I'm gettin a new soul... er crankcase.

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Flouridated

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So, my 08 372xp crapped out last winter. Got it from a builder on ebay out of california about 6 years back. Strong saw for 3 or 4 years then lost power cutting cottonwood and burned up the clutch. Well this prompted me to get into er. The piston that was on the saw had a chip on the muffler side all the way down to the first ring. I did find pieces of ring in the muffler but no piston chip. It is toast. I got a new clutch and started to look at piston and cylinders, but the crankcase is just to ****ered. Stripped holes, broken rails , cracks and weaknesses, won't hold dogs.

Looks like I am doin my first ground up saw! I am going to start with a 372xp crankcase assembly, OEM. The cylinder is the MAHLI and looks ok, but I am not sure. I want to port it. The crankshaft looks ok, but I can get a high end rebuild kit with all new parts and port that cylinder. I don't want to hotrod the saw but I certainly want to workhorse it. I get the heating issues, so I am looking for that sweet spot for extra power without sacrificing too much lifespan.

Any suggestions, advice, sabotage?
 
I know I will get a gorillion replies on "how my tuned saw has 3,000 hours on it without missing a beat etc" but if you want a reliable workhorse saw just keep it stock.

If you want to try your hand at porting to learn and have fun get another saw to work and keep this one as an... educational aid. ;)
 
"I'd get it one piece at a time
And it wouldn't cost me a dime
You'd know it's me when I come through your town
I'm going to ride around in style
I'm going to drive everybody wild
Because I'll have the only one there is around"

So, I decided to go with the FarmerTech crankcase halves. 36 bucks after shipping. Husky only offers the crankcase assembly for... $300. Hutztl it is! I have the old oem crank and it seems fine, so I am going to upgrade the bearings to the Dominant Hybrid ceramics. OEM seals? The cylinder is the Mahle and I think has had 2 pistons, the last one having been run with a chip out of the top . It looks good still and I played around with the lower intake walls and ports. It would'nt break my heart to upgrade, if there is one other than OEM, but are OEM still made by MAHLE? Dominant piston! pricey but it seems like the best AM piston. Beyond that the other upgrade I intend to do would be the muffler. Dominant again?

I also got 2 FarmerTech fuel lines, intake boot lever, crankshaft bushing under oiler and a cylinder gasket. 5.99 after shipping. I only really wanted the intake lever and bushing but for less than a dollar I figured what the hell, I will get some backup line and a cheap gasket for a pinch.

So it looks like I can build this saw for:
120 piston
80 bearings
100 ported muff
40 crankcase
10 carb kit

350ish over time. plus associated gaskets.

I have been researching the various opinions about the AM Chinese parts, but has anyone had experience with Lil red barn parts? They claim they are inhouse and their price seems midrange.

I am also building my tool set. I am trying to decide how far down that road to venture. First specialized tools will be a crankcase spliter, and a pressure/vac tester. Go cheap with splitter, expensive with tester?
If I do get into porting, foredom? Are there standardized fittings between brands of flex tools? Why don't most porters go with air tools? Too big? Loud? Weak? less control?
 
Why waste your money with "hybrid ceramic" bearings? Get SKF, NTN, Nachi, Timken... just walk with the samples into any industrial supply store because if you buy them "for a chainsaw" the price will inexplicably hit silly heights. ;)

.
 
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