly. Some say this is impossible but have viewed it first hand Can you do a clearer image of the clutch boss/centre - I had similar years ago and one very small part of this assembly was broken. Getting over the clutch spinning off - do it up well with a decent tool, you could add a little thread lock but go easy and/or rev the knackers off it with a bar and chain on it and slam on the chain break on a few times or cut a big lump of wood but don't rev the engine and let it spool down immediately after reassembling otherwise it will just happen again.