spudulike

That 357 and for that matter, 345, 350, 354, 346 etc manifold connection is a bit pants IMO. it is usually difficult to get a good seal and have found either a new manifold or a very small "O" ring placed on to the small plastic impulse connector before fitting the rubber manifold will get a perfect seal. The metal clip is OK and have had issues with jubilee clips!

Before using it I would run it up at full pelt and operate the chain brake a few times. The one I had in slipped badly and had to replace it and the replacement wasn't much better.

Actual age isn't the issue, any aged person can fix saws. The thing about the 20-30 year olds of today is that most have been born in to an age where lower purchase prices of all types of product makes any sort of repair uneconomical and the usual response to my "why don't you take it apart and fix it" is, "why should I, it is only worth £30". I also find that many are just not practical and also can't apply themselves to doing any sort of repair/DIY work. I worked on my bicycle as a kid, motorcycles in my teens/early twenties, cars in my later twenties, power presses, printing presses and assembly machines in my 30s and 40s and have always had a keen engineering/mechanical interest. Many just...can't be bothered and many kids just hanker after are the latest games console, gone are the days where they make a go-cart or fix up an old moped to race on wasteland etc. There are a few younger guys with interest in mechanics but would say that it is a strong possibility that many grew up with a capable father or had an interest in motorcycles or cars at a young age! I wasn't being ageist but giving a reflection on life, you need a strong will, logical brain and interest in fixing something to be able to do it well!

Was there any porting done - just wondered if the port wasn't re-bevelled well!

The bore has some scoring but can't tell how bad, I have had some bad looking bores still make good copression and work fine for a year+ Don't keep rubbing to get rid of the score, you will produce slight cavities in the cylinder wall that will lower compression and cause blowby of exhaust gasses:thumbdown:

Good luck with that one, even wrecks pull decent money:lol:

A modified gunson lo gauge and a bicycle pump!

Good luck with that - most people need an app to live nowerdays and have no idea how an engine works:001_rolleyes:

Most modern kit is one turn out from fully in on both screws although the manual says 3/4 turns on the H screw! If the H screw is too rich, the machine won't rev as high as it should and will smoke a bit!

If you are having to run a very low idle speed to stop the saw spinning the chain on idle then the saw probably has weak clutch springs - the chain should start spinning on a semi fast idle and not on a normal 2800rpm idle. An air leak gives a variable idle speed and a tendency to hold on to revs when the throttle is released - a real bad one will make the idle impossible to bring down without running a super rich L speed setting - 2 - 2.5 turns out!

The above is fine and if the saw still runs too fast, you have done something wrong or the saw has an air leak or another issue!

Yup, damn expensive little parts! On my bench - ported 372XP needs a new piston, seized 357XP...needs a new piston and an old 365.....you've guessed it, 130psi and....needs a new piston. The 365 was weird, the piston didn't look bad, worn on the skirts but not excessivly but have very lightly honed the cylinder and will see what a new piston gives! Took a look at an MS200 that has just come in and it is a wreck....even by my standards:001_rolleyes:

I use a little Ferm unit with no air tank - it is basically a 1.5hp electric motor cranking a small engine with a pressure relaease valve plugged in to the plug hole and an air gun attached to this! A bit like this one - https://www.google.co.uk/shopping/product/3589325883985181493?q=Draper+air+compressor+1.5hp&hl=en-GB&gbv=2&oq=Draper+air+compressor+1.5hp&sa=X&ei=UF6XU5L5BOrW7QbC_oD4CA&ved=0CC4Q8wIwBQ The good thing about it is that you just turn it on and bingo, 2-3 seconds later you have air - the bad thing is the air only lasts for a second or two but is generally enough to blast crud off saws, is effective and no service cost:thumbup: It is only of use with an air gun and for inflating tyres - you cant run tools off it or spray guns, sand blasters etc!

Get some semi fine wet and dry, give the area a rub around the bore and not up and down, re apply the acid and if it froths and goes white, do this until it stops and repaeat until it won't fizz. Once this is done, use the semi coarse paper to get rid of the residue and the fine 400 grit to finish it. You need to get this surface nice and clean before fitting a new piston.

extra pin rims/sprockets are usually fitted to larger saws running small bars or ported saws where the extra load of the larger sprocket is easily accomodated with the torque of the saws!

Whats on my bench......tooo much:001_rolleyes: Just finished porting and repairing a seized 357xp, started porting a 372XP and have a troublesome 365 Husky - the saw has been thoroughly gone over but the carb is acting a little strange in so much as the sweet spot on the L adjustment keeps moving. I have boiled the carb in the ultrasonic cleaner and hope it sorts out the suspected leaking H speed check valve!

So the long and the short is that Stihl released a saw that........wasn't quite ready yet:blushing:

Nice with a diamond burr:thumbup:

GHS has a compatible P&C kit for 50/51 saws and they both share the same crank case part number do reckon a 51 kit will fit buy check both saws stroke first. I do think that plating will be ok, it may be thin but it is also bloody hard:thumbup:

If it is around 15% HCL, it is fine. A bad seal won't smoke and the only way of testing is to use a pressure/vacuum gauge. If the seals etc are leaking, the saw will seize again! Fitting new seals is a case of removing the old one and driving in a new one. No crank case splitting needed:thumbup:

They are one of those saws that are not worth a fortune - it only starts getting interesting with 070, 090, 076 and Contras. You can do it up, you should learn something but IMO, you wont pass a 357/361 to get to it:lol:

The cylinder looks like it will probably come back, you need to find some caustic soda (Sodium Hydroxide) or acid Hydrochloric is good) and then give those damaged areas a wipe over with some wet and dry paper and use the chemical to etch of the aluminium - it should fizz well when doing this. When it stops fizzing, clean it and rub it over then try again - if no fizzing happens. yoa have converted the metal to much softer aluminium oxide. You can then rub the black shyte off with around 180 paper and then 400 to finish it. I do use a cylinder hone on the bad ones but do it extremely lightly and find it beds the piston down well but if you use this method, don't go mad as the plating is thin on these cylinders. The crank seals and ancillary rubber parts can only be checked with pressuresing and creating a vacuum in the crankcase, the play in the crank isn't a way of checking this. The most common failure is the impuse connector from the carb back plate to cylinder and also the clutch side seal.

The carb shouldn't have limiters on them so turn the H&L screws all the way in and turn each screw one turn out and try this setting The idle may need adjustment and check the plug colour after 1/2 hours of use! Don't go any less than one turn out on the H screw, it may seize the engine if the saw over revs

The cylinder may be ok, I have a 95% success rate on them but it is a bit of a job and takes a bit of know how! The aftermarket stuff is what you pay for,some OK and some awful. The Hyway stuff seems passable but I try to salvage the OEM part and fit a Meteor piston if possible.