Same Shindaiwa 577 is still on the bench. I only get a little time to work on it between my real jobs, but here goes tonight's thrilling session:
After I put the crank halves back together, I masked off a few bits, and sprayed on a few light coats of rattle can paint...Ever press in a Shindaiwa piston pin? They are tight. So under the suggestion of Four Paws, I made a wrist pin press from a 3" clamp. I knocked the end off the clamp, swaged on a couple flat 5mm washers, and turned a spacer pin on the little Pratt & Whitney lathe.
Said pin, now pressed in, with a new Shindaiwa piston kit - so all new OEM piston, wrist pin, circlips, wrist pin bearing, thrust washers and rings. All brandy spankin' new. Piston ring compressor? My fingers. They've always worked good enough. I deleted the base gasket, and wish I'd spent the time to take a little off the bottom of the jug or the crankcase base, but hey, it's just a work saw - my work saw. Hondabond HT seals the base of the jug now. Then, I reinstalled the exhaust studs with some locktite.
I did a muffler mod, dusted the can in the blaster, and sprayed on a new coat of VHT paint. And on went the muffler. These old 577's have a pretty decent muffler as it is, but there's always room for improvement.
Time for more mechanic's fuel....