Does porting shorten the life of a chainsaw?

[jjcard41]

Maybe this has been beaten to death, but I’m curious to hear from those who have a lot of time on ported saws.
The question is does porting a saw shorten it’s life? I understand this is a broad question with many variables.

So theoretically: if you purchase 2 identical brand new saws and you leave one stock and port the other one. Say you put 100 hours on each one, will components wear out quicker on the ported saw?
Thanks for your input everyone

 

[Definitive Dave]

Maybe this has been beaten to death, but I’m curious to hear from those who have a lot of time on ported saws.
The question is does porting a saw shorten it’s life? I understand this is a broad question with many variables.

So theoretically: if you purchase 2 identical brand new saws and you leave one stock and port the other one. Say you put 100 hours on each one, will components wear out quicker on the ported saw?
Thanks for your input everyone

ported properly a ported work saw will run cooler and last longer than a stock equivalent saw

 

[Justin Taylor]

Depends if you go balls to the walls then yes, a mild port if done right you wouldn’t notice

 

[jltrent]

Turn extra fuel/lube to cover the extra RPMs created by the better airflow and it will last probably about as long. THe extra RPMs may shorten the bearings life as common sense tell you the more turns the shorter the life.

 

[jjcard41]

Thanks for the replies everyone.
@jltrent: do you recommend going to a 40:1 or heavier oil mix on a ported saw?

Turn extra fuel/lube to cover the extra RPMs created by the better airflow and it will last probably about as long. THe extra RPMs may shorten the bearings life as common sense tell you the more turns the shorter the life.

 

[Justin Taylor]

40-1 every saw in my opinion

 

[foeke]

A higher oil ratio gives a leaner mixture going from 1:50 to 1:40 makes the mixture half a % leaner). To cool things down, you can run a richer fuel to air mixture. Not a higher oil to gas ratio.
The cilinder is cooled mainly by evaporating gas.

 

[shadco]

A higher oil ratio gives a leaner mixture going from 1:50 to 1:40 makes the mixture half a % leaner). To cool things down, you can run a richer fuel to air mixture. Not a higher oil to gas ratio.
The cilinder is cooled mainly by evaporating gas.

So you adjust the mixture.

.

 

[Andyshine77]

So you adjust the mixture.

.

Correct!

 

[Andyshine77]

A property ported work saw will last as long or longer than a stock saw. Pushing compression too far will definitely shorten the life expectancy for a number of reasons, from the added bearing stress to the added engine temperatures, you also don't net that much of a power gain with crazy compression alone in a saw. Improving efficiency is the goal by changing the chamber, not simply reducing combustion chamber volume, that can kill volumetric efficiency. Do realize saws come with really low compression ratios from the factory, like 8:1 so bumping up compression is definitely a good idea in general, it really helps out the thermal efficiency in these small inefficient over square engines.

No load rpm is the biggest killer from what I can tell. In the cut rpm usually will never be a problem as those numbers will only increase a few thousand and well within design limits of the engine. The issue with rpm isn't the spinning part whatsoever, even low end bearing can handle the rpm of any saw, it's the reciprocating mass and accompanying harmonics.

More oil is your friend, not only does it lube better, it helps dissipate heat, and acts as a cushion.[emoji111]

 

[stihlaficionado]

Maybe this has been beaten to death, but I’m curious to hear from those who have a lot of time on ported saws.
The question is does porting a saw shorten it’s life? I understand this is a broad question with many variables.

So theoretically: if you purchase 2 identical brand new saws and you leave one stock and port the other one. Say you put 100 hours on each one, will components wear out quicker on the ported saw?
Thanks for your input everyone

Better sell that second one to me, just in case

 

[SEAM]

If the answer were a simple and straightforward "NO" (no shortening of the saw's life) I am pretty sure all manufacturers would provide their saws stock that way - simple matter of competitiveness, marketing and brand image...
Ideally 100% of their products provide the performance the manufacturer is willing (or able or forced) to warrant for a given time period. Some models do better, some don't.
I once owned a little Porsche Speedster replica with a Beetle engine in it. A friend of mine used to build engines for drag racing and lit up the Beetle engine a bit (double or more of the original HP). I wasn't really able to kill the engine but pretty much everything attached to it in some way every once in a while. I may have enjoyed that car more (often) without the (rather expensive) engine job.

 

[buzz sawyer]

It may shorten the life but because it runs faster, you'll be done with it sooner.

 

[jjcard41]

A property ported work saw will last as long or longer than a stock saw. Pushing compression too far will definitely shorten the life expectancy for a number of reasons, from the added bearing stress to the added engine temperatures, you also don't net that much of a power gain with crazy compression alone in a saw. Improving efficiency is the goal by changing the chamber, not simply reducing combustion chamber volume, that can kill volumetric efficiency. Do realize saws come with really low compression ratios from the factory, like 8:1 so bumping up compression is definitely a good idea in general, it really helps out the thermal efficiency in these small inefficient over square engines.

