Brian_32

Update - I've been soaking the cylinder trying to get the gasket material from the transfer covers removed - so after several days, I was able to scrape it mostly off, run a brass brush over the surfaces and clean then up. I made gaskets tonight for both transfer covers and the base, the gasket material is roughly .015". I have the cylinder and transfer covers marked like in the post above, and will pay the machine shop a visit at my work tomorrow. I'm using the stock Walbro carb for now, we'll see how it performs. I'll get pics posted at the time of reassembly.

True, but they were decent saws in stock form, I only use it for firewood, and being the first saw I've tried porting, it's the perfect candidate. I'll have the cost of a ring and gasket material in it when I'm done, and should something go wrong when porting, I'll go straight to a 357xp kit for the closed port cylinder.

first off - I know this is older, but...Fantastic post! This is exactly what I was looking for. I'm new to this sight, was a member at another sight (shall remain anonymous), but stalked more than I participated. I just picked up a "used" 359, that turned out to be a very tired 359. That said the I've pulled it apart and the cylinder and piston both look great, just some discoloration around the ring on the exhaust side of the port. I ordered a Caber ring and gasket material - everything else I need I believe I have, but I'm going to attempt to port my cylinder as you did in the post. I have access to a machine shop at my work, so I'll take advantage of what I can. As of last night, I finished cleaning everything thoroughly (probably the most time consuming part of the job) and plan to get the cylinder marked accordingly as you mention above - then I'll bring it in Monday and see what we can accomplish. I can't wait to get this back together, I've rebuilt plenty of saws, but never "built" any, looking very forward to seeing the results.