First 2 builds. First 2 port jobs. First first 2 successful break-ins

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Wookatdis

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Joined
Feb 6, 2021
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New Hampshire
Howwwwws she goin fellas and lady fellas? So I just wrapped up my first 2 complete teardown/rebuilds. The first is a Husky 350 I acquired in a trade some time back. It was in solid shape and once I blew it off with compressed air and threw some fresh go juice in the tank, she fired right up. But she took right off once she woke up. 1/2 to 3/4 throttle due to an air leak. An air leak that was a friggin hide and seek leak from hell.
After a total deep clean, I noticed a curious deformity on the bottom of the crankcase/housing. A little "tunnel" opened up, almost certainly from heat. There were there small holes at the bottom of 3 depressions in the case, just ahead of my tunnel. I figured I'd give er the ol college try and take my motoseal gasket maker and squeeze some up in whatever empty space was there. Turns out, that was the source of my air leak.
I tried EVERYTHING I could have possibly trued to cure your normal every day air leak. Metal intake clamp, new bearings, seals, car gaskets, fuel line, re-sealing the case-to-cylinder, new cylinder base gasket. Everything.
While the cylinder and base were off, I also got a little frisky with a rotary tool and a couple carbide burrs... I cut the transfer divider out on each side of the cylinder and polished those. Increased intake and exhaust ~1.5 degrees as well as increasing their width. 1-1.25mm total for intake and nearly 2mm on each side for exhaust. I contemplated base gasket delete but a friend has a Bridgeport so again I opted to go for gold again and milled off about .018-.021 and made my own thinner base gasket.
Once the new flat top piston+caber rings were installed and everything was tight, the moment of truth. My little monster fired up after 4 or 5 pulls and after a little fiddling with IA and L settings she was happy as a clam...
Everything is holding strong after 10 or 11 tanks of fuel. Compression actually surprised me to be honest, and if I'm being 100% honest I was proud of myself when she blew 180-190 PSI. (can't say how accurate my tester is but either way) I have to say, lots of threads and videos of folks raving about what fun little saws these 350s are to mess with, I have joined the masses. This little clam cake can RIP, I'm tellin ya. I love it. Easily became one of my top 3 or 4 saws. It's hard to not pick this saw when I run around and buck up firewood or drop 20 or 22" trees on the property.
I know it was a short story and probably won't have too many folks reading to the end here, but this was my experience and decided I'd share. IMG_20210515_214745.jpg
 

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The second saw is, according to what the guy told me, an MS440. To my surprise it was actually the MS440W model with the heated grips and carb. I came across it on facebook market place for crazy cheap. 45 friggin bucks...
it was the seller's first saw he had ever purchased some years ago and was his all around every day saw up until the day it started to run lean on him. He went ahead and brought it to his local saw guy, who completely stripped the saw. After finding piston damage, he offered to put a new one in for $580....... anyways, the seller opted to buy a new saw, and kept his trusty old girl in Hope's of resurrecting it someday. A that never came, lucky me
So I picked up the box-o-parts saw and got to cleaning and taking inventory of what exactly was there. Me being the gung ho type, I went ahead and got a hyway big bore 52mm piston and cylinder, caber rings, all new OEM gaskets, oil seals, fuel and impulse lines, ignition coil with wiring, clutch cover, a few splinescrews that were missing, and a piece or 2 I'm probably forgetting.
After waiting 2 godforsaken MONTHS, the piston and cylinder finally arrived and the fun was about to begin. But then, upon inspection of the cylinder,
This particular cylinder's intake, exhaust, and ESPECIALLY the transfers, were garbage. Massive defects ranging from your typical hard edges/corners all the way up to nearly pea size globs littering the transfers. At the bottom, or top depending on which way you hold the cylinder, I'd say almost 15 maybe even 20% of the transfer was being obstructed. I broke out the rotary tool and burrs again, but this time I was a lot more deliberate and gentle with massaging everything in to acceptable form. I did try and shape everything in such a way that it shouldn't cause turbulence or anything and flow smoothly the whole way through.
Now, finally, once I meticulously cleaned my workspace, myself, the saw parts, and everything else that could possibly have even the tiniest bit of something that could scratch the new p/c, everything finally came together. Quicker and less problematic than I tend to expect. Research absolutely pays off. I would still be figuring out the ****** wiring on this saw(the 6 extra wires: 2 for carb, 2 for front, , and 2 for rear hand warmers).
I've put 3 or 4 hours on this ol girl and she is loving it. Starts, idles, and accelerates phenomenal. Definitely a fast saw but I actually really dig the torque it has. I've played with carb setting and if I tune with my tachometer 12,000 up to 13,800, this saws doesn't drop past 10,000 rpm in 18" diameter red oak and shagbark hickory. I have to reeeeeally lean on it for it to run 9,000rpm +/-300 under load. As of tonight, 3.8 hrs of good moderately aggressive cutting, there hasn't been even the slightest hiccup. Blows 180psi and feels as strong as any orher saw I've run, although I'll admit, I doubt my capabilities and for some reason constantly expecting a ring to hang up on a transfer or something
All in all, I found out how simple and fun saws are to build and can only imagine what road I'm headed down. I had "too many" saws (according to my wife, pfft...) before building one. This is the start of something beautiful
 

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Luckily I run a saw repair business so my wife has no clue how many saws I actually have
Come to think of it I’m not sure how many I got either

welcome to the addiction and nice job on the saws
 
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