346's with REGULAR muffler arrived today

[teatersroad]

Is there any obvious indication that the cat mufflers are more restrictive, or if they are less responsive than non-cat to being opened up a little? If they are more restrictive is it in the internals or in the port? Outside of intuitive distrust of epa tuning, I'm curious. I added a port in a 346 cat muffler, downstream of the internals. The performance boost was remarkable, really I can't complain that my muffler says cat on it, and if it's cleaner then that's fine too. Likely this saw will see a little porting/cp work, but I can't see bothering with swapping out the muffler.

 

[SawTroll]

Is there any obvious indication that the cat mufflers are more restrictive, or if they are less responsive than non-cat to being opened up a little? If they are more restrictive is it in the internals or in the port? Outside of intuitive distrust of epa tuning, I'm curious. I added a port in a 346 cat muffler, downstream of the internals. The performance boost was remarkable, really I can't complain that my muffler says cat on it, and if it's cleaner then that's fine too. Likely this saw will see a little porting/cp work, but I can't see bothering with swapping out the muffler.

I believe the cat will make the engine run hotter anyway, but I have no real evidence.....

 

[teatersroad]

right. I've seen evidence of the heat, and probably brought it down quite a bit by porting the muffler. Enough to defeat the functioning of the catalytic process I'd bet. My complete hack take is that the heat generated in a measured backpressure is captured in a plate (I've seen aglow, through the new port) that's hot enough to burn unburnt fuels, generating more heat. So now maybe I have a non-cat muffler, on a pretty darn good little saw. In anycase, I would not let the e-tech label scare anyone off of this saw.

 

[teatersroad]

..captured in a plate (I've seen aglow, through the new port)

and I should add, is now properly finished off a deflector and spark arrestor

 

[wendell]

Just to help me understand this, there is the 346XP that was built until last year(?), the new 346XP NE that has the green gas cap and has a little more power and now the 36XP NE that is the same except it has the cat muffler which you could spend $30 on to be a non-cat muffler.

Am I close?

 

[teatersroad]

Original 346xp was 45cc; NE346xp=50cc; NE346xp e-tech= 50cc w/epa mods. Not sure of dates, and Husky does not recognize NE nomenclature, I believe that was coined here.

regards,
eric

 

[wendell]

Thanks! I was confused why I never saw an NE saw. :hmm3grin2orange:

 

[Taxmantoo]

Probably shouldn't have started this dopey thread either.

Not before getting your own order in.

 

[porsche965]

What would be a good new price on a 346NE ?

Thanks.

 

[highpointtree]

Price

got a price two days ago for one. not sue if it was the cat or noncat model. or if the price is a good deal, but it was $450.00.. I was told the new ones coming in would be $50.00 more. but that could just be a sales pitch. I'm just getting to know these fella's at this shop. I'm thinking it was non cat and the new one's will be cat. thus the increase, but who knows. I will investigate further on monday.

 

[XJWoody]

I paid $449.95 (+$34.87 tax) for an e-tech model on Thursday. It was marked as $499.95, but I also bought a pricey wood stove at the same time...

I like the new/improved choke/kill switch & one-piece top cover. I think I'll hate messing with the outboard clutch (been awhile since I played with one of those)

The green cap and silver cover sort of clash with the orange, but that's what happens when the marketing geniuses get to overrule the engineering geeks.

I ought to paint that cover Stihl white just to see the Husky folks get all Chernobyl

 

[2000ssm6]

I ought to paint that cover Stihl white just to see the Husky folks get all Chernobyl

Sounds good, I'll send the paint.:hmm3grin2orange:

 

[sachsmo]

non cats not the cats meow

Even the pre-cat muffs are way too restrictive.

The non-cat muff, un-modded is not a great leap ahead of the cat.

Open 'em up, let them eat!

 

[teatersroad]

$500 even, to a shop that's worth any extra cent. Point on the cat vs non-cat: The cat responds excellently to being opened up. Easy to add a port forward of the seem, and to open up the internals from the block side while you have it off. On the 346, the cat muffler is a very simple design and responds well enough that the cat -vs-non-cat is a non issue. As it was said, open them up, regardless.