what mods on ms-361 for ripsaw

I'm picking up my new (used--new to me) ripsaw and ms-361 either this weekend or beginning of next week. What mods would you do if it was your saw?? It wont be used for cross cutting at all; I've got a few other saws I can use, so functionality isn't really a concern. I'm of course going to dual-port the muffler, but what else would you do?? The more power I've got, the quicker I cut, right?? Thanks guys. I dont know what I'd do if I hadn't found this site.

Nate

Modding the muffler would probably be a good idea, particularly if you can find a way to direct the exhaust in the best possible direction to keep it out of your face.

Some talk had gone on a while back about coming up with a special muffler cover design for the 066s that everybody is milling with that would have an exhaust pipe to direct the exhaust the heck away from the saw and operator. Not sure if any progress was made on this idea, but it seems to have merit in your application, too.

How much "LOUDER" will the 361 be with modding the muffler ?? I have never ran a saw with the mod before but I am wondering if I should also do this to my new 361.

Depends on your mod... Mine - it's about the same as the earlier 036's.. Not unacceptable.

Milling with a 361? Set it rich or you'll burn it up...

Lakeside53 said:

Depends on your mod... Mine - it's about the same as the earlier 036's.. Not unacceptable.

Milling with a 361? Set it rich or you'll burn it up...

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Its on a ripsaw----this is a portable bandmill. I have a modded 394XP that I use with ripping chain on an alaskan. There are a lot of people on this site using MS361's and even 290's on ripsaws.

also, meant to add that noise isn't really a factor. My muffler mod will likely include a directional pipe to keep the exhaust away from my face; as soon as I get my hands on a welder.

Exhaust

Acquan8tor , my 044 on my ripsaw exhausts at about a 30 degree angle and probably 90 percent goes through the throat of the ripsaw . The rightside dimension tape will turn brown . I think that a Sedanman double barrel muffler mod would work well .

aquan8tor said:

Its on a ripsaw----this is a portable bandmill. I have a modded 394XP that I use with ripping chain on an alaskan. There are a lot of people on this site using MS361's and even 290's on ripsaws.

Click to expand...

Sorry, my mistake - thought you were talking alaskan.

deezulsmoke said:

How much "LOUDER" will the 361 be with modding the muffler ?? I have never ran a saw with the mod before but I am wondering if I should also do this to my new 361.

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Not prohibitively so. It just sounds better, more throaty. Definately do it. The saw does well with a muffler mod.

Sweet. I haven't picked up the saw yet. That's this week. I've got the downloaded manual, but I'm trying to picture in my head how I'm going to aim the exhaust outlet without having the saw & ripsaw in front of me. Someone said they had the exhaust directed roughly 45deg., which went prettymuch through the throat of hte ripsaw. Any problems with this setup? It seems like this would put a lot of exhaust in your face if you're moving forward. Help me understand this. Thanks people.

lakeside--no problem--I respect your opinion. Do you think, honestly, that I could hit 5hp with the muffler mod & maybe a little polish on the exhaust port? Should I hit the intake ports too to smooth them out?? Thanks.

IMHO... polishing will do little if anything. If you're talking about air box mods, widening ports, changing timing, squish etc... then why not just get a bigger saw? It's not like you are worried about the extra pound or two when using it on a ripsaw.

If I was you - take the gains from a muffler mod, and leave it at that.

As for exhaust - take off the factory muffler, mod it and and keep it for when you use the saw for other purposes. Make a custom muffler for the rip-saw and put the exhaust wherever you want. Definitely direct the exhaust away from you and the equipment.

Why not just run it stock for a while? Guess I'm no fun tonight...

I appreciate the response. I think I probably will run it stock for a while anyway, just to see how much a muffler mod will improve it. And you're right, the extra weight really won't make that much difference. Hell, if I really need power later on, I could always put the 394 on it for a while and sell the MS361 & my 029 super for an ms460mag. :hmm3grin2orange: :hmm3grin2orange:

Torque

Acquan8tor , the torque that my 044 has is more than the ripsaw needs . There also is the issue of finding the magic rpm . There was a guy here for a while that had a 064 on his ripsaw that was having blade breaking problems . flth01 will tell you that he doesn't always run his Ms361 at a max rpm . I've often wondered if a modified 029 might be a good match for the ripsaw .

By max rpm, do you mean max throttle?

The saw should be run at full throttle... partial throttle mixture is not guaranteed to be correct. The saws' power needs to be absorbed by the band, and the saw operated in the 8-10k range while cutting, just like an alaska mill.. and with the same constraints on detuing the saw for continuous operation. If you have too much HP for the band, change the band or detune the saw further.

I'd run about 10-20 tanks of gas though the saw before using it for milling... and like with alaska mill, set it real rich when milling and watch the rpm. Buy a $25 tach and velco it to the back of the saw.

if you really want power, how about a full woods port job?

here is my used and abused Woods port 036 Pro that is my torture test saw.

20" bar with 3/8 x .050 with GB Ripping chain.
chain was fresh off the roll, made 1 rip before this video. dogs kept snagging on the log so the cut was not that steady. you can see in the background the rip i made before the video. no heat problems came up with either rip.

http://www.nwchainsaw.com/torturetest.wmv

Rpm

Andy , the small kerf of .050" and the optimum band speed of 3800'/min is why it is necessary to lower the throttle . I was told that the newer Stihl saws have a midrange jet . In operating the ripsaw there is a skew and rpm that seems to allow much faster feed rates . The small 10" band wheels restrict the band selection available .

I'd be changing the sprockets or whatever else you could then.... detune the higher HP saw, or, use smaller saw. Some of the pro saws have mid-jets, but they are more for transition than continuous operation.

What goes 3800'/min translate to for saw speed? The saw should still be operating in its power band when at the max feet/minute of the band.

The problem is the same as putting a short bar on a big saw, but exacerbated by the continuous power operation.

3800'/min

Andy , I'll have to figure out the gear ratio and the band wheel diameter and get back to you . It is nice to have the reserve power when sawing through knots but often thought that the band speed was too high for the small diameter bandwheel .

While we're waiting (how's that for an excuse to dive off on another tangent :biggrinbounce2: ), has anyone thought of this:

Put an electric motor on the rip-saw, and run a generator? Even a 1 - 1.5 HP motor should rock. My brother-inlaw has two woodmizers on the same rails - one at each end. They took off the 41hp diesels, and put on 10hp electric motors. No problem with torque!