Looking for all the ol' MS361 Owners Out There

[HandLogger]

Is the muffler an empty can now or just opened up?

@BonScott46 ..... I'm not sure, Bon. I purchased the saw from a guy who sells the modded mufflers. Although I work on all of our saws -- I did not modify the muffler myself.

 

[HandLogger]

My wife surprised me with a 361 some few years ago for birthday/father's day/anniversary. Definitely my best saw, now that you talk about using AM muffler for a mod, that gives me ideas, although I love it as it is now. Was using it last June for debris removal after tornadoes, working with a volunteer group from Colorado. One young guy started calling it "Ole Rooster" with the 25" bar, so that's its name now!

I've always used a 20-inch bar with our old MS361, so it's very interesting reading about a 25-incher being used on this particular saw. If you haven't added this fairly simple upgrade yet, I'd highly suggest that you look into it. Just this past weekend, we finished opening up a mountain view for someone in a nearby town. The MS361 was used for felling, limbing and bucking operations without a hitch. With a sharp chain, this saw has become a bona fide mid-size beast!

 

[HandLogger]

I too have a 361, purchased in 2006 for home firewood cutting. E free fuel, Stihl Ultra oil. So far, just chain (original 18" bar) and air filter maintenances, except for an oil pump replacement due to my error of taping the hole closed while cleaning and forgetting to remove it upon bar reinstallation. I've read often here on AS that most tend to do MM's. I've looked at the muffler, and like OP's it appears to be sealed. Primarily now, it is used for wood around 6", with my 500I for the bigger wood.
I've tossed around MM for both the 361 and 500 I, but thinking they both work so well, should I?

As we started moving toward Dolmar/Makita to get better weight/power ratio for our hard-earned, I've never even tried an MS500i, but, as this thread clearly bears witness to, the MS361 should benefit in a big way with a modded muffler.

 

[Lightning Performance]

I kept three of my 361s.
One is near stock with only a muffler mod but it's due to be ported and freshened up. Sold the other three to local tree services in various modified and ported versions I built. My one saw has gone though wear type parts and two pto seals. Still runs pretty good.
Saw two is heavily modded with many many changes but retains a stock cylinder for now but started leaking oil last winter so it got shelved.
Saw three is still being "altered" and will be ported this fall when I get back to engine building.

Overall the stock version is a dog, period. Once you let it breathe out the highly restricted muffler they do pretty well. Port work, carb change and the entire intake system plus the covers are changed on this saw. It flies as is with the stock timing numbers. It has the best cylinder out of three versions/castings updated that Stihl offered in North America. None of my saw are open port or any of the dozen or so I flipped. Probably repaired twenty or more for others over the years. The owners rarely want to sell when asked. Passed on one three years ago was all bagged out and smoked. Finding clean ones now isn't easy.

361 is still my favorite 59cc Stihl with the 362 carb model a close second but these only get used for ground work. No climbing with those.