Cylinder salvageable?

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ErnieG

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Working on this Homelite xl98 all purpose saw and not having any luck finding a cylinder.
Would like some opinions on the cylinder I'm looking to replace..it has two chuncks missing..ones above the exhaust port and ones below . The one being below the port is larger .
Would these have any effect on the saw or could I clean it up and run it ?
Here a pic ...
 

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Clean it up and run it until a better one can be found, I have run worse.All metal sticking up proud needs to be flattened or lowered , a slight bevel works best. The engine will run and be tune able , would`t be the best but if no other is available it would run for a lot of hours.
 
No harm in attempting to salvage that cylinder however I think your going to be disappointed with the performance, if it runs at all. That's some pretty significant damage above the exhaust port which is where you build compression. Pictures don't always tell the full story so I could be wrong, but that looks bad.
 
Its not far enough up the bore to lower the compression much. Some vintage saws, McCulloch for one cut a deep valley up the cylinder starting at the top of the exhaust port up more than 1/4", it allowed for easier starting but once the engine was running it did not affect compression much at all.
 
Its not far enough up the bore to lower the compression much. Some vintage saws, McCulloch for one cut a deep valley up the cylinder starting at the top of the exhaust port up more than 1/4", it allowed for easier starting but once the engine was running it did not affect compression much at all.
Interesting. I'm not all that familiar with the vintage stuff at this point in my power saw endeavors. I certainly hope he can save that unit, not like that stuff is getting easier to find.
 
Interesting. I'm not all that familiar with the vintage stuff at this point in my power saw endeavors. I certainly hope he can save that unit, not like that stuff is getting easier to find.
I know vintage well and am an avid cylinder grinder, the stuff I have done to cylinders would scare the pants off most mechanics. Little divots like in the OP`s cylinder are not that bad, I have run much worse looking ones in old saws, heck even in newer ones as long as all aluminum transfer is removed and any proud metal stickin up into the bore is removed, this saw will run plenty of hours.Keep the mix ratio in the 32:1 area helps seal the piston to the cylinder and provides extra lube to the sliding surfaces.
 
Well after some lite sanding the cylinder doesn't look good .
There are two deep grooves above the exhaust port ..back to square one I guess !
 

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Well after some lite sanding the cylinder doesn't look good .
There are two deep grooves above the exhaust port ..back to square one I guess !
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I agree now, those gouges all the way up are just too much, the saw may run a while but be quite compromised on the compression. I have seen worse damaged cylinders run because they had to but the saw was underpowered and difficult to hold a tune.
 

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