032 AV + Omega Solid State ignition
Appreciate all the comments about the 032 AV. A friend gave me one that was being given away at some roadside tag sale... Had the same problems, wouldn't start most of the time, lousy idle, would race and die no matter how the Tillotson carb was adjusted. Sure seemed like a vacuum leak or carburetor problem to me(since the spark appeared to be OK), but after cleaning the carb, checking the fuel/impulse/intake rubber lines and even replacing the carb with a used one, it still wouldn't run. Cleaned the points, no change - saw unusable. Went back to my first instinct, which was that this was a points and condenser problem, but replacement parts are hard to get and expensive, let alone the problem of trying to adjust the points because the cam is on the flywheel. So I spent $18 on the NAPA Omega 7-01749 part, mounted it on a homemade bracket, ripped out the old points and condenser and - presto - whole new saw! Started right up on the second pull - runs perfectly! This is a great solution for old saws with points and condenser problems, which as we all know, don't last forever and can cause a slew of problems. Pic of my mods posted below - I didn't want to hotglue the Omega module to the ignition coil...