ciscoguy01
Addicted to ArboristSite
Sooooo... It's been a while since I been in, very very busy winter this year with firewood and logging and network work. I've probably sold double the firewood from last year, and this year I've been cutting Red Pine for telephone poles with my cousin along with firewood. Hence, I got a fly in my ass to learn about how to do a small woods port on a saw. Since I was having a few issues with my 288XP, I figger'd WTH... Pics aren't the super greatest, but you'll be able to see what I did or was talking about. First I did ALOT of research on here, thanks guys. I can't say any names, but spoke with a guy up in canada also about it and he gave me some very insiteful info/advice... First thing I did was break it all down, pulled the cylinder/piston/carb apart. I then, since I didn't have any mic's or anything took the cyl to a machine shop to get them to mic it for any oddities or whether it was out of round etc... After doing that, the dude told me he didn't have anything small enough to hone the cyl, so I went on a search for a tool to do that. I ended up with a 3-stone grinder type thingy for doing breaks and whatnot that would close as small as 1.5". I then proceded to boil my cylinder in a super cleaning solution to get all the grease/oil/sawdust off it and scrubbed it clean. Along with all this, I built a workbench with a vise, that's essential, lol... While pulling the saw all apart, I figger'd WTH, I'd go ahead and clean it up too. It's important not to get any dust or dirt in your crank case, so I sealed that up well after gently rubbing everything away from the hole with duct tape. Then I could blow out the rest of the crap from that area and clean it up well also. 
opcorn:
Now that my cylinder is boiled and clean, there was definitely signs of polishing, whatever you call that when it gets super shiny from friction. Hence the need for honing. I soaked the 3 stones on the honing tools in 2-stroke synthetic oil for about 10min before proceding to actual honing. I then took 2 stroke oil and oiled the hell out of the cylinder wall. No ####, my hands are still blue from all that I used. I then honed the cylinder for about 20 seconds, stopped checked everything out, more 2 stroke oil in the cylinder, 20 more seconds of turning at high speed and repeated this about 3 times.
Next I went to the intake and exhaust ports on the jug. From everything I've been told they are cast, which means rough surface to catch air and carbon etc... There was a lot of carbon buildup around the exhaust which I'm sure is very common for 2-strokes... I got a small stone die and proceded to widen out as well as smooth both the intake and exhaust outlets as you'll see from the pics. I widened the holes maybe 2-3 thousands at most, when finished widening, I then went to a polishing stone to take out any blemishes and actually shine the aluminum for a very smooth finish to help air flow as well as resist carbon buildup. I also smoothed out the intake outlet for the muffler for the added size of the exhaust port...
After looking the piston and ring over really well, all looked well with that except for all the carbon build-up on top of the piston, common I guess for a 30 yr old saw... I cleaned them, then I took a copper brass bristle wire brush and cleaned the top of the piston. After cleaning really well, I then took an 800 grit sandpaper and polished the top of the piston, also supposed to help with carbon buildup. Anything thats not smooth from my understanding can cause carbon to build up and degrade performance. After this was all done and everything cleaned, I took a bit of synthetic 2-stroke oil and wiped it on the walls of the cylinder and put it all back together. This whole process took me just a few hours.
When I had everything back together, I put some gas to it and started to pull it over. Low and behold, there's some SERIOUS compression there now. Before it had some umph when I pulled it, but now I actually had to stand on it to yank it. I do need to get a compression tester to find out before and after results, but that's in the works for later projects. After about 4 or 5 pulls, she started right up... It sounded beautiful. Like a small harley in my basement. I can't do sound effects buttt "bluh bluh bluh bluh" Slow and smooth like a harley. I let her sit and idle, adjusted the carb a bit and after about 5 min of idling I shut her down for the night.
Now I'm dying to take this thing out and cut a few blocks but I waited. Sooooo... After working all night at my office again, I woke up around noon and took it out to a 28" frozen red oak. I doubt theres anything harder. I took a couple of videos for ya'll to check out. Yes, I know the chain is loose, I thought about it after about 20 cuts and the saw hasn't been run for nearly 6. I cut with it all in all for about 1.5 hours and OMG, that thing will outcut my 394XP hands down. It took me flat out 18 seconds to go through a block about 20" of the red oak with a chain at about 50%, and never even bogged once. This was after about 30 min of cutting... It felt like it was getting stronger also as I was cutting...
Sooooo... Guess I could use some more tips or tricks you guys know of, besides muffler mods, or anything I might have forgotten in the first little project of mine. Hope ya'll enjoyed my story. Take care eh? The 394XP is next...
Pics: http://picasaweb.google.com/ciscoguy01/WoodsportProjects#
Videos: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ceI1SfaVuM8
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yhTl5WVpaHs
opcorn:Now that my cylinder is boiled and clean, there was definitely signs of polishing, whatever you call that when it gets super shiny from friction. Hence the need for honing. I soaked the 3 stones on the honing tools in 2-stroke synthetic oil for about 10min before proceding to actual honing. I then took 2 stroke oil and oiled the hell out of the cylinder wall. No ####, my hands are still blue from all that I used. I then honed the cylinder for about 20 seconds, stopped checked everything out, more 2 stroke oil in the cylinder, 20 more seconds of turning at high speed and repeated this about 3 times.
Next I went to the intake and exhaust ports on the jug. From everything I've been told they are cast, which means rough surface to catch air and carbon etc... There was a lot of carbon buildup around the exhaust which I'm sure is very common for 2-strokes... I got a small stone die and proceded to widen out as well as smooth both the intake and exhaust outlets as you'll see from the pics. I widened the holes maybe 2-3 thousands at most, when finished widening, I then went to a polishing stone to take out any blemishes and actually shine the aluminum for a very smooth finish to help air flow as well as resist carbon buildup. I also smoothed out the intake outlet for the muffler for the added size of the exhaust port...
After looking the piston and ring over really well, all looked well with that except for all the carbon build-up on top of the piston, common I guess for a 30 yr old saw... I cleaned them, then I took a copper brass bristle wire brush and cleaned the top of the piston. After cleaning really well, I then took an 800 grit sandpaper and polished the top of the piston, also supposed to help with carbon buildup. Anything thats not smooth from my understanding can cause carbon to build up and degrade performance. After this was all done and everything cleaned, I took a bit of synthetic 2-stroke oil and wiped it on the walls of the cylinder and put it all back together. This whole process took me just a few hours.
When I had everything back together, I put some gas to it and started to pull it over. Low and behold, there's some SERIOUS compression there now. Before it had some umph when I pulled it, but now I actually had to stand on it to yank it. I do need to get a compression tester to find out before and after results, but that's in the works for later projects. After about 4 or 5 pulls, she started right up... It sounded beautiful. Like a small harley in my basement. I can't do sound effects buttt "bluh bluh bluh bluh" Slow and smooth like a harley. I let her sit and idle, adjusted the carb a bit and after about 5 min of idling I shut her down for the night.
Now I'm dying to take this thing out and cut a few blocks but I waited. Sooooo... After working all night at my office again, I woke up around noon and took it out to a 28" frozen red oak. I doubt theres anything harder. I took a couple of videos for ya'll to check out. Yes, I know the chain is loose, I thought about it after about 20 cuts and the saw hasn't been run for nearly 6. I cut with it all in all for about 1.5 hours and OMG, that thing will outcut my 394XP hands down. It took me flat out 18 seconds to go through a block about 20" of the red oak with a chain at about 50%, and never even bogged once. This was after about 30 min of cutting... It felt like it was getting stronger also as I was cutting...
Sooooo... Guess I could use some more tips or tricks you guys know of, besides muffler mods, or anything I might have forgotten in the first little project of mine. Hope ya'll enjoyed my story. Take care eh? The 394XP is next...
Pics: http://picasaweb.google.com/ciscoguy01/WoodsportProjects#
Videos: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ceI1SfaVuM8
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yhTl5WVpaHs
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