I guess I'm making this more hard than it needs to be.
Let me start out slow and hopefully, you guys can get me up to speed here. You guys know far more than me, so you are kinda talking over my head.
My serial starts with a 9 so I thought that made it an 89? It's marked as a XP on the plastic, but I have no clue how to actually identify it as such.
According to the IPL, the correct piston for an '89 is 501 65 9403. Starting in '91 the piston changed to 503 44 8371.
Since I don't know the difference in XP and non XP pistions or cylinders, this should be easy. All I need is to get the correct piston, regardless of what it is.
Here is why I posted here for help, maybe this will explain my confusion.....
Some ebay sellers will have a cylinder kit listed, most just list it for a 268, period. A few actually list as being for pre or post '91.
Piston kits are another story! They are listed as 268. So I email and ask does it fit pre 91 or post 91? The sellers respond that they are all the same. So I email back and say there are 2 different piston numbers for the 268. I get answered back that they never have any complaints with the kits they sell.
So, I email once again and ask for the OEM part number that your kit replaces. At that time I either get no further responses, OR, from one seller, I get a OEM number for a post 91 piston ring!
Sorry for the babbling! Basically, if I do have an 89, all I need is a piston made for an 89. Seems there should be an aftermarket kit some where that is actually made for the 89 model saw. Just seems like the "one size fits all" doesn't really cut it.