Pics and ?s on my new 046...

[Nuzzy]

So, after years of using my 021 for camping duties, I decided it was time to step up in the world I will be moving from the PNW back to Michigan in a few months and the house we're buying back there has 2 wood fireplaces and a wood burner in the basement to assist/bypass the propane heat The property is 6 acres mostly wooded where I plan to selectively log. I'm sure I'll be finding other areas to get trees from as well since I figure I'll be going through 4-5 cords per fall/winter. In any case, obviously my 021 is not up to that task, so what better reason to get a real saw


I found the saw on Craigslist and the guy seemed nice enough. To be totally honest, this is completely new ground to me so I don't know what is good/bad/ugly about my new purchase. Please feel free to speak up with what you see! It's an 046 Magnum that supposedly has been woods ported and tuned by a "reputable shop" that I can't remember the name of. The saw does scream through the rounds I tried it out on. Tonight I tore into it just to see what I might be able to find. Here are the pics of the event:


First off, here's the saw

It came with a 32" Oregon bar but I figured a 28 would be more practical for my purposes so I picked up a 28" Rollomatic and Stihl chain along with a new air filter and prefilter yesterday.

 

[Nuzzy]

Now to tear into it...

First thing I noticed was the broken off cooling fins. I know the saw was dropped bad at one point way back when because the seller told me about it, but has run well for him ever since. (FWIW, he's selling because he broke his back and can't take the weight anymore. Also wanted to get some extra Xmas money since he's on disability due to the broken back) Should I be overly worried about fixing/replacing this?

Next up was checking out the plastics... Diiiiiirty...

A quick wash got them back to looking more acceptable

Then I pulled the spark plug. It looks decent to me...?

The seller told me it has been running and tuned for no muffler... Should I put a dual ported one back in or let it be? The noise doesn't bother me at all.

In any case, that made it easy to see the piston which didn't look bad in my opinion but I could be wrong

 

[Nuzzy]

The other day at my local Stihl dealer, they ran the SN and turned up no results so I'm still not sure the age. The seller said around '99 but I don't know he knew for sure or not... The label is long gone from the handle, and I'm not even sure the handle is the original so no help there.

Anyone wanna see if they can guess age off of the Stihl tech notes trick?

 

[Nuzzy]

Here is the repair that was done after the bad drop. The cracked case had to be welded. Doesn't bother me unless there is something specific I should watch out for...?

Further pics

I found this flaking off from the rim of the muffler cover. Is this a reminent of a gasket that should be on there? Currently it's just metal to metal.

Took some pics after I pulled the starter cord assembly

Should I be concerned with this? Obviously was hitting something at some point but I can't see anything it's hitting now

All in all, I'm pretty excited about the saw!! I've just been soaking up knowledge and searching this site for a week or so now and look forward to learning a ton!

 

[blsnelling]

Your plug looks good. Flywheel shouldn't be a problem either since it's even on all the vanes. Crankcase should good as long as there are no open pores. If there were, it wouldn't idle down properly. The carbon in the exhaust port is a concern. If it were mine, I'd pull the jug and clean both the exhaust port and the top of the piston. That's a lot of carbon and can cause scoring on the piston if it breaks off. It's hard to tell, but doesn't really look ported to me. If you clean the carbon off, we'll likely be able to tell. Piston looks ok too.

 

[blsnelling]

Oh. Don't run without a muffler cover. It will not run well. Either mod that cover or buy a factory dual port cover.

 

[RiverRat2]

You might take a flat file or some sand paper wrapped on a paint stir stik just to give ya something to hold on to and dress the flywheels ragged edges,,,just to clean them up and keep them from splitting any further & flowing air over the cylinder,,, I've got a couple of saws with busted fins,,,,, no problem there,,,, if the saw runs good,,, like you say... it should,,, the piston looks good and the plug color is nice,,,, the case repair was done on a non crankcase pressure boundry area it will be fine If it was mine I'd run the PiZZ out of it!!!!

that muffler cover gasket is about 10-12.00 It will fill in with carbon and be fine!!!! as long as it isnt overly leaking and discoloring the case I'd run it just like it is!!!!! ya wanna sell it!!!!!!! LOL Welcome To AS and Merry Christmas!!!!!

Note* get you some Stihl Ultra synthetic oil and start using it,,,OR mobil2T Synthetic,,, It will help make your old saw last a long time and lubit and clean it internally,,,If ya go to the stihl dealer to pic up the Ultra ya may as well get the factory dual port muffler cover!!!!!! for about 25.00 you will love it,,, on the carbon,,, Like lakeside said get the obvious out of the exhaust port taking care not to scratch up the piston too bad run it up past the rings and be sure to get all the loose stuff out,,,,,,after you clean it hit it with some fuel mix from a sprayer bottle to rinse any loose stuff you might have missed put it back together and retune the carb,,,, its gonna run even better than it did before.... and did we mention louder!!!!!

