Has anyone made a 201t unlimited?

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I was pleasantly suprised by the 201T that another climber I know gave me to tune and muffler mod. Pulling the limiter and tweaking the muffler made a huge difference. IMO pulling the jug for no reason is just asking for trouble. Its just not worth the potential issues.
 
I'm a saw builder myself, I like to see how things work and how things can be improved. I actually learned all my porting skills right here on A.S. Im still learning all the time. I love making saws crank. I run all my ported saws daily and there all very strong runners. No issues what so ever. I hear people on here wondering about reliability and how a ported saw will not hold up. But all I can say is day in and out my saws never leave me hanging.
 
It has nothing to do with the saw having to turn those RPMs to make power. A saw is typically tuned at WOT with no load. There is no saw that makes it's most power at WOT, yet it needs to be able to turn those RPMs in order to be able to tune it by ear. Tuning by ear will always get you very close. The rev limited coils make this method impossible, especially on a ported saw.

Additionally, when tuning in the cut with a rev limited coil, it's very easy to mistake the rev limiter as 4-stroking, ending up with a lean saw.

To say that it has nothing to do with sound, is to take away your easiest indicator that your saw is out of tune, or in tune for that matter. Relying on torque alone is highly subjective, and therefore, highly prone to error. With the absense of a rev limiter, the sound of 4-stroking, or 2-stroking is difficult to miss, once you know that sound.

I still disagree, it doesn't take much of a learning curve to learn between 4 stroking and hitting the limiter, if you pay attention. As for WOT, the 200t is running on the verge of blowing up every time you run one IMO!
But what do I know.
 
The 200t is a high revving saw indeed but that's doesn't mean its on the verge of blowing up. Its a very reliable saw. In fact I personally have yet to blow one up. By properly tuning a saw and using a good mix you really should get some time out of them. And its alot easier to tune a unlimited saw, all your looking for is a Max rpm. And when that Max rpm is found while still four stroking you can even richen it up from there and still have it clean up in the cut. Obviously you never use Max rpms in a cut. What brads saying about a limited coil I fully agree with. A saw can be clean under load and as you start to unload it sounds like its four stroking. But it instantly hits the limiter instead, acting like its rich when in fact my be dangerously lean.
 
My 346 turns closer to 16K at WOT when tuned for best cut times. I richen it up and have used it for tank after tank all day long as a work saw. The 200T is by no means maxed out. The only reason I haven't gotten good gains out of them with porting is because there's not enough meat to open in up.
 
It has nothing to do with the saw having to turn those RPMs to make power. A saw is typically tuned at WOT with no load. There is no saw that makes it's most power at WOT, yet it needs to be able to turn those RPMs in order to be able to tune it by ear. Tuning by ear will always get you very close. The rev limited coils make this method impossible, especially on a ported saw.

Additionally, when tuning in the cut with a rev limited coil, it's very easy to mistake the rev limiter as 4-stroking, ending up with a lean saw.

To say that it has nothing to do with sound, is to take away your easiest indicator that your saw is out of tune, or in tune for that matter. Relying on torque alone is highly subjective, and therefore, highly prone to error. With the absense of a rev limiter, the sound of 4-stroking, or 2-stroking is difficult to miss, once you know that sound.

Brad,

If I understand what you're saying you do still tune a rev limitted saw by ear not neccesarily just by feel however, it must be done in the cut. What are you listening for? Assuming you are starting with it on the rich side how do you know when it has been leaned out enough but not too much? You stated that it is easy to mistake the rev-limitter for four-stroking even in the cut. How do you tell you're not too lean?

-Eric
 
Info recieved from Stihl

The following is a word for word quote from Stihl regarding the MS201 & rev limiting: "The MS201 does have a rev limiter in the ignition module. That being said it does kick in around 13,000 to 13,700. That speed is without the bar and chain. In the actual cut it never comes close to the rev limit speed. In the cut speeds are 9,500 to 10,500". I hope this is somewhat helpful. It would be nice if a coil from the MS200 could be swapped for the limited coil now on the MS201. I would guess that they took pains to make that impossible.
 
Out of curiosity, how does the factory service manual say to tune the saw?

Since the 201T is rev-limited Stihl can't just give a WOT RPM spec so they must recommend some other method to their servicing dealers that is repeatable and not dependent on sound or feel in the cut.

-Eric
 
Tuning the MS201

Out of curiosity, how does the factory service manual say to tune the saw?

Since the 201T is rev-limited Stihl can't just give a WOT RPM spec so they must recommend some other method to their servicing dealers that is repeatable and not dependent on sound or feel in the cut.

-Eric
Good question. Getting an answer to that may be like pulling hen's teeth. My guess is that the dealers are in limbo on that deal.
 
The following is a word for word quote from Stihl regarding the MS201 & rev limiting: "The MS201 does have a rev limiter in the ignition module. That being said it does kick in around 13,000 to 13,700. That speed is without the bar and chain. In the actual cut it never comes close to the rev limit speed. In the cut speeds are 9,500 to 10,500". I hope this is somewhat helpful. It would be nice if a coil from the MS200 could be swapped for the limited coil now on the MS201. I would guess that they took pains to make that impossible.

Are you sure that the MS200 is unlimited? If so I'd like to see what it would take to run the 200 coil in a 200T.
 
Tuning the MS201


Good question. Getting an answer to that may be like pulling hen's teeth. My guess is that the dealers are in limbo on that deal.

my 201t that the dealer tuned bogged and died quite ofter. I had to tweak it quite a bit from the dealer settings and also pulled the plug several times to make sure all was well. It now rips a** with the mm And timing advance with a 16" bar and sharp chain.
 
I did the "pin" removal to unlimit the H needle & a MM. Brad Snelling did the timing advance, & it is a great performer! Now it's having a coil replacement. The original is limited to 13,200RPM. The new coil is limited at 14,000! This will make the saw much easier to tune. I will report on the effect of the change as soon as I get a chance to run it again. Stay tuned!!
 

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