My 044 -> 046BB rebuild worklog

[Martinm210]

Couple of updates.

I finished the piston/cylinder and 044>046 conversion.

The laundry list of work I ended up having to do to complete the modification was this:

• Slotting of the cylinder jug holes as noted previously
• Shaving of the case to allow the piston to sit down in the case
• Shaving the clutch side of the jug base (the bottom 1cm of the base was just a touch too wide on one side and needed sanding about .5mm
• Shaving of the clutch side of the jug at the transfer port bulge (the bulged out area of the just that follows the transfer port was pushing hard against the case, so just about a .5mm shave with the dremel did the trick.)
• Shaving of the top cover to clear the taller/wider jug as previously noted
• Adding washers or spacers to the mufller bottom screw locations. (the bottom two screws no longer sit against the case because of the increased jug size. A few M6 sized washers should do the trick for this or spacers.

That's it, and some of that may differ depending on the jug used/quality. The stuff like shaving the base edge and the transfer port bulge just barely needed any at all and I could see if the bore was machined out 1mm different, you may not need to do any of that. It'll take a little fitting and custom shaving, but overall it's a pretty easy mod to do. The worst part is splitting the case to shave, but if you were already in there to replace the bearings, it's no problem at all.

Anyhow, starting to reassemble the saw. Had to pull the oiler completely apart too to get at chewed up bits of an old plastic oiler gear.

It's all coming together now, just need to port the muffler and get one last order of parts in.

I also need to pull apart the carb and put in the rebuild kit, but here is a little mockup setting the air cleaner cover on for a little perspective.

I did end up finding a used Big clutch cover on ebay and sandblasted it bare and repainted it as well. The sandblaster is really coming in handy, even the plastic parts it does a nice job of roughening the surface for good paint adhesion.

Getting there..:greenchainsaw:

 

[forestryworks]

looks great!

wrap handle?

dual port cover?

 

[blsnelling]

Beautiful!

 

[Erick]

Very nice work, and write-up.

 

[Martinm210]

Thanks guys

No, the handle is just a standard Bailey's aftermarket. I've gotten in the habit of cutting with the top of the bar when I need to on wedges, although I wouldn't mind trying a full wrap sometime. If only Bailey's carried a full wrap aftermarket

For the muffler, I was planning to just open up the stock single port location and the port match the exhaust gasket and muffler opening to the jug similar to what I did on my 066. I just did some mild port cleanup and polishing for the most part but the exhaust is a bit bigger than the muffler opening and needs some work there.

 

[lovetheoutdoors]

Thanks guys

No, the handle is just a standard Bailey's aftermarket. I've gotten in the habit of cutting with the top of the bar when I need to on wedges, although I wouldn't mind trying a full wrap sometime. If only Bailey's carried a full wrap aftermarket

For the muffler, I was planning to just open up the stock single port location and the port match the exhaust gasket and muffler opening to the jug similar to what I did on my 066. I just did some mild port cleanup and polishing for the most part but the exhaust is a bit bigger than the muffler opening and needs some work there.

id like to spend a few days in your shop and watch you...amazing job

 

[Martinm210]

FYI,
The 044 is up and running for a while now. I had a little incident with the BB kit rings, but after cleaning that up and installing a new piston/rings and doing a little port work, all is well...

I've been playing in the yard cleaning up some trees with both my 066 and this 044>046BB conversion.

This 044 is easily becoming my favorite saw. It's so light, nimble, yet powerful and very snappy compared to the 066.

It feels really really good...

I may just end up selling both my 066 and 660 and build another 044/440 converted to the 046BB.

It's really an amazing power/weight ratio package...couldn't be happier ready to go cut some serious wood with it.:rockn:

 

[2000ssm6]

You did a great job! Congrats.

 

[Evanrude]

So really, how hard is it to split the cases? I think I've got to replace my seals in my older 440 and refinish it to look new again. Maybe the dealer would do it for me? After that, I dont really see a problem with reassembly using your method with the threaded rod and spacers. Piston looks pretty good, has good compression, darned thing just wont run, tried two different carbs.

OH! BTW, very, very nice job with great pics and info.

 

[Martinm210]

Thanks!

Splitting the cases was not hard at all, once I had the right tools.

My 044 pretty much fell apart with the one bearing being shot, but my 066 required the normal case splitting. I made this little contraption after reading through Andy's thread. I just made it out of some tube steel I had handy, although I think the large 1/4" thickness angle iron would be better. I ended up having to weld a couple of pieces together to get enough strength.

To split the case you need:
-Some sort of angle iron drilled out similar to this:

- a good 2 arm pully puller
- 1 T arbor press

Some people say they can do it without an arbor press, but I don't think I could have. I needed it to press the crank out, to press the bearings out and press the new bearings back in.

