028WB to ported 028S project

[Kogafortwo]

I read all the porting threads. I read all the 028 threads. I got a great running Wood Boss, I got a good used 028 Super P&C from FleaBay, and new 46mm rings from my dealer. -AND- I got the ten dollar 026 running good enough to clean up in case of a storm while my 028 is in pieces for a couple of weeks.

So I gathered up my parts and tools and started laying out what I plan to do. This thread will stretch out over a week or two while I take my time.

Intake pictures:
- Notice the septum sticking down in the port. I am sure it is there to retain the rings at the bottom of the stroke, so it will stay intact. I will radius and clean up around it to improve air flow as much as possible.
- The inlet side (facing the rubber tube) seems to have lots of room to radius out, especially toward the lower end.
- The inside is marked with blue tape to 70% of 46mm (that makes 32.2mm)along the circumference. It looks like I will still have a good 2.5 to 3mm per side to the piston skirt.

Exhaust pictures:
- Not much to explain here, again I am doing the 70% thing with room for skirt to seal.

Piston: I will clean up the holes and casting lines, but no big metal removal.

Transfers: no room to get a picture, and not much room to work on them. I will smooth what I can get to but leave the rest alone.

Tool aresenal: ready to go, but my Dremel battery died. I will replace it, but I might just use the Dremel at work after hours this week to get the project moving.

The base gasket is about 0.6mm = 0.025". I will figure that in when I assemble without rings and check squish.

Muffler: I already drilled out the baffle inside so it might get a little more work for the larger exhaust port, I will decide when I get the porting done.

Any suggestions BEFORE I start cutting metal are greatly appreciated. I will go back and rep Brad, pepsifreak, Edisto and the rest of you from the Porting 101 thread for all the great information I got there.

 

[pioneerguy600]

The 028 is a good little project saw and the super P&C does show some improvment after porting. What you have described sounds safe to me and you have obviously done some reading before jumping in on this one so go for it and keep on posting. I have done a few 028 Supers and they responded well to a woods port and muffler mod.
Pioneerguy600

 

[Mastermind]

I have a 028s that I ported. It is one of my favorite saws. It's great to see someone taking the time to read up on a subject before they start a thread.

Widening the upper transfers toward the intake does make a big difference in power gains. I did not attempt to work on them the first few times I ported a saw. I wouldn't recommend it on your first port job.

One thing I noticed that you didn't mention was location of the ring ends. Before widening the ports be sure of their location, and leave enough for the rings to ride on.

I started porting saws because I'm a gearhead drag racer at heart. I love to hop stuff up. Today I have a hard time just leaving the ports stock, be warned, it is addictive.

 

[Tzed250]

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Nice thread!

My 028S is s great saw. It too will see the die grinder.


When taking pictures, try to use the Macro setting so that the foreground/subject is in focus. Look for this symbol:

.

 

[Kogafortwo]

Porting done- Intake

I said this thread would take a couple of weeks. So here is the progress: ran the Dremel tungsten carbide bit, hand files, and emery paper through the ports. I did NOT touch the transfers at all. I checked ring end gap locations per Mastermind's advice.

Here is how the intake looks. I radiused out the inlet side a LOT, opened up the inside walls all around, and ground down the septum to where only the cylinder wall section is left the the rings actually ride on. Everything else was just in the way of air flow and did not serve a function.

BTW, sorry for the horrible picture quality. These are all cell phone pictures. I need to get a new digital cam. The old one died a year ago.

 

[Kogafortwo]

Porting done - Exhaust

Here is the exhaust side. This was a lot easier to work on. On this side I polished it out to a nice shiny finish. Any of you Germans should appreciate that I used Sonax Alu-Poliermittel from Auto Tile Unger (ATU).

Next step is cleaning up the bore with fine grit, final cleanup, then disassemble the old 42mm P&C, dry-fit the ported 46mm, check squish, check ring end gaps, and bolt it all toghether for the big test run. That might take a couple more weeks because I have a business trip coming up and then an out of town vacation. It's too hot to wear chaps in SC right now anyways.

All in all I am pretty happy with the result. Some observations while working, that match pretty much what everybody said on the Porting 101 thread:

Take your time. Work for half an hour or 45 minutes and put it away for the night. That gives you time to think about how much material you are taking away and keeps your patience level up - after all, Rome wasn't burned down in a day.

