My First Ever Chainsaw Rebuild With Pictures!

[Vintage Engine Repairs]

So, as the title says, here is my first ever chainsaw rebuild.

I have zero experience rebuilding until about a month ago when I purchased my first petrol chainsaw (although used them all my life)...

Brought this beat up ms 180 for 25 USD and it looked like this...




I proceeded to strip it down and clean each and every part. It took about 5 hours to strip it down and clean everything using dishwashing soap and some fuel.




Once clean ...




Then I had to hone the piston and cylinder and free the stuck rings due to damage...



Then I had to put it all back together -




With everything re installed clean, the carb got a clean but will be replaced with an adjustable...



From here I had to drill two Oiler holes in the bar, straighten the bar nose, clean the nose sprocket, replace damaged or missing parts on the saw (still awaiting the plastics and carb) but it’s up, running and singing it’s 2 stroke song once again!!

What a ripper!







Total expense in replacement parts was about 95 USD using OEM stihl parts (bar the carb). Therefore all in this saw cost 120 usd.

It was fun and I feel a massive sense of satisfaction getting it up and running

A massive thanks to everyone involved sharing their advice and help - especially @trains you’ve been a true gent and been there every step, thanks mate!

 

[Matt Hogden]

Good work mate.
It's fun building isn't it.
I have always had good results with Meteor Pistons and Caber rings if you ever don't want to use OEM

Sent from my SM-A505YN using Tapatalk

 

[Ronie]

Good job!

 

[buttercup]

Impressive and inspirational!

 

[Vintage Engine Repairs]

Good work mate.
It's fun building isn't it.
I have always had good results with Meteor Pistons and Caber rings if you ever don't want to use OEM

Sent from my SM-A505YN using Tapatalk

Absolutely it’s very rewarding are they much cheaper than OEM?

 

[AuerX]

Well done man

 

[TheTone]

Absolutely it’s very rewarding are they much cheaper than OEM?

Meteor pistons and Caber rings are considered on this forum to be essentially OEM quality. And the Meteor pistons I have bought come with Caber rings! And yes, cheaper.

 

[Vintage Engine Repairs]

Meteor pistons and Caber rings are considered on this forum to be essentially OEM quality. And the Meteor pistons I have bought come with Caber rings! And yes, cheaper.

Woo awesome i’ll remember that

 

[Vintage Engine Repairs]

Well done man

Thanks mate

 

[Vintage Engine Repairs]

Well, I was messed about by a company who didn’t have my compression tester in stock, but didn’t mention that on their website so o was waiting for a number of days (having paid express post!). So called them, got a refund and fell back on a company that has never once let me down Kincrome. Cost me 150 Aussi dollars (100 usd) and worked flawlessly!


This saw after honing and polishing the very scored piston, piston rings, ring groves and cylinder gave me 127 psi over 10 pulls. For a junk saw for 25 usd and some time (enjoyable time no less) sorting it all out, it could have been far worse!!

What was more surprising, my brand new ms 180 gave me 180 psi! I didn’t think chainsaws typically went over 150?

Anyway not complaining

 

[Goofaroo]

Nice job! I used to rebuild motorcycles but they ended up taking up too much space. I moved on to vintage model aircraft engines but they weren’t as satisfying. I then moved on to saws. Let’s just say I have more saws than I could ever use but for some reason I really enjoy bringing them back to life. I always have a few “in progress” and I have a pile of old saws in my barn waiting to go under the knife. Of course I’m still keeping an eye out for future projects.

Some people buy jigsaw puzzles. I prefer mechanical objects and many of my saws have cost me less than a decent puzzle.

 

[ken morgan]

180 is pretty sweet for any new saw... normally only see that in gasket deletes or cylinder base milling. but OEM has variances and you once in a while get the true screamer right from the factory. Caber is OEM or the same, but their cylinders timing while good is slightly off from OEM. nothing a little work with some paper won't fix though. avoid the chinese stuff unless you want to really adjust the timing. frankensaw finally performs at the OEM level, but that with a lot of work.... better to go OEM for cylinders and meteor or caber for the piston/rings.

 

[trains]

Hi Tom,
Good project, your learning lots, asking questions and developing a handy new skill set that can be applied to many different future projects.

We can help with saws, but with disgruntled spouses from finding saw parts in the dishwasher, spending the last food money on that next project, or moving the car out of the garage as there is not more space due to accumulated and repaired saws, well your on your own for that

T