Chinese Pistons & Cylinder.....Whats your take?

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cwalker

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Post what you think if Chinese P&C's. But also post why your opinion is the way it is. What experiences have you had with them and are they really as bad as people make them out to be?

I know this will be fuel on to fire for the guy who think there cheap crap....BUT they are WWAAAYYYY cheaper then an oem replacement. You get what you pay for I know and experiene tells me to spend a little more the I want to, but how bad can they be?

Has anyone every bought/used one and what sorta results did ya get with em?
 
I've never tried one, my buddy put a no-name probably chinese piston in a 044. In the first few minutes it broke and basically wrecked the whole saw.

I've had very good luck with Italian made Meteor pistons,(about $45 from Bailey's) put them in a few Stihl pro saws, but never one of their new cylinder kits.
 
I have ran em on my home owner saws and I dont hesitate to put em on saws I fix if they're just used at home for small projects. I have yet to use one on any of my pro saws. I have used Baileys NWP on my stihl 026pro and it seems to work well, but its just a home use saw.
 
If you know what to watch out for and are willing to ship it back if it doesn't look right, Then the AM piston and cylinder can be a very good deal. I've seen Chinese cylinders used in a professional setting (5 hours a day) last until the rest of the saw body was very beaten and worn (the crank bearings were going bad too).
I have used them with success, but normally avoid the AM cylinders as most OEM cylinders can either be cleaned up or they can be found relatively cheap on ebay.
 
Thanks for the responces. Buddy of mine put a chinese 288 P/C kit on an old 181 that im looking at buying from him. Just wanted to know what to expect form this top end. Selling the complete saw for $200 so even if I do have to buy another top end kit down the road im still not into the saw for all that much.


EDIT: Also what do you mean "AM" .....im thinking Asian Market??
 
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Thanks for the responces. Buddy of mine put a chinese 288 P/C kit on an old 181 that im looking at buying from him. Just wanted to know what to expect form this top end. Selling the complete saw for $200 so even if I do have to buy another top end kit down the road im still not into the saw for all that much.


EDIT: Also what do you mean "AM" .....im thinking Asian Market??

Close! when I say "AM" I mean aftermarket, might as well be Asian market, just about everything is made there anyways...:msp_tongue:

BTW, Welcome to AS!:)
 
Thanks for the responces. Buddy of mine put a chinese 288 P/C kit on an old 181 that im looking at buying from him. Just wanted to know what to expect form this top end. Selling the complete saw for $200 so even if I do have to buy another top end kit down the road im still not into the saw for all that much.


EDIT: Also what do you mean "AM" .....im thinking Asian Market??

The 288 kit I put on my 181 was one of, if not the nicest a/m kit I've seen. And even though I seen some nice kits, I sure have seen some shockers.
 
P/C's

Three complaints on the AM Chinese P/C's

1) Hole for the decompression valve is off center, dc valve does not line up with the hole in the hood

2)Chinese rings are hard and brittle

3)Machining tolerence not as precise, less compression

My first choice is Mahle, second choice is Meteor, third choice is NWP
 
just finnished a rebuild on a 024 and put a AM Golf topend on it ,piston looked good cylinder finnish was good ....but the ports were real ordinary,upper transfers were nearly all closed off with over casting flash and needed some port work to get them right,squish was way big so some measuring and a new gasket was needed,saw runs strong and the owner is more than happy,i got a AM top end on my 044 and have a spare AM top end for a 066/660 on the shelf,price is good if your willing to spend some time on them before fitting (Good excuse for modding):smile2::smile2:
 
To be honest im suprised by the feedback ive gotten in this thread. I was hesitant to post thinkin id have to hang my head in shame for the mere suggestion of a Chinese P/C. Good to hear that there not as crappy as I once thought, casue the price is alot nice on my wallet. Just sorta gettin into modding saws...and by that meaning Ive done alot of reading and not alot of doing. I can see enjoying this hobby and its good to know that if fixing a saw its not gonna cost more then the saws worth and same to be said if i screw something up tryin to mod its not gonna put me in the hole to bad.

As much as I dont want to pull it apart, ima have a closer look at the cylinder when I pick up the saw this weekend. The comment about the transfers bieng "flashed over" kinda caught my attention. Unfortunatly im the kinda guy who NEEDS to know if my cylinder is flasedh over like mention above.

Agian thanks for the responses, many question to come im shure.
 
Importing these kits direct from Asia myself I can say one thing, quality varies a lot. There are some really bad manufacturers out there however...

The aim is to dump these manufacturers and find the good ones. For example the early run of 066/660 BB kits I imported were pretty average. Looked good as far as finish went but then Brad Snelling noticed little (but major!) flaws like tilited exhaust ports and freeporting exhausts etc. A different supplier solved that problem and the newer 066/660 BB kits I've been importing are far better quality than even the Stihl branded factory fitted P&C's off of brand new MS660's.
I've also had to source another supplier of 372XP BB kits as although the good kits were nice, there were too many faults when these kits were checked upon arrival. The main issues were an over excited little chinaman/woman doing the port bevelling. Although these kits run/ran OK they were unsaleable as the bevelling was shocking.

I would estimate that out of the 150-200 kits I've sold and tested probably 15 have had either casting or aesthetic flaws, about 10 of these being 372XP BB kits from one particular manufacturer. The flawed kits were replaced free of charge however :)

My main tip would be this - replace the supplied rings with good quality rings such as Cabers etc prior to fitment. The quality control on Chinese rings (particularly the black cast ones) is shocking. Myself and other members here (Hi Will :) ) have torn the tops off a few 372XP BB pistons where the supplied bad rings have dropped into the exhaust port. Normally noticed by a "ticking" sound in the first few minutes :D
 

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