Need some help with a Stihl 070

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Hey Guys,

I'm starting to tear down an 070. The saw came to me dirty but in pretty good condition overall. The previous owner was a small engine shop owner. I'm unsure what he did to the saw. Something is not adding up so I wanted to give a detailed post so you guys can comment and let me know if this is normal or if you agree something doesn't seem right. Bear with me as this the first thread I've started on the new AS!

I like to give old saws I have no history on a good once over before I try to start them. I pulled the muffler and carb to inspect and then plug in order to do a pressure and vacuum check. I could see scoring on the center of the piston on the exhaust side. When sealed up the saw held 0.5 bars vacuum for over a minute and 10 psi for several minutes as well. I rebuilt the carb and started cleaning/ inspecting everything before pulling the cylinder. I didn't find anything out of the ordinary in the carb or gaskets between carb and cylinder. Nothing to suggest air leak or lack of fuel filter etc.

Exhaust side of piston. Could barely see scoring at sides of exhaust port with cylinder still installed. The center scoring was clearly visible with the cylinder installed. There are some pretty deep score marks on the piston in all areas.
166771d1293944649-exhuast-side-piston-large-jpg


Intake Side of piston. Scoring at sides of intake port. Almost not noticeable with cylinder still installed. No sign of dirt in carb. The fuel filter looks newer style and is intact. The Tillotson HL carb was probably rebuilt within the last 10 yrs or so. The gaskets were similar to the new kit I installed and were in decent shape.
166773d1293944652-intake-side-070-large-jpg


Intake side of piston, clutch side. Scoring aligned with ring pin.
166769d1293944646-intake-clutch-side-2-large-jpg


Intake side of piston, flywheel side. Scoring aligned with ring pin.
166772d1293944650-intake-flywheel-side-large-jpg


Mahle 58mm cylinder with heavy machining or sanding lines. The inside of the cylinder was hard to photograph. The surface was dark in areas and shiny in others. Normally the metal transfer areas are the only dark areas. There were well defined dark rings around the ports. I'll try to add a decent pic to the next post.
166770d1293944647-cylinder-wall-lines-large-jpg


I checked ring end gap. It varied from 12 to 16 thou depending on the ring and where I measured. Worst was 16 thou for the top ring when I used the piston to move the ring to the centerline of the exhaust port. I couldn't get the ring any higher without taking out the wrist pin.

The rings were marked "ELKO f2"?? Or "ELKO FZ"?? Could these be aftermarket rings?

So what do you think caused this? And where do I go? I have a saw that seems to hold air but has a dead piston and a cylinder that has multiple dark spots (Nikasil removed??). I'm a bit nervous about changing out the top end without finding the problem. I'm thinking the small engine shop owner fixed the air leak, honed up the cylinder (too much), used the old piston and rings and put it back together.

As a side note, the cylinder measured 57.89mm at base. The piston ranged from 57.83 to 57.88mm. All just simple vernier measurements.

Thanks in advance for any insight.
 
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Pics of discoloration

I hope the pictures show up larger for you guys than they do on my screen! I reduced the size like we used to have to do on the old AS to get them to fit. On my screen they are super tiny.

Anyway, here's the discoloration in cylinder I was talking about.


166783d1293947175-intake-side-cylinder-2-colors-large-jpg


166784d1293947200-discolour-around-intake-large-jpg


Images are great but the dark spots are not shadows. Around the ports and transfers that is dark material.
 
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Id say the saw got hot and seized up and the last owner or one of them tore it down and sanded off the transfer and put it back together. Id find at least a new piston if not a whole top end and rebuild it if you want it to stay together for a while
 
EDIT: Deleted the resized pics to save everyone from having to wade through same pics twice now.
 
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Id say the saw got hot and seized up and the last owner or one of them tore it down and sanded off the transfer and put it back together. Id find at least a new piston if not a whole top end and rebuild it if you want it to stay together for a while

Yep, it definitely looks like the cylinder has been cleaned up before. Do you think the dark spots are where the cylinder coating is gone? It's hard to tell if there is nikasil/chrome left or not. Replacing the piston is a given. Cylinder may not be worth cleaning up if the coating is missing.

