Stihl 026 project saw(s)

[walexa07]

My father picked up a nice condition 026 that had been run with straight gas. The guy brought it to the dealer, dealer tore it down and told the guy it needed new P&C, the guy didn't want to pay and told the dealer to keep the saw. My father got it for $25, no bar and chain.

He took the cylinder and cleaned it up with sandpaper to get the aluminum off the cylinder and said it looks great. I've ordered a new 44mm stihl oem piston/rings for it from ebay. The base gasket is in great shape, but do we need to replace it anyway? Anything else we need to do while it is in pieces?

He was thinking of lightly honing it with a brake cylinder hone.

I've also got an older (mid-90's) 026 purchased new that has recently gotten pretty hard to crank. It's always popped the first time in about 5 pulls, then fired right up on half choke. Now it sometimes won't crank with 30 pulls. Once running though it fires right back up fine. Does it need a carb kit and impulse line? This saw may have 30 tanks through it. Thanks in advance.

Waylan

 

[NPKenny]

Pictures will be very helpful to tell how bad it is actually damaged. If indeed straight gas went through it, it would be hard to believe that you will get by without replacing a piston. However, it might not be that bad. Hard to tell without looking at it. Cylinders seem to be easier to salvage from a mistake than the piston. A ball hone would be a good chioce, or at least a buffing with the green SOS type pads.

I think you are on the right track with the second saw. It is an air leak of some sort. I would consder looking at the fuel line while reaching in for the impulse line.

 

[blsnelling]

I would replace the base gasket. It is a metal core gasket and crushes upon installation. Check your fuel and impulse lines while you're at it.

 

[madrone]

I'm finishing up a project similar to you. I just cleaned up an old 026 and put in a new piston/rings and sanded up the jug. It hadn't had straight gas run in it but just had some minor scoring and old rings.
I didn't change the gasket but used just a little bit of blue gasket goop and opted not to hone the cylinder as I just got lazy. If Blsnelling suggests the replacement gasket, I'd go for it as you pretty much got the saw for free.
I'm waiting for the rings to seal in a bit but the compression now is about 155 and thats a major improvement.
Good score on the 026, great saw.

 

[Lakeside53]

I would replace the base gasket. It is a metal core gasket and crushes upon installation. Check your fuel and impulse lines while you're at it.

The 026 is a paper gasket, but replace it anyhow....


and.... hone it... sandpaper is not the correct way to remove alluminum deposits and leaves an undesirable surface.

 

[PES+]

Hey moh...hey moh.....

The 026 is a paper gasket, but replace it anyhow....


and.... hone it... sandpaper is not the correct way to remove alluminum deposits and leaves an undesirable surface.

How can sandpaper (aluminum oxide) leave any kind of surface on chrome or nikasil?

The answer is.....it doesn't....it only removes the softer aluiminum

 

[Lakeside53]

who said it was alumium oxide? there's about 10 different types in my workshop...

and.... I've seen many cylinders scratched to crap with paper... try some...


and... Soft paper will leave the alluminum in the valleys... it the ridge to valley ratio that's important. A ball hone will restore that....

 

[PES+]

I will take that bet....show me proof....hard chrome plate and nikasil are harder than any paper available.....you can smear aluminum from the ports and think you scratched the plating but you would be doing something to actually scratch the plate

I know tons of guys that think you can scratch glass with razor blades too.....but you can't......same principal

 

[Lakeside53]

Note that I orginally said... "undesirable surface"... (RVR)

And I hate to to tell you, but there are many papers that will scratch the crap out of chrome... try it without aluminum..

 

[PES+]

Show me proof.....what you are seeing is not scratches mate......otherwise the saw would wear out cylinders faster than pistons and rings.....and that is an undeniable fact

 

[Lakeside53]

go try some.... get some of the nice purple paper...


I seen quite a few cylinders where guys have used "flap" wheels lololol

 

[Stihl051master]

A friend told me one good way to just remove aluminum deposits from a cylinder wall is with muratic acid. Take all necesary safety precautions (eye protection, rubber gloves, ventilation, etc.) Brush it on the deposits and they'll come off like magic. But be VERY CAREFUL! It will "eat" the aluminum off the cylinder walls, so it will also eat the aluminum on the cylinder. You need to dunk the cylinder/rinse it very well to remove any traces of the acid. Used it on dirt bikes with smoke pistons on nikasil cylinders....might be worth a try...

 

[PES+]

That would be "garnet" paper...and it is an oxide of aluminum


You see shortly after I joined here I saw a member posting about having hundreds and hundreds of worn out cylinders that he was going to scrap out and that his scrap man gave him full cast aluminum value because a magnet does not stick to the chrome or nikasil......but magnets do
I offered to pay this man more than scrap for some cylinders and he decided instead to send them to China via the local scrap dealer

I doubt I will ever see any cylinders from this member now under the circumstances

 

[PES+]

It all relates to the function of the plating of the bore and also the THICKNESS of this very hard film

Whatever happened to the guy who was going to do a clean up of a plated cylinder in a lathe?

I wonder why he never mentioned it again

 

[Lakeside53]

Corundum has a moh hardness of 400... a common aluminum oxide used in "sand paper'.

If you don't think aluminum oxide(s) will abrade coatings, silicon dioxide won't either then, and so I guess we never see the plating missing on the inlet side of concrete saws, and to a lessor extent on chain saws... :greenchainsaw:


I've not seen garnet on the purple adhesive backer. Garnet is one of the less-tough forms - it fractures easily making it good for soft materials (readily exposes a new cutting surface), but not good for hard materials.

 

[PES+]

Then you mean Crocus cloth..which is iron oxide and softer than the harder aluminum oxides

 

[Lakeside53]

Nope... I use them on my belt sanders to remove old tile grout and paint on plywood, and some finer finishing .. and they sure touch up HSS nice..


Wiki's not helping you tonight...:greenchainsaw:

 

[Lakeside53]

obviously these won't leave mark on a chrome cylinder :monkey:

http://www.baileysonline.com/itemdetail.asp?item=240AO+45&catID=

 

[PES+]

Well give me the manufacturer and the number and I can tell you what it is and its hardness.....the only things that cut/scratch hard chrome plate and nikasil are tungsten carbides and diamonds and I do not recall seeing any of either bonded to paper

 

[PES+]

SANDPAPER.......you have a funny correlation problem