My little old ZIP.

[Breezio]

Just for fun.

The little ZIP I got from my dad, who he got from my Great-Grandpa. I managed to convince my dad to bring it over to my place so I could try and get it going again to take down a tree in my backyard and do some firewood cutting.

It hadn't been run in atleast 15 years, partially because of a chain issue. After the last time it was used, it needed a new chain, my dad couldn't find any that would fit. A guy with a saw shop told him the reason was it was 1/2" chain, but that he would be able to get my dad some. Long story short, guy went out of business WITH the saw's chain :bang:

Anyway, did the research and found out the bar was .063" gauge and with a new sprocket I could convert it over to .404 chain. Got the sproket (8 tooth) and some Oregon 27 .404 chain. Yanked the carb apart and cleaned it up. Put it all together, and now I have my first chainsaw

Any questions, comments or advice?

 

[pbtree]

Cool!

 

[mbopp]

Yup, it's a Zip. My dad bought one off a neighbor who had bought it new. I resurrected it, ran it occasionally for a few years, then gave it away to Lewis Brander on this forum. It had a 20" bar & 3/8" chain. IIRR the chain had the original Homelite markings.

 

[no longer collecting]

Zip Chainsaw.

It is a ZIP......I have 2 of those with original 1\2-0.63 .If you use it a lot keep the mixture rich....in those days they had sae30 for mix..and keep it to full throttle.....and "BUFF" that blade.......

 

[Breezio]

If I could have found some 1/2" chain I would have kept it that way, but it was just much easier to convert it to .404, which seems to work pretty well on it.

And I'm running 16:1 mix gas/oil.

 

[mbopp]

And I'm running 16:1 mix gas/oil.

A real mosquito fogger, eh? I remember dad running 16:1 non-detergent motor oil as a mix. I ran an ISO synthetic at 32:1 when I ran it, didn't seem to hurt it.

 

[Breezio]

It smoked alot the first time I fired it up, but I found out I was running the carb way to rich and she wouldn't peak up.

I have the needles in a much better spot now and she seems to peak up pretty well and when she does the smoke all but goes away. I may be running her a little too lean though, I still need to do some more adjusting on the carb.

I'm running some off the shelf TC-W3 type two-stroke oil. Is this going to be alright considering my mix ratio, type of saw, and the amount I use it? (mostly firewood cutting, and not much of that).

Also, I'm curious on these old saws with manual oilers, how much should I pump the lever and when??

Thanks.

 

[jockshift@peopl]

To Brezio on oil

On your oil questions,stay on the safe side.More is better than
not enough.Thats an old saw and they were built to run 16/1.Remember
the metals wernt what they are now.On chain lube,more is better.Not
enough she will get hot,smoke and gall.Turn blue too.
Old bull

 

[Breezio]

On the bar oil... I'm just having trouble telling how much is actually comming out with each pump, or how effect the pump still is. Sometimes it puts out alot on a pump, sometimes not very much, or so it seems. I can't tell how much comes out when I'm in the middle of a cut.. hehe.

 

[mbopp]

I pulled the pump & cleaned it, then flushed the oil tank of all those wood chips accumulated over the years. But if you do this and break something, you may never find the parts to fix it.

 

[jockshift@peopl]

To Brezio on pump

I would clean the pump.Be carefull thats all.I can understand
concern with the newer plastic crap but I bet the construction
is better on your oldy. Old bull

 

[Breezio]

Thanks,
I thought about cleaning it, the oil tank seemed empty when I got it, it appeared clean in there, pulled what I think is a drain plug and maybe some sort of check valve, to drain any oil that may be left in there. Nothing came out. Filled the tank up with some Stihl bar oil, hit the pump a couple times. Dirty looking oil came out at first and then clean oil right after that. So I figured it was ok. It sometimes makes alot of gurgling and 'slopping' noises when I'm pumping it with the saw off.

I'm not even sure how to pull the pump apart...