Here's my youngest giving my arbor press a work over...

Anyhow, I'm really happy with this conversion project, I highly recommend it.

 

[Rookie1]

Nice job. I like to see your helper pitching in too. Keep up posts. Nice pics!

 

[4492011]

I would like to know moore about the sandblaster. Looks like the one from harbor freight I am thinking about getting one I have the one that loads from the top and I cant get a good seal and the air filter loads up quickly. I looked at one at the haror freight store it looks like it has a baffel before the exit hole I was wondering do you just hook your shop vac to that hole and how is that working out?

 

[lionrider]

Really nice!

I'm getting ready to rebuild an MS660, and I don't think I'll get it looking as nice as that. Great work.

Martinm210, what program was that you had to calculate timing and such? Never seen that before, but I'm interested in checking it out. Thanks!

--lionrider

 

[tek9tim]

If only Bailey's carried a full wrap aftermarket

What, is Bailey's the only place you can shop? Try Madsens. They have aftermarket full wraps for about 40 bucks, last I knew.

Great job illustrating the work. This dang near needs to be a sticky. Seems like every 2 weeks somebody asks if the conversion can be done.

I had an 044 with a stock 046 top end on it that Dean @ WHS did a pretty mean port job on that I loved. A guy traded me an '01 SkiDoo Summit for it. Heck, I've sold the sled and moved on, but I do still miss that saw.

And Brad, when you build a BB044, it doesn't add a pound and a half, making it a stock 046.

 

[epicklein22]

What, is Bailey's the only place you can shop? Try Madsens. They have aftermarket full wraps for about 40 bucks, last I knew.

Great job illustrating the work. This dang near needs to be a sticky. Seems like every 2 weeks somebody asks if the conversion can be done.

I had an 044 with a stock 046 top end on it that Dean @ WHS did a pretty mean port job on that I loved. A guy traded me an '01 SkiDoo Summit for it. Heck, I've sold the sled and moved on, but I do still miss that saw.

And Brad, when you build a BB044, it doesn't add a pound and a half, making it a stock 046.

Bailey's is really good and has about everything, but there are some other resources out there too if Bailey's doesn't stock it. Just got to look around.

Again, this was a killer rebuild. I will be interested to see how that gas tank/handle holds up. That was a really interesting fix.

 

[Martinm210]

Just thought I'd post a little update. I finally got a chance to go run my saws on a decent wood cutting trip. I took the MS290, the 044/046BB, and the 066BB.


This 044>046BB is the saw I'm going to keep. It has almost as much power as my 066BB saw does, but it's much snappier and ALOT lighter than my 066.

I didn't think I would care about the extra weight of the 066, but I can definately tell a difference.

The 066 is fine for bucking, but the extra weight is very noticeable when limbing and bucking at the same time. The 044 on the other hand feels extremely light and works well for everything.

I ran both the 044 and 066 about the same amount of time.

I've already sold my MS290, and I'm planning to sell the 066. I just need some limiter caps and I'm done with it. I also have another MS660 parts saw I never got around to finishing the build on, but I'll probably sell that too.

Anyhow, this little 044 converted to an 046BB is the perfect saw for me. Gobs of power in an extremely light package. The 066 is probably the better saw for running longer 32"+ bars in large trees, but I don't do much of that, so the 044 is perfect.

Been a while since I stopped by, figured I'd post an update..

Cheers!:rockn:
Martin

 

[Evan]

glad you stopped in.

you may have given me the motivation to build 440/460bb. the only thing i need is the bb kit and a flippy cap tank.

thank you for the very informative thread

Evan

 

[jd548esco72]

i got my radar on building one of these out of one of my 044s.

did you use the same carb/jets?

i am wondering if 83ccs will work with the stock 044 carb set up.

 

[stihl038x2]

i got my radar on building one of these out of one of my 044s.

did you use the same carb/jets?

i am wondering if 83ccs will work with the stock 044 carb set up.

Yup.....stock carb is fine.
You won't stop smiling after you run it !!
A hint here....trim the fins on the jug, looks much nicer and only a real eagle eye will spot it's not a stock 044.

Steve

 

[jd548esco72]

Yup.....stock carb is fine.
You won't stop smiling after you run it !!
A hint here....trim the fins on the jug, looks much nicer and only a real eagle eye will spot it's not a stock 044.

Steve

i may have to try this. i just recently built a 044 with oem 046 jug and meteor piston with some lite porting it seems to be pretty sweet.

but it is tempting to see just how much cc's you can get out of the old 044!:greenchainsaw: