Eccentric
Mister Wizard
I'm curious to see where the ring locating pins are on the Episan 1100CD piston sold by Northwoods.
Let's Discuss 2100XP Pistons
- Thread starter Mastermind
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54stude
ArboristSite Operative
I notice that in addition to the Episan piston, northwoods also has a "VEC" piston for 1200/2100/2101 for $30 or so. Picture looks similar to others seen for imports, has anyone put hours on this one yet?
merr6267
ArboristSite Operative
I have used the VEC from Northwood. I have a few hours on it, but using Caber rings, bearing and circlips. I did not use the hardware that came with the piston. The outside of the piston was machined ok, but the inside was poor. The opening for the rod was not wide enough, and I had to widen it with a file pretty considerably in order to get a clearance fit for the rod. Keep in mind that unless there is enough side clearance in the small end of the rod (piston), that the rod will be side loaded at the crank, which could possibly put an angular bind on the rod bearing . . . not good.
The piston that I pulled from my used saw was a GOLF, which appeared identical to the VEC that I replaced it with. The castings had all of the same imperfections, with the only differences being the letters that were cast into it.
I actually a similar email about this to mastermind last night . . .
With the base gasket eliminated I have 175psi compression. I don't remember the quench clearance at this point, but it's not close to 0.020", maybe more like .035" . . . I can't remember.
It does appear to run ok though. I have about an hour milling, and maybe another hour bucking with a 36" bar. I've also eliminated the rattle-valve rev limiter so I'm overspeeding sometimes too.
I'm waiting to see what the mystery piston is like, or if meteor will make one, and I'll be changing out the one that I have, as a replacement piston is cheaper than knocking the hell out of my crankcase with a loose rod.
Your Mileage May Vary.
Take care,
Phill
Mastermind
Work Saw Specialist
Good post Phill.
Thanks.
Thanks.
Thanks for the info on the VEC.
Also on those unknown pistons I found while searching for on another 2100 p thread. I enlarged the pics other day and you could see where the outer pin bosses looked iffy and not as nice as the ones on GG's pics I compared too. They could be total junk like said before.
I just hope when mm gets them they turn out to be a decent usable piston. But hey what can you expect for a $20.
Uzi
ArboristSite Operative
Here's my 2100xp it had the windowed piston with no/open lower skirt. I believe that was the stock piston. It got a thin ring fully skirted NOS piston and cylinder when it went to mastermind. Also posting a shot of the serial number if anyone can decifer anything from it. 
7160033
7160033
Eccentric
Mister Wizard
Just that it was the 33rd saw built in the 16th week of 1987.
My 298XP (which lists same #5 piston as 2101XP) was made 87 week 2. So your saw made 14 weeks after mine... which is piston #5- 503 48 87-03 probably HAD the same #5 XP piston. Like in post #35
If the IPLs are any good, then you got the earlier thin steel ring piston #4- 501 61 48-02 jungle. like in post 47
I don't see any evidence of thin steel rings on 2101XP IPL starting about 87 4th month.
My best guess is that the 2100XP was a (undocumented) transitional model just prior to renaming it 2101XP.
My episan is probably like #5-503 48 87-03 XP
interesting...? my ID tag is silver
Eccentric
Mister Wizard
Glad to see you fellows post up with your serial #'s. This shows that the 2100XP was built after the 298XP (or at least during the same time that the 298 was produced), but before the 2101XP.
Looks like Husky brought back the 2100 (with the manual oiler and more robust starter) with improvements (such as the piston in the briefly produced 298XP) and for a brief period called it "2100XP" before renaming it the 2101XP. Very interesting.
Dave your tag is silver? That's also extremely interesting. The earlier silver Husky tags cannot be decoded for year/week/# produced like the black ones can. Somewhere around 1983-1984 Husky put the whole year on the silver tags (not incorporated into the SN). I have a 154SE with a silver tag that has "1984" on it.
We'd known that Husky switched to the black tags sometime around 1986-1987. Thanks to you two gentlemen, we now know that Husky made the change from silver tags to black tags sometime between the 2nd week of 1987 and the 16th week. Very cool. Does your silver 298XP tag have "1987" on it and has a SN that reads 702xxxx? I need to go check my 1984 dated 154SE tag to see if the SN starts with 4.
Looks like Husky brought back the 2100 (with the manual oiler and more robust starter) with improvements (such as the piston in the briefly produced 298XP) and for a brief period called it "2100XP" before renaming it the 2101XP. Very interesting.
Dave your tag is silver? That's also extremely interesting. The earlier silver Husky tags cannot be decoded for year/week/# produced like the black ones can. Somewhere around 1983-1984 Husky put the whole year on the silver tags (not incorporated into the SN). I have a 154SE with a silver tag that has "1984" on it.
We'd known that Husky switched to the black tags sometime around 1986-1987. Thanks to you two gentlemen, we now know that Husky made the change from silver tags to black tags sometime between the 2nd week of 1987 and the 16th week. Very cool. Does your silver 298XP tag have "1987" on it and has a SN that reads 702xxxx? I need to go check my 1984 dated 154SE tag to see if the SN starts with 4.
54stude
ArboristSite Operative
The 1987 week 10 2100w I posted earlier is black tag.
Eccentric
Mister Wizard
That's ****ing awesome! Now we know the change from silver to black tags was made between week 2 and week 10 of 1987. Not really a big deal I suppose.............but I'm geeking out over it.
Eccentric
Mister Wizard
Very cool. Funny how someone tried to scratch out "Husqvarna" and "Electrolux Motor AB" on that tag. People do weird stuff with saws...
Eccentric
Mister Wizard
Now what I'd really like to see would be the MN/SN tag for the earliest 2101XP. We've seen a few 1989 2101XP's (which are 300th Anniversary saws). Will be interesting to see how much earlier they were produced. Would also give us insight into how long the 2100XP was produced (IF the 298XP wasn't still produced alongside the 2100XP).
merr6267
ArboristSite Operative
Here's my tag . . . whassit mean? 1987? week 13? saw #340?
Mastermind
Work Saw Specialist
2100 CD
blk05crew
I like 'em green
I wish mine had the tag on it, gone when I got it. Be cool to see when it was made.
My 298XP is #7020283...does not have full year printed. I would not doubt they ran 298XP AND 2100Xp production at that same time. Then in 04-87 the 2100 name changed to 2101 and....FWIW carried over the same jungle muffler # 
The XP piston #5 is not documented as being in the 2100 but I think they did use #5
The XP piston #5 is not documented as being in the 2100 but I think they did use #5
Eccentric
Mister Wizard
Here's my tag . . . whassit mean? 1987? week 13? saw #340?
Yep. 340th saw made during the 13th week of 1987.
Look at the date on your carb..... if original, it is likely 2-6 weeks before the saw was built date. That's what I have noticed so far....
That's how I dated my 2100 with no tag. I got it from dolmardan @ebay
maybe dozer dan in PA?
Eccentric
Mister Wizard
I've seen carb dates vary quite a bit compared to the saw dates. I imagine it'd depend on how recent the last shipment of carbs from Tillotson had arrived. Carbs could sit on the shelf for a bit before being installed......