No load rpm is the biggest killer from what I can tell. In the cut rpm usually will never be a problem as those numbers will only increase a few thousand and well within design limits of the engine. The issue with rpm isn't the spinning part whatsoever, even low end bearing can handle the rpm of any saw, it's the reciprocating mass and accompanying harmonics.

More oil is your friend, not only does it lube better, it helps dissipate heat, and acts as a cushion.[emoji111]

Thanks for all the information. Learning a ton of things on here. I’ve had an account for several years but now I feel I want to learn much more than just the operating a saw and the routine maintenance.

Better sell that second one to me, just in case

No problem! But I need to figure out what model I want yet

If the answer were a simple and straightforward "NO" (no shortening of the saw's life) I am pretty sure all manufacturers would provide their saws stock that way - simple matter of competitiveness, marketing and brand image...
Ideally 100% of their products provide the performance the manufacturer is willing (or able or forced) to warrant for a given time period. Some models do better, some don't.
I once owned a little Porsche Speedster replica with a Beetle engine in it. A friend of mine used to build engines for drag racing and lit up the Beetle engine a bit (double or more of the original HP). I wasn't really able to kill the engine but pretty much everything attached to it in some way every once in a while. I may have enjoyed that car more (often) without the (rather expensive) engine job.

Your Porsche reminded me of an old 88 f-150 my uncle had. Had some great motor work and 30 years later we could see the road through the rusted out floorboards

It may shorten the life but because it runs faster, you'll be done with it sooner.

The fun part is the chainsaw! It’s all the work of splitting and stacking that takes all the time.

 

[Huskybill]

My stock husky 70’s chain saws lasted for many decades on 38:1 ratio using husky Xp two stroke. A little oil rich and a tad gas lean. But the carb adjusted correctly to the mix ratio. This sets the basic ground level rules for and saw I port today. I think porting is pulling the free power out of the saw.

 

[ozziechainsaw]

Coming from 10 years plus of drag racing back ground using both VP Racing fuels and Methanol with compression ratio's from 12.5:1 upto 14:5:1 it was never the porting that did damage. It was always the RPM, the Tune UP or the actual engine assembly that caused failures. Chainsaws will work on the same principal, excessive RPM's, incorrect tuning and or badly assembled engines will cause the failures. If the chainsaw is port correctly, you shouldn't have any issues.
If it is ported, i would assume that the saw may need some extra fuel but that also would depend on how much porting has been done. The only thing that I can say and almost everyone else has said it " make sure you run a good quality 2 stroke oil with either a 30-40:1 mix. A little extra oil will help protect the cyinder and the rotating assembly.

 

[nixon]

Porting probably contributes way less to the early death of a saw than say :
dull chain , dirty , neglected air filter ,general lack of maintenance , bad gas , straight gas , lean tune , etc...

 

[lone wolf]

A property ported work saw will last as long or longer than a stock saw. Pushing compression too far will definitely shorten the life expectancy for a number of reasons, from the added bearing stress to the added engine temperatures, you also don't net that much of a power gain with crazy compression alone in a saw. Improving efficiency is the goal by changing the chamber, not simply reducing combustion chamber volume, that can kill volumetric efficiency. Do realize saws come with really low compression ratios from the factory, like 8:1 so bumping up compression is definitely a good idea in general, it really helps out the thermal efficiency in these small inefficient over square engines.

No load rpm is the biggest killer from what I can tell. In the cut rpm usually will never be a problem as those numbers will only increase a few thousand and well within design limits of the engine. The issue with rpm isn't the spinning part whatsoever, even low end bearing can handle the rpm of any saw, it's the reciprocating mass and accompanying harmonics.

More oil is your friend, not only does it lube better, it helps dissipate heat, and acts as a cushion.[emoji111]

Well while I got you here why does Stihl dimple the intake boot on the inside?

 

[Justin Taylor]

Well while I got you here why does Stihl dimple the intake boot on the inside?

That’s a good question, I’m guessing it’s something to do with air flow

 

[Lionsfan]

If the answer were a simple and straightforward "NO" (no shortening of the saw's life) I am pretty sure all manufacturers would provide their saws stock that way - simple matter of competitiveness, marketing and brand image...
Ideally 100% of their products provide the performance the manufacturer is willing (or able or forced) to warrant for a given time period. Some models do better, some don't.
I once owned a little Porsche Speedster replica with a Beetle engine in it. A friend of mine used to build engines for drag racing and lit up the Beetle engine a bit (double or more of the original HP). I wasn't really able to kill the engine but pretty much everything attached to it in some way every once in a while. I may have enjoyed that car more (often) without the (rather expensive) engine job.

From the manufacturing standpoint I bet it's 50% about profit margin and 50% about pricepoint. Putting butts in a seat with a die grinder probably isn't cost effective.