spudulike

The real early ones had threaded holes either side of the exhaust port rather than the square retaining bolts. Not sure what the OP means about the rest though??

That doesn't look nice. My day was starting to work on a number of saws, finding that they needed spares, going as far as I could then on with the next one - three on the trot.....hate it when I can't finish the job!

I am guessing you are talking about the X Torq models? My choice would be the 365XPT, run it out of warranty and then just take the baffles in the transfer cover plates to convert it to a 372XPT. If you are talking the original model then the 372 takes some beating and yup, a 365 special can be converted by changing the top end - have done a number now.

Well, tried it out for 30 mins today and it rips through wood very nicely, idle is smooth, good pickup and revs out fine. Now boxed and ready to go back.

It now wears a new muffler and sprocket, just got to tach it and run it through some timber to make sure all is OK but it all appears good to me

Yup, that's the one, the noise really pissed one of my neighbours off....shame

Despite the bloody ring not staying still, you get the idea...................

Thank the Lord for that, group hug again, Eureka as some guy once said as he got out of a bath All ended well, cut that wood, fill the burner.

That piston looks fine. If you get to the point where you can pull it over, do yourself a favour and heat the plug with a plumbers lamp as it helps a flooded or oiled engine fire once the fuel is pulled through. The oil and fuel residue may swamp the spark plug when you first try to start it!

Old saws should be owned by people that know how to fix them. My £50 McCulloch from 1960s took 4 days to fix up and get running - they are a labour of love and that is that. Keep an eye on ebay, especially in the US and see if one comes up but they are pretty rare now and most parts will be obsolete. Strangely, I got a NOS sprocket for the old McCulloch and a recoil spring off ebay

Good film "Layer Cake" and well worth watching, didn't quite work out the way DC had planned!

Nice to see someone planning ahead, the younger you do it, the more time it has to grow and support your old age!

The labour comes to circa £100 and on discussion with Josh, have decided to fit a new sprocket and muffler as both were pretty gone. Both parts will take a bit more time to fit and the saw to test but will leave the price at that to keep it realistic. I tend to find most customers are more interested in getting decent and effective service rather than screwing down the cost to nothing.

The 181SE is an old school 80cc Husqvarna with no decomp - they are a bit tasty when pulling over!

That is all the FLUID in the machine, it needs drying out so take the muffler off, take the plug out and pull the little bugger over in all positions - upright, on its sides, vertical etc and pull it over hard. Put the plug back and pull it over softly and see if it will spin. Next we can start on how to get a flooded oily saw started!

If the saw will spin over freely with no plug in then there are no mechanical issues so checking clutches, flywheels etc is pointless if the issue only happens when the plug is in and doesn't when the plug is out. The only thing the plug is doing is sealing the cylinder combustion chamber. Either the plug is too long and is acting as a piston stop or there is fluid in the engine or thick oil in the bore making far too much compression.

The muffler looks similar to the old L65 or 298XP and probably many others of that time. The best options are to take a similar one and mod it, repair the one you have or to make a bespoke one. None of these is particularly easy so good luck!

It was actually 30 seconds and was making a cup of tea and reading the newspaper whilst doing it

Nope as it will be connected to the carb. Quite like the idea of the piston cupping the oil/shyte though. I guess it may puddle there and then fall to the bottom of the case once righted and then it would blast up the transfers when pulled over and voila - hydro lock in the top end! That is why I said turn it over slowly first to see if it would turn rather than giving it a full pull. The laying it on its side or standing it on its front so it runs out may work! Funny that a 10 minute workshop job takes a week on here

Looks very nice but without some serious porting, has pretty much the same performance as a standard saw! Stubby - show him yours

Try taking the plug out, taking off the recoil (Starter) cover and turn the flywheel round slowly with your fingers and see if there are any tight spots. There will be some attraction between the magnets and the coil at top dead centre so expect that but it will be smooth. If this is OK, Turn the saw upside down with the plug out and turn the engine over via fingers and flywheel and see if any liquid comes out of the sparkplug hole. If it is still free, put the plug in but very loosely and turn it over the right way up using the same method and slowly. If it is OK then do the plug up and turn it over again. You should be able to turn the saw over very slowly even with the plug in and even a slight hydro lock will give if the rotation is slow enough. See where this gets you.

Been working on this saw today, first impression out of the box - exhaust bolt had snapped off and the top cover was cocked over at a jaunty angle. A quick inspection and the top front AV mount wasn't siting right and had a screw sticking in the middle of it. I took the exhaust off, squeezed the AV back in to place and fitted the correct retaining bung. The back of the exhaust was pretty shagged after it had been rattling on one bolt so needs a new one, the bolt was replaced. The sprocket is pretty worn so needs a new one. Anyway, on to the running issues. When I read the description, I thought carb issues or accelerator pump. I did check the new coil and found it had a massive coil to flywheel gap so set it correctly. The fuel line and filter were checked and were OK, the bore looked OK and compression was punchy. The carb was stripped, new diaphragms were fitted, gauze filter was OK and the accelerator pump was significantly worn. The low speed welch plug had a slight leak so was resealed. There was no gasket between the manifold carb plate and the carb so reckon the impulse and inlet could have been leaking a bit. I made one as I didn't wasn't to wait for a new one. Parts now changed (Bar the sprocket and muffler) and the saw idles and revs out as it should, I reckon the coil gap and accelerator pump were the main running issues.

Mmmm, now that's what I call a business plan, wonder if he is up for it, reckon with a little more practice he could do it in 20 mins. Strange thing is I have only done around three of these and wonder about the reliability of the saw if he has "done hundereds" of these!

You sure it isn't a 181SE - now they are a bit brutish to pull over. A little girlie can pull these saws over, if it spins over with the plug out but not with it in then it has to be some sort of hydro lock in the bottom or top end of the saw unless the plug is too long....this could run and run

All I can think is that the crankcase is full of fuel as a 35cc saw should be relatively easy to pull over!