 

[Lakeside53]

Don't sweat the carbon - just scrape the obvious out of the exhaust port and muffler, and run it.

Forget the old gasket... not even required on the dual port cover.

 

[Nuzzy]

Oh. Don't run without a muffler cover. It will not run well. Either mod that cover or buy a factory dual port cover.

I may be confused, but it does have a muffler cover. Just no muffler... Are you saying if I continue to run without a muffler, I should buy a dual port cover as opposed to what's on it currently?

 

[Nuzzy]

ya wanna sell it!!!!!!! LOL Welcome To AS and Merry Christmas!!!!!

I'm just beyond stoked about it!! Of course walking into the Stihl store the other day and seeing all the brand spankin new saws kinda got me jelous :greenchainsaw:


But I picked it up for $375 and I feel good about it. Can't justify $800+ for new at this point when my girl and I are buying our first house. May be a bit high for the condition, but I'm happy with it

 

[Lakeside53]

I may be confused, but it does have a muffler cover. Just no muffler... Are you saying if I continue to run without a muffler, I should buy a dual port cover as opposed to what's on it currently?

:monkey: It has a muffler.... the part attached to the cylinder and case

He's saying....

If you are going to run it, put the muffler FRONT back on. If you want better performance, put on a dual port cover and retune the carb.

 

[Nuzzy]

:monkey: It has a muffler.... the part attached to the cylinder and case

He's saying....

If you are going to run it, put the muffler FRONT back on. If you want better performance, put on a dual port cover and retune the carb.

:newbie:


So this part IS the muffler?

I just assumed it was the cover and that there was supposed to be some sort of baffling inside that constituted the actual "muffler". Since the seller said it "had no muffler", I just assumed I was missing parts...

 

[Scandy14]

The muffler is attached to the cylinder and the cover attaches to the muffler.

 

[Lakeside53]

:newbie:


So this part IS the muffler?

I just assumed it was the cover and that there was supposed to be some sort of baffling inside that constituted the actual "muffler". Since the seller said it "had no muffler", I just assumed I was missing parts...

LOLOLOL so you want a muffler at actually MUFFLES?? you're on the worng forum;

 

[RiverRat2]

edited post # 7 bump!!!!!

 

[Nuzzy]

LOLOLOL so you want a muffler at actually MUFFLES?? you're on the worng forum;

Absolutely NOT!!

 

[Nuzzy]

Note* get you some Stihl Ultra synthetic oil and start using it,,,OR mobil2T Synthetic,,, It will help make your old saw last a long time and lubit and clean it internally,,,If ya go to the stihl dealer to pic up the Ultra ya may as well get the factory dual port muffler cover!!!!!! for about 25.00 you will love it,,, on the carbon,,, Like lakeside said get the obvious out of the exhaust port taking care not to scratch up the piston too bad run it up past the rings and be sure to get all the loose stuff out,,,,,,after you clean it hit it with some fuel mix from a sprayer bottle to rinse any loose stuff you might have missed put it back together and retune the carb,,,, its gonna run even better than it did before.... and did we mention louder!!!!!

I've been running Stihl HP Super... Suppose I'm due for another trip down to the store anyways, so I'll grab some Ultra




On another note, has anyone run SeaFoam through their saws to clean the internals? I know it's the greatest thing ever for vehicles (both gas and diesel) so I'm wondering if it would work the same magic with a 2stroke...?

 

[Mountainman]

WATCH THAT BAR TIP! That full skip chain will do a great job of cutting, and will be less of a PITA to file. But with full skip chain, if you hit something with that bar tip, it will very likely throw the bar back towards you. If you're used to nothing but small saws, there's nothing wrong with that. But that 046 is a very serious saw, and not to be taken lightly. Especially when limbing.

 

[2000ssm6]

WATCH THAT BAR TIP! That full skip chain will do a great job of cutting, and will be less of a PITA to file. But with full skip chain, if you hit something with that bar tip, it will very likely throw the bar back towards you. If you're used to nothing but small saws, there's nothing wrong with that. But that 046 is a very serious saw, and not to be taken lightly. Especially when limbing.

+1 Skip can cause some wild kick back! Be careful.

Seafoam? The HP Ultra should clean just as good, run it for a few tanks and you should be good. Not the good fellow Ultra 660 man either, the oil, LOL.

 

[Nuzzy]

WATCH THAT BAR TIP! That full skip chain will do a great job of cutting, and will be less of a PITA to file. But with full skip chain, if you hit something with that bar tip, it will very likely throw the bar back towards you. If you're used to nothing but small saws, there's nothing wrong with that. But that 046 is a very serious saw, and not to be taken lightly. Especially when limbing.

Yeah, I'm definitely learning the saw and taking it cautiously!! Luckily I'm fairly stout and always saw with a firm grip.