Poulan 3314 winter project

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Welderman85

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Hello all. I know there not the best liked saws. But a guy in work with had 4 poulan 3314 saws that he had bought when he was going to start selling wood on the side. Well it never worked out so they sat. I mentioned that I like ti tinker with small engines. So long story short for a a cheeses burger and two beers I bought 4 poulan 3314s. The all need new gas lines and I plan to just make one decent runner. My question is what are some tips and tricks to help make these better running/ cutting saws. I know they have a bunch of little quarks to them, but just looking to make a good beater saw. Thank you
 
Some of these saws are actually 42cc which makes them more desirable to fix. Once you decat the muffler and retune they run quite well.

Check the EPA tags on each saw to see if you have any of the 42cc models. If you do and they have a good p+c I’d start with fixing those.
 
Some do not have cats, but are strato saws. I can give you advice for the strato variant below

Pulling one of the bolt sleeves out of the muffler on these is in essence a great muffler mod. Exhaust gas will flow pretty much straight out if you remove one or both. Removing just the one where the deflector is will make it appear stock in which the screen can still be used I believe.

The carbs usually need work. I’ve worked on two so far and both were very sluggish to respond and always seemed to allow fuel to pool in crank case. Pop off pressure if adjusted to around 14psi by removing coils in the spring, cured this issue.

Brand new out of the box I have found an air leak on the intake. I would suggest a full pressure/vac test on the unit to determine if you need to rip it apart and re-seal it.

Carb uses the standard ‘splined’ adjustment driver and do not have limiters. I’d recommend getting one much easier to tune with than modifying the splines to slotted and then using a flat head. Carbs are about 20$ on Amazon and very available.

Oiler works great and will support an 18” bar, non adjustable

They have an ok anti vibe setup. Same as regular huskys but for some reason vibration dampening is not nearly as good. Saw is as advertised in this respect, good for the firewood gathering and not any long term use if you value the feeling in your hands.

Extremely modular and easy to disassemble

Tough plastics make them long lasting machines, this along with the extremely non aggressive porting/sloppy tolerances makes them take a **** ton more abuse (lean conditions) than most.

Air filter is some what restricted. I drilled two half in holes straight through the starting instruction sticker on the back to help it breathe.

Uses husky small bar mount

These units use 3/8 lo pro spur gears, do not use regular 3/8 chain and bar. It will work for a bit but you will destroy your chain in time, the depth of the drivers are totally different between the two.
If you find a regular 3/8 spur gear clutch drum, let me know. As far as I can tell you are stuck with lo pro on these saws.
Poulan makes a 3/8 low pro 18” bar+chain for there other models it will fit.

Porting is limited, severely. You can open up the exhaust a little and trim the piston skirt to match the intake port at TDC but that’s it. I got one to run fairly well and was quite snappy, never did get to put an 18” on it though...

Thy are great learning saws, if you have the older non strato ones I would take the best parts from all and make one good saw.

Have fun, I sure did working on mine
 
I did a little looking all the saws are 42cc. All seem to have good compression. How do I tell.if the have cats in the muffler.
 
Some do not have cats, but are strato saws. I can give you advice for the strato variant below

Pulling one of the bolt sleeves out of the muffler on these is in essence a great muffler mod. Exhaust gas will flow pretty much straight out if you remove one or both. Removing just the one where the deflector is will make it appear stock in which the screen can still be used I believe.

The carbs usually need work. I’ve worked on two so far and both were very sluggish to respond and always seemed to allow fuel to pool in crank case. Pop off pressure if adjusted to around 14psi by removing coils in the spring, cured this issue.

Brand new out of the box I have found an air leak on the intake. I would suggest a full pressure/vac test on the unit to determine if you need to rip it apart and re-seal it.

Carb uses the standard ‘splined’ adjustment driver and do not have limiters. I’d recommend getting one much easier to tune with than modifying the splines to slotted and then using a flat head. Carbs are about 20$ on Amazon and very available.

Oiler works great and will support an 18” bar, non adjustable

They have an ok anti vibe setup. Same as regular huskys but for some reason vibration dampening is not nearly as good. Saw is as advertised in this respect, good for the firewood gathering and not any long term use if you value the feeling in your hands.

Extremely modular and easy to disassemble

Tough plastics make them long lasting machines, this along with the extremely non aggressive porting/sloppy tolerances makes them take a **** ton more abuse (lean conditions) than most.

Air filter is some what restricted. I drilled two half in holes straight through the starting instruction sticker on the back to help it breathe.

Uses husky small bar mount

These units use 3/8 lo pro spur gears, do not use regular 3/8 chain and bar. It will work for a bit but you will destroy your chain in time, the depth of the drivers are totally different between the two.
If you find a regular 3/8 spur gear clutch drum, let me know. As far as I can tell you are stuck with lo pro on these saws.
Poulan makes a 3/8 low pro 18” bar+chain for there other models it will fit.

Porting is limited, severely. You can open up the exhaust a little and trim the piston skirt to match the intake port at TDC but that’s it. I got one to run fairly well and was quite snappy, never did get to put an 18” on it though...

Thy are great learning saws, if you have the older non strato ones I would take the best parts from all and make one good saw.

Have fun, I sure did working on mine

What is pop off pressure and how do I check/ change it? Can I how.do I check for air leaks? I have done it on a car with a leak done tester is it the same concept?
 
What is pop off pressure and how do I check/ change it? Can I how.do I check for air leaks? I have done it on a car with a leak done tester is it the same concept?
Lots of threads and videos on the procedure. Check youtube you will find lots of info
 
I think the second biggest drawback (first being porting)with the 5020 and the 3314 really is the lack of .325 support.
 
I think the second biggest drawback (first being porting)with the 5020 and the 3314 really is the lack of .325 support.
This.
A rim/drum would fix that, but no one has found one that works. And saw shops are not like they once were, where you could bring the saw in and they would try different parts until they found something that fit. Now, if it's not on the IPL with a part number, they can't help you (or don't want to).
 
I think the second biggest drawback (first being porting)with the 5020 and the 3314 really is the lack of .325 support.

Why would you want to slow the saw down by adding .325 chain to it? The 42cc saws will be really slow with .325 on them.
I ran a jonsred 2238 or something like that which was actually a 42cc poulan for years. I much prefer my Chinese joncutter 5800, its a pound or two heavier but much better in every other way.
The poulan either started good or cut good you couldn't have both, the carb was super fussy and needed constant adjustment.
I've heard some guys claim once you gut the muffler and tune them they're good saws, but mine wasn't, I know a bunch of guys that have them and theirs don't run good either.
 
I find my muffler modded p3314 had more power (by a long shot) than my son's Stihl 021. Of course that is a stock saw and around 35cc vs 42cc. Good semi chisel chain helps it cut nicely.

It's not a bad saw. Your hands will be a bit more numb vs a good anti vibe saw but it cuts. Mine was bought as a 'refurb' and included a scored piston right out of the box!
 
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