Hornetboy
ArboristSite Operative
Has anyone on here changed a 359 Husky to a 357xp? If so, was it worth the effort and expense to do it? Can you still get OEM top ends to carry this out? How did it run? Over to the brains trust........
359 to 357
- Thread starter Hornetboy
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Ryan'smilling
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Top ends are still available I think, but the 357 has crank stuffers that the 359 doesn't have.
If your 359 runs good now, I don't think you're gonna get a lot of bang for your buck by converting it. Gain a few RPMs and a little quicker acceleration. Might lose a little low end torque.
If it was mine, I'd consider keeping it as a 359 and having it ported.
If your 359 runs good now, I don't think you're gonna get a lot of bang for your buck by converting it. Gain a few RPMs and a little quicker acceleration. Might lose a little low end torque.
If it was mine, I'd consider keeping it as a 359 and having it ported.
If your saw still has good compression do a muffler mod and timing advance. No sense buying a new P+C if you are leaving it in stock form.
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Nope, not a 359 to 357- but I have changed my 2159 to a 357 top end...... does that count? 
I also changed the 2159 back after finally finding the correct piston to suit the OEM cylinder.
To tell the full story, my 2159 had that many hours on it, the piston skirt was wearing very thin, so I tried to find a new piston- to no avail, so swapped out the top end for a Meteor kit 357 (all I could find locally at the time). No crank stuffers were added- so it was a poor mans conversion.
It still changed the saw mildly- not for the better in my opinion- it was just different. Power was delivered differently, but there is not a lot in it and many people may never notice the difference- they might perceive a difference because of what they have read- but in reality never really "see" a huge difference.
Sure, if the 359 you have has a toasted top end, swap it out for a 357 and knock yourself out- but if it is still a runner, as mentioned above, open the muffler a little, delete the base gasket if there is room, advance the timing a little and you will end up with a very nice saw- not that there is much wrong with a stock 359.
I also changed the 2159 back after finally finding the correct piston to suit the OEM cylinder.
To tell the full story, my 2159 had that many hours on it, the piston skirt was wearing very thin, so I tried to find a new piston- to no avail, so swapped out the top end for a Meteor kit 357 (all I could find locally at the time). No crank stuffers were added- so it was a poor mans conversion.
It still changed the saw mildly- not for the better in my opinion- it was just different. Power was delivered differently, but there is not a lot in it and many people may never notice the difference- they might perceive a difference because of what they have read- but in reality never really "see" a huge difference.
Sure, if the 359 you have has a toasted top end, swap it out for a 357 and knock yourself out- but if it is still a runner, as mentioned above, open the muffler a little, delete the base gasket if there is room, advance the timing a little and you will end up with a very nice saw- not that there is much wrong with a stock 359.
outdoortype
ArboristSite Guru
Good advice given in the previous posts. What hurt the 359's performance was the E-tech catalytic mufflers. The published max RPMs went from 13,500 on the original to the E-tech catalytic models of 13,000. At the time, the 357' s were turning 14,000 and so were the 361's . I would mess with the muffler before I swapped the top end. I noticed a small gain in power (when I dumped the Cat muffler) and a difference in heat retention on the 3 359's I owned. This topic has been covered here before, and it seems that the 357's cylinder needs to have the crank stuffers to run up to it's potential.
Muffler mod, base gasket delete, match transfer to case, remove bridge in transfer covers and you'll have a saw that'll outrun a 357.....