Set the Dremel or die grinder on a low speed setting to keep the rate of material removal under control. No need to hog it all out at once. Use a hand file if in doubt.

 

[Mastermind]

Looks like you've stayed safe, which imo is a good thing. The top of the exhaust port is an area of extra caution, if it's raised, compression is lost. The bottom of the intake is the opening point on that port, so without knowing what all the port timing numbers are that is another area of caution. On the intake inlet there is no need to make it larger than the intake boot you are using. I have heard of boots from larger saws being used, but I've not tried it....yet. :biggrinbounce2:

 

[Kogafortwo]

Mastermind, I am not sure how narrow the intake boot gets on my 028. But I figured that radiusing it out at the port inlet can only help flow. I will post again when I put it all together and fire it up.

 

[Kogafortwo]

026 vs 028WB "before"

I cut a good size limb off a maple today and took down another maple that was around 12" trunk. Nothing big, but just enough to dig in and compare the 026 muffler-modded and the 028 with 43cc un-ported P&C.

The verdict: the 026 is definitely more of a hot rod, has a couple thousand RPM's over the 028 by the sound, and a little more power (factory rating 3.5 vs 2.8). I did not time any cuts - too ambitious for me in 90 degree heat.

But, now I have at least a gut feel basis for comparison. I expect / hope that the 028 Super ported 52cc set up will beat the 026 by a little bit. That will make the 026 my medium-little saw, and the 028 will be the medium saw. Once these are both running they way I want, I will go on the hunt for a 70+ cc project saw and that will complete my aresnal. I will never need or buy another saw in my life after that, I swear!

 

[Mastermind]

I think you will be pleased with your 028 after the increase in displacement. My super is a very torquey saw, what it lacks in rpm it more than makes up for in muscle.

 

[Mad Professor]

I cut a good size limb off a maple today and took down another maple that was around 12" trunk. Nothing big, but just enough to dig in and compare the 026 muffler-modded and the 028 with 43cc un-ported P&C.

The verdict: the 026 is definitely more of a hot rod, has a couple thousand RPM's over the 028 by the sound, and a little more power (factory rating 3.5 vs 2.8). I did not time any cuts - too ambitious for me in 90 degree heat.

But, now I have at least a gut feel basis for comparison. I expect / hope that the 028 Super ported 52cc set up will beat the 026 by a little bit. That will make the 026 my medium-little saw, and the 028 will be the medium saw. Once these are both running they way I want, I will go on the hunt for a 70+ cc project saw and that will complete my aresnal. I will never need or buy another saw in my life after that, I swear!

The 028 is built better, look at the clutch bearing for instance.......

But the 028 is as fat as my 036, and the 036 will kick it's ass....but the 028S is Stihl, built better........


So, I still luv my 028S, it starts all the time , and if the first cut don't do things, the 2nd will, 98% of the time........

It's my SHTF saw, if the S is not too big.

 

[Kogafortwo]

Thread REVIVED

I neglected the project, and this thread, for a year (just look at the date of the last post). So FINALLY last weekend I spent a couple of hours at my workbench taking the old 42 mm P&C off and mounting up the ported 46 mm Super P&C.

I checked squish before putting the new rings on, using the solder wire method. I had over 0.020" going metal to metal (no gasket), so I put a thin layer of Permatex Copper on the base and put it all together. Today, over a week later, I had a free half hour to finally put the recoil and covers back on and fire it up.

It ran GREAT - tons of compression. It is hard to pull - like a bigger saw due to all that added compression. I only made one quick cut with it and it seems to pull a lot stronger than it did before. I have to do some fine tuning on the mixture - don't want to burn it up after all that work. The only thing I did real quick was to turn up the idle to keep it running. I will put a new recoil rope on it since it pulls so hard I expect to snap the old one soon.

I hope to get into some medium size wood and run it back to back against my stock 026. They are both running near-new full chisel .325 chain so the comparison is pretty fair. WIth my crazy schedule these days I don't know when the comparo is going to happen. It was enough that I finally got the saw's top end redone, finally.

 

[pioneerguy600]

Sometimes these projects take some time to get them completed, only so many hours in a day. When I have the time I can turn out two of these a day but lately I don`t have the time to get even one done in a weekend. Good to hear you completed it.