I finally got around to modding the Shindaiwa 377 I've had here for a while. I ran and timed it stock before making any mods. The saw is a good runner in stock form, much stronger than a stock Redmax 3800. The muffler is not very restrictive. On the down side, that means there's not as much to be gained. Further more, there was not room for near as much improvement internally. I did find some respectable gains, but it didn't "jump to life" like the 3800 did.
I really like the construction of the saw. It's the most "professionally built" small saw I've looked at yet. Not only does it have a vertically split magnesium case and bolt on cylinder, but it even has a partially metal bar cover with two studs instead of one. I also like the configuration of the intake. It reminds me of a pro Husky.
The only things I don't like are the front chain tensioner and more importantly the design of the cylinder. First of all, it has open transfers. Both the intake and exhaust ports are considerably swept off to one side. Then one ring ends between the exhaust and front of the tranfers and the other between the intake and back of the transfers on the other side. Your then limited on the opposite side of each port by the hole in the piston for the wrist pin. So on one side of each port you have a ring end and on the other side you have the wrist pin hole. This leaves little room at all for widening the ports. I did what little I could with the width, improved the shapes, and lowered the intake a little. I enlarged the opening in the muffler but don't feel that was much of a bottle neck either. All in all I did find some decent gains, but not like those in the 3800.
Now with all that said, don't go to thinking that the 377 is a dog of a saw. Quite the opposite. If your' looking to buy a saw and just run it, it's a much stronger runner than the stock 3800. If you have one and are looking to mod it, I did end up with a 29% improvement in cut times. I also feel the construction of the 377 is a little better than the 3800, but not a meaningful difference. They're both built well.
The difference in the cut is significant though. Although the 377 improved 29%, the 3800 is still 25% faster yet. The 3800 is much stronger and makes more RPMs to boot. The 377 is turning 14,000 WOT and the 3800 14,400 in the videos here. I'll be selling the 377 and keeping the 3800.
One caveat in the test here. The saws are wearing completely different chains. The 3800 has a 3/8 Picco chisel chain and the 377 has a .325 chisel chain. Before you decide that is a disadvantage for the 377, let me remind you of my chain testing on the Dolmar 420. The .325 chisel actually performed as well or better than the 3/8 Picco. Reguardless of the difference the chain makes, the difference in the performace of the two saws is still obvious. Take it for what it's worth. I found out what I wanted to know with the testing I've done.
The first video here was made last night before any mods were made. The saw was tuned to 13,000 RPMs.
<object width="425" height="344"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/GV59dpBUNqU&hl=en&fs=1"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/GV59dpBUNqU&hl=en&fs=1" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="425" height="344"></embed></object>
This video was made this afternoon. This first cut here was the next immediate cut made on the same lag as last night.
<object width="425" height="344"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/pKZaG1rkOI4&hl=en&fs=1"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/pKZaG1rkOI4&hl=en&fs=1" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="425" height="344"></embed></object>
This video was made this afternoon on a slightly larger log. I normally edit down to the best cuts of each saw but chose to show you all of them this time. I feel it will give you a better "feel" for each saw.
<object width="425" height="344"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/8FWsid2iqLg&hl=en&fs=1"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/8FWsid2iqLg&hl=en&fs=1" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="425" height="344"></embed></object>
I really like the construction of the saw. It's the most "professionally built" small saw I've looked at yet. Not only does it have a vertically split magnesium case and bolt on cylinder, but it even has a partially metal bar cover with two studs instead of one. I also like the configuration of the intake. It reminds me of a pro Husky.
The only things I don't like are the front chain tensioner and more importantly the design of the cylinder. First of all, it has open transfers. Both the intake and exhaust ports are considerably swept off to one side. Then one ring ends between the exhaust and front of the tranfers and the other between the intake and back of the transfers on the other side. Your then limited on the opposite side of each port by the hole in the piston for the wrist pin. So on one side of each port you have a ring end and on the other side you have the wrist pin hole. This leaves little room at all for widening the ports. I did what little I could with the width, improved the shapes, and lowered the intake a little. I enlarged the opening in the muffler but don't feel that was much of a bottle neck either. All in all I did find some decent gains, but not like those in the 3800.
Now with all that said, don't go to thinking that the 377 is a dog of a saw. Quite the opposite. If your' looking to buy a saw and just run it, it's a much stronger runner than the stock 3800. If you have one and are looking to mod it, I did end up with a 29% improvement in cut times. I also feel the construction of the 377 is a little better than the 3800, but not a meaningful difference. They're both built well.
The difference in the cut is significant though. Although the 377 improved 29%, the 3800 is still 25% faster yet. The 3800 is much stronger and makes more RPMs to boot. The 377 is turning 14,000 WOT and the 3800 14,400 in the videos here. I'll be selling the 377 and keeping the 3800.
One caveat in the test here. The saws are wearing completely different chains. The 3800 has a 3/8 Picco chisel chain and the 377 has a .325 chisel chain. Before you decide that is a disadvantage for the 377, let me remind you of my chain testing on the Dolmar 420. The .325 chisel actually performed as well or better than the 3/8 Picco. Reguardless of the difference the chain makes, the difference in the performace of the two saws is still obvious. Take it for what it's worth. I found out what I wanted to know with the testing I've done.
The first video here was made last night before any mods were made. The saw was tuned to 13,000 RPMs.
<object width="425" height="344"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/GV59dpBUNqU&hl=en&fs=1"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/GV59dpBUNqU&hl=en&fs=1" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="425" height="344"></embed></object>
This video was made this afternoon. This first cut here was the next immediate cut made on the same lag as last night.
<object width="425" height="344"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/pKZaG1rkOI4&hl=en&fs=1"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/pKZaG1rkOI4&hl=en&fs=1" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="425" height="344"></embed></object>
This video was made this afternoon on a slightly larger log. I normally edit down to the best cuts of each saw but chose to show you all of them this time. I feel it will give you a better "feel" for each saw.
<object width="425" height="344"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/8FWsid2iqLg&hl=en&fs=1"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/8FWsid2iqLg&hl=en&fs=1" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="425" height="344"></embed></object>
