my reed block. let's disect it, shall we?

[volks-man]

hey red,
how about shooting me a service manual for the cs-346? and the cs-440 while your at it?
much appreciated.

 

[volks-man]

one last thing before i reassemble....

i didn't notice when i took the reed off the block but now, assembled, the reed is ever so slighlty open. the reed is not bent. without the mounting screws it sits closed perfectly. on the last turn tightening the screws the reed barely opens. is this normal?
thanks!

 

[excess650]

if you hosed up the reed or block, I have a spare...

As for velocity, what you removed was the restriction and enhanced the engines ability to use the potential of the carb. If the manufacturer thought an increase in velocity would be beneficial, it should have been by way of a smaller bore in the carb. For efficiency, the bore of the carb should flow enough to allow for maximum rpm of the engine. The reed acts as a check valve, so you're not dealing with reversion, or at least not as much.

 

[volks-man]

if you hosed up the reed or block, I have a spare...

As for velocity, what you removed was the restriction and enhanced the engines ability to use the potential of the carb. If the manufacturer thought an increase in velocity would be beneficial, it should have been by way of a smaller bore in the carb. For efficiency, the bore of the carb should flow enough to allow for maximum rpm of the engine. The reed acts as a check valve, so you're not dealing with reversion, or at least not as much.

thanks for the encouragement on the restrictive block!

the block sealing surface is untouched. the reed is perfectly flat. if you lay the reed on the block it lays perfectly on the block. it is just the last turn or so on the reed mounting screws that open it up, barely.
have you got your saw apart? what does your reed look like?
wrong order of assembly? i lay the reed down. lay the tiny, thin, rectangle metal spacer down then the reed stop, then screw it together. is this wrong?
thanks!

 

[excess650]

I don't have the saw apart. It was dropped on my porch as a non-runner. I put fresh fuel and a plug in it, and it fired right up. "Rode hard and put away wet" would be descriptive of its appearance. The piston shows scoring. I robbed the non-cat muffler to replace one on a CAT saw.

 

[Jacob J.]

the block sealing surface is untouched. the reed is perfectly flat. if you lay the reed on the block it lays perfectly on the block. it is just the last turn or so on the reed mounting screws that open it up, barely.
have you got your saw apart? what does your reed look like?
wrong order of assembly? i lay the reed down. lay the tiny, thin, rectangle metal spacer down then the reed stop, then screw it together. is this wrong?
thanks!

Sounds right to me, but it's been a long time since I've been inside one of those Echos and my memory has more holes in it than Obama's economic plan.


The reed doesn't need to be laying 'perfectly' flat, since case pressure during operation will push it up against the reed block.

 

[excess650]

Well I hope you're feelin kinda special there V-man as I put on a sweatshirt and ventured into my cold garage to retrieve the 3450. I took it into the heated laundry room and proceeded to remove the airfilter cover, air filter, carb mounting screws, choke plate, choke lever, loosened the throttle cable, pulled the carb, and pulled the reed block out. My reed lays flat and the bore through the block appears parallel, not visably tapered, but I didn't measure it for size. My time is valuable, ya know....musta taken' 5 minutes.:hmm3grin2orange:

 

[volks-man]

Well I hope you're feelin kinda special there V-man as I put on a sweatshirt and ventured into my cold garage to retrieve the 3450. I took it into the heated laundry room and proceeded to remove the airfilter cover, air filter, carb mounting screws, choke plate, choke lever, loosened the throttle cable, pulled the carb, and pulled the reed block out. My reed lays flat and the bore through the block appears parallel, not visably tapered, but I didn't measure it for size. My time is valuable, ya know....musta taken' 5 minutes.:hmm3grin2orange:

wow! can't thank you enough! (somebody rep him AGAIN for me!)

your block bore is parrallel? hhhmmmm. must be my emmisions choked 346?
there was a huge, noticeable difference in mine. the reed is sealed? not good.... but like jacob said, perhaps it is o.k.

did i get the assembly order correct?

 

[excess650]

wow! can't thank you enough! (somebody rep him AGAIN for me!)

did i get the assembly order correct?

I don't see a spacer. I have a block, reed, and reed stop with a pair of retaining screws at the top. The reed appeared closed to me, but when disassembled and reassembled, appeared open just a tiny bit. Screw tension definitely appeared to play a role. Just snug and the reed was closed or nearly so, and tight the reed was open just a hair...maybe .010".

 

[volks-man]

thanks again excess!

people like you and jacob are the reason forums like these work!
(and countless other good guys here too)
next time i'm am out that way, i'll have to buy you a beer. you know, appalacian brewing company in harrisburg has a decent brew pub!

 

[excess650]

thanks again excess!

next time i'm am out that way, i'll have to buy you a beer. you know, appalacian brewing company in harrisburg has a decent brew pub!