Flywheel looks good but there was a thin layer of grime on the cylinder cooling fins. Not like the fins were plugged but more like a layer of pine tar on some fins. Not something I would think would cause an overheat in the saws current condition.

166801d1293979265-img_4960-large-jpg
 
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Cold seizure

So the contact at 4 locations is pretty good indicator of cold seizure then. Makes sense. I could see the piston expanding faster than the cold cylinder and rubbing at the ports. I'll do another vac test when I get it back together with new parts to confirm no leaks. The bottom end feels solid.

Now I have to see if the cylinder is salvageable. I don't like the dark spots. It appears the someone honed it to try to remove metal transfer. Really did a number on any ports or transfers. To get a little metal transfer off it looks like a lot of good material was removed in other areas. Removing metal transfer with muriatic acid would have been so much better...
 
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Anyone know what it would take to bolt an 090 top end on an 070?

There is nothing special that you need to do. Both use the same crankshaft and crankcase. The 090 cylinder should bolt straight up with no problems.

Regards

Phil
 
Good thing you pulled the 070 apart, that P&C set sure appears to have been patched up. Did you use the adapter to try for Vac? The swap from 070 to 090 P&C is as stated by Phil, very straight forward, you just need a 090 P&C and gasket, you can reuse everything else.
Jerry
 
Good thing you pulled the 070 apart, that P&C set sure appears to have been patched up. Did you use the adapter to try for Vac? The swap from 070 to 090 P&C is as stated by Phil, very straight forward, you just need a 090 P&C and gasket, you can reuse everything else.
Jerry

Jerry,
The spark plug vac adapter worked perfectly. Thanks. The saw held 0.5 bars vacuum for over a minute and 10 psi for several minutes as well. I don't have any history on the saw other than it was previously owned by a small engine shop owner. He definitely could have tried patching it together.
I agree the cylinder was definitely worked over. Maybe he just put the old piston and rings back in there after 30 minutes of honing with a ball hone! I will start looking for a P&C set.
 
Are you looking for OEM or would you go with aftermarket? I heard the aftermarket P+C are holding up pretty well
 
Are you looking for OEM or would you go with aftermarket? I heard the aftermarket P+C are holding up pretty well


Good question. Are there specific aftermarket kits P&C kits you are hearing good stuff about? My gut is telling me to go OEM even though the aftermarket kits are really inexpensive on ebay. I tried a white boxed aftermarket piston kit on an 034AV build once. It ended with this thread...http://www.arboristsite.com/chainsaw/105952.htm

That lesson learned I'm going to try to find an 070 or 090 OEM kit first.
 
Wow, that Bailey's 090 kit is a ridiculously good price. Has anyone tried one?

$30 shipping to get it to Ontario. I'm wondering what duty/customs goes for.
I believe that kit is not of the same quality as the original 090 one, and also believe some other changes are needed to make it an 090 - but I am far from an expert on those saws......
 
ST,

True. I'm always suspicious when a deal seems too great. However, it looks like the Woodland Pro comes with a 1 yr warranty. I'm sure there are items that the warranty wouldn't cover but it's better than I expected.

You're right about the original quality of the 070 piston and cylinder. Very nice looking craftsmanship for sure.
 
ST,

True. I'm always suspicious when a deal seems too great. However, it looks like the Woodland Pro comes with a 1 yr warranty. I'm sure there are items that the warranty wouldn't cover but it's better than I expected.

You're right about the original quality of the 070 piston and cylinder. Very nice looking craftsmanship for sure.

You can`t go wrong using OEM parts on the big Stihl saws, if it were mine I would look long and hard to find OEM parts like a P&C, these saws are worth it in my opinion. Did your friend sell all his big Stihl saw parts?
Pioneerguy600
 

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