So I got those 6 incomplete saws, some are missing carbs, most have broken purge bulbs, only a single air filter and air filter cover, 2 of them are missing the starter assembly and there aren't enough handlebars to go around. I decided to do some testing to see what works and what doesn't. Testing spark is the first thing, I got spark from 3, the 4th had a broken boot, and 2 didn't have the starter assembly/pull cord. I took the assembly off the one with the ****ed boot, tested the next saw with that assembly and got spark. I moved the assembly to the final saw, it had spark but was very stiff and hard to pull. I lubed and loosened up a bit to where I wanted to see how it would feel to drop-start. The ****ing thing fired up. It had old gas from the guy who sold them. This was the oldest saw (cs-300) amongst the lot, it was the dirtiest and it was missing a chain brake, handlebar, starter assembly, air filter/filter cover and the clutch cover.
Something weird I noticed when pulling but didn't really click in, was that the clutch would move when I pulled. After I got the saw started and cleaned it out, put some fresh fuel in and loaded BC, I noticed the chain would move while idle. If I tried to move the chain with my hands the engine would turn. I popped the clutch off and sure enough the needle bearing/sprocket bearing was rusted and stiff. I popped one off another machine, put it on and it works. It runs nicely, doesn't like to idle when it's first started or after a big cut, doesn't have too much power and the chain speed seems low. But I don't think most of these saws have been run in ages, and some of the cylinders and pistons seemed pretty nasty. But I was enjoying the high of the success and wanted to burn some fuel before thinking of scrubbing it out.
It's very good on gas, I only gave it 1/3 of a tank (the tank only holds a cup) and probably had it running 30 minutes, cutting for 10 and it didn't seem to drain much at all. Something ****y is going on with the oiler but that's something to worry about after I finish with the engine. I did another 15 minutes of hard cutting before adding some seafoam.
I may have had too little gas and too much seafoam because it really didn't want to run, just for a few seconds at a time, which is fine because it's still getting that seafoam where it needs to be. Waited an hour, couldn't get the saw started at all except for 2 seconds one time. Put half a tank of gas in, mixed it around and saw fired right up. It was dark so I couldn't tell if the big plumes coming out were made of steam or if it was nice nasty dirty chunky smoke. Ran it for a few minutes, giving it full throttle from time to time, and killed it by choking. I filled up the rest of the tank but I probably shouldn't have, might've been smarter to just run it at that high strength half tank, and left it overnight. Ran it a bit the next day, not too much smoke. A bit piggish to get started at first but I kind of expected that, and couldn't go WOT for more than 3 seconds in a cut, I had to pump it a bit. I've been holding off on tuning until I get some replacement filters and get everything cleaned out (and the seafoam mix pushed through) but seems a bit lean. It will idle for days.
It didn't seem to be oiling the bar, just the tail (after several cleanings), I should've checked the oiler before... the foam piece was clogging the output so I pulled it out and wrung it out a little, it was actually folded and wadded up a bit. Seems to work fine now. Yanked the spark plug and it's still pretty bad in there, a dip of the rag managed to remove a fair amount but looks like there's a lot caked. Dropped some straight Seafoam into the chamber and I'll give it a rub tomorrow. I have to grab some gasket material before I think about opening it up to clean (might be good to have a ring handy too).
I have some parts coming but decided to work on another one that's almost complete, just missing air filter and cover and purge bulb. It looked like he bypassed the purge, so I figured it would be fine but I just couldn't get it to turn over. I grabbed the purge bulb from another saw, and while taking the broken one off I noticed that the bypass job the guy did pinched a fuel line closed. New purge bulb works, but the carb pisses gas out a busted seal. The saw runs on full choke, though! I've got 3 chinese carbs coming and an OEM carb repair kit on it's way, but there's still 1 other saw that's got a carb on it (6 saws - 3 carbs) so if I get impatient I might move it over. Or try working on that saw tomorrow!
The chain breaks, handlebars and starters are too bloody expensive to get to Canada, but I've got enough mis-matched chain-brakes to go around (though model differences will leave the muffler exposed on some but that's not insurmountable) and might just fabricate the handlebar or some mounts for other starters (if that's possible?). I've definitely fallen down the rabbit hole.
