MS170 adjustable carb.

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2broke2ride

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I am working on a low hour MS170 that a customer did not want to put any money into. Figure if I can fix it cheap enough I can make a couple bucks on it.
Is there an adjustable carb that can be swapped on this easily? It has the "snorkel" style carb.
The saw acts lean and wont stay running. I already checked the usual suspects. Fuel line, filter, air leaks, etc.

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The adjustable carb is out there, but it's a bear to install. The set screws cannot be reached unless holes are drilled into the side of the outside beige plastic case. And, the throttle rod cannot be hooked up without removing the trigger control in the handle. So, I've warned you. Did I do it? Yes. Did it work? Yes. Did I shake my head and cuss while working on it? Yes. Did my customer appreciate it? Yes.
 
So.where could a guy find the carb? The only.ones I'm coming up with in the "snorkel" style are non adjustable.

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Tell the customer to buy a 171. Every time a customer asks about a 170 I immediately tell them that for just a little bit more money you can get a 171 that has an adjustable carb and better air filter. Like wood doctor said it’s possible and I have done that before as well. But the 170 is so inexpensive that it’s just not worth it, so I try to head them off at the pass before they even buy a 170.
 
Maybe my post is confusing. My customer already bailed on it. The saw is mine now and I was gonna try to flip it and make a couple bucks.

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Maybe my post is confusing. My customer already bailed on it. The saw is mine now and I was gonna try to flip it and make a couple bucks.



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Oh I got it now. Sorry I thought the customer was in the process of buying one I must have read it wrong. It could be worth it. But I don’t know who would buy a used 170 for very much unless they had no idea that a new one is only $179.
 
Tell the customer to buy a 171. Every time a customer asks about a 170 I immediately tell them that for just a little bit more money you can get a 171 that has an adjustable carb and better air filter. Like wood doctor said it’s possible and I have done that before as well. But the 170 is so inexpensive that it’s just not worth it, so I try to head them off at the pass before they even buy a 170.

I had a 170 with a wt215 carb that was a real good runner. I gave that to my brother in law who's probably never used it, and upgraded to a 171, so I thought. The 170 was a better running saw, cutting, starting, all the way around. I put a 211 muffler on my 171 and adjusted the carb so maybe it's not as "hopped up" as the 170. I do like the side chain tension adjuster, single bar nut, and flippy caps though.

I don't remember how difficult it was to do the carb swap on the 170, and I don't remember if I left the intellicarb crap alone or what I did. It was worth it though I thought, as I do miss that little saw. I should have just gone straight with the 211 for numerous reasons though as I did some work on someone else's. Worth the extra $50 for the bar/chain combo alone, being .050 gauge bar and all.
 
So.where could a guy find the carb? The only.ones I'm coming up with in the "snorkel" style are non adjustable.

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I got mine from an Ebay supplier: live_1234. It's running fine without that top snorkel. Note that the filter housing has guide holes for the setsrews but the plastic case does not. My drill and skill took care oif that.
 
Find a filter housing that doesn't have the hole for the snorkel. Then you can use the non-snorkel high-low carb straight up without having to go thru all the machinations to get a snorkeled adjustable carb (see text after photo). The filter housing does have to have the 2 holes to the side for hi-low adjusting. Then just drill or grind a slot in the side of the handle body for the screwdriver to poke thru for hi-low adjusting. See photo of my adjustable 018.018 slot.jpg
OR,
The newer snorkel cover over the diaphragm replaces the older cover that just had the vent hole. Snorkel allows clean air pulses from the filtered intake instead of from unfiltered air. Try finding the hi-low adjustable carb you want, then find a really cheap snorkel-type knock-off carb just for the snorkel cover. Should be knock-off using the same manufacturer's pattern as the hi-low carb body. There are carbs and covers that have 4 screws and some that have 2 screws. Be sure to get the cover with the same screw pattern as the carb body. Easier to just change the filter housing...
 
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