Troegs has better beer, but no restaurant.

Appalachian has restaurants in Harrisburg on North Cameron Street, West Market Street in Camphill, and Chambersburg Pike(Rt 30 West) in Gettysburg( building formerly known as General Lee).

 

[volks-man]

Troegs has better beer, but no restaurant.

Appalachian has restaurants in Harrisburg on North Cameron Street, West Market Street in Camphill, and Chambersburg Pike(Rt 30 West) in Gettysburg( building formerly known as General Lee).

i see i'm dealing with a pro here!
how about lancaster brewing company? decent food there too!
a bit further away is 'elk creek cafe' and 'selinsgrove brewing'. elk creeks copper ale is very good stuff. selinsgrove has one called 'priestly' that i would drive up there tonight to drink! both have good food.

 

[excess650]

i see i'm dealing with a pro here!
how about lancaster brewing company? decent food there too!
a bit further away is 'elk creek cafe' and 'selinsgrove brewing'. elk creeks copper ale is very good stuff. selinsgrove has one called 'priestly' that i would drive up there tonight to drink! both have good food.

Lancaster Brewing has a place in Lancaster(DUH), reputedly with good food and beer, and a newer place along Eisenhower Blvd in Harrisburg near the 283/83/322 split.

I don't know of the other two places, but can be in Selinsgrove in about an hour.

There are more breweries in the USA now than prior to Prohibition. Yuengling in Pottsville is probably the oldest brewery in the USA.

Have you been to the Mount Nitany Inn? Its on top of the mountain south of Bellefonte/State College and just north of Centre Hall on Rt 144.

 

[volks-man]

Lancaster Brewing has a place in Lancaster(DUH), reputedly with good food and beer, and a newer place along Eisenhower Blvd in Harrisburg near the 283/83/322 split.

I don't know of the other two places, but can be in Selinsgrove in about an hour.

There are more breweries in the USA now than prior to Prohibition. Yuengling in Pottsville is probably the oldest brewery in the USA.

Have you been to the Mount Nitany Inn? Its on top of the mountain south of Bellefonte/State College and just north of Centre Hall on Rt 144.

the brewmaster at lbc will give you a tour of the brewery if he isn't too busy. nice guy, and good food.
i have been to all the places i mentioned, and a few more. never been to mount nittany inn. i drive through centre hall on occasion and through pottsville a few times a year. i have seen yeungling but never gone in.
elk creek is in millhiem. they have the best burger i've ever had and good beers.

theres a bbq place called 'doans bones' in centre hall that has some wicked good ribs! i make a point of going there at least twice whenever in the area. now if they only brewed an ipa......

 

[striperswaper]

results?

so did ya fire that sucker up yet? what do you think?

I want to experiement on other reed valves engines and want to know if it benefical to work on the intake side or just clean up and widen the exhaust

did you do anything with the xfer ports jug to clamshell?

 

[volks-man]

so did ya fire that sucker up yet? what do you think?

I want to experiement on other reed valves engines and want to know if it benefical to work on the intake side or just clean up and widen the exhaust

did you do anything with the xfer ports jug to clamshell?

i have not fired it up yet. i left the transfers alone. the cyl and top clamshell are one piece. the transfers are open more than enough at the bottom. the top transfer is too tight to play around with in this small jug.

i would err on the side of caution with the intake. if there is an obvious bottleneck, then remove it. otherwise i'd leave it alone.

 

[limelakephoto]

Your best bet for more power in Cs-345/346 would be a non CAT muffler (if your saw has one. Then if it is a later model saw then look up the part number on echo's website for a low serial number cs-340 or 345 carb. With the alot of the "3" series echo reed valvers the first models (lowest serial #'s) had less restrictive mufflers (no CAT) and the carbs pumped a little more air and fuel. This would be my recommendation to start. If you go through some of the owners manuals for these saws as the serial numbers go higher the RPM spec's go up as well. An obivious attempt to make the same power while meeting emissions by running the saw leaner ! I can say this as my low serial number 341 has a CAT muffler on it and when i put the non CAT muffler on it off my 305 and adjust my jets it make more power ! If you really scour the owners manuals and parts lists on the echo site you will be able to see what i mean ! I love my reed valve echos ! I'll try to help anyway I can with my experiences.

 

[mustard]

I was looking at the butterfly assy in the carb and I think with some carefull dremel work you could et it to flow a litle better.

By thinning down / ovalizing at WOT position, the shaft the butterfly mounts on and grinding down both the screw head and the part of the screw that sticks out the bottom. On my cs-3450 carb the screw sticks up and out along way on both sides. This can only hurt flow I would think.

Any of you modders had experience with this?

Greg

 

[limelakephoto]

well volksman have you fired this saw up yet ?????