Wookatdis
ArboristSite Lurker
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.
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.