Porting, You get what you pay for

[fordf150]

So i had a saw cross my bench this week and it got me thinking....at what point do you get what you paid for with porting? I am no saw porter even though i have done lots of auto heads back in the day.

The saw showed up wanting traded off...to be honest, a like new ported saw wanting traded even up for a 6100 raised flags for me.

Step 1:
First step in determining if i would take it on trade involved hooking up and checking run time and fault codes.... 6 codes stored...3 of which are for air leaks, 1 for a faulty throttle function, 1 for a bad module, 1 for loose red wire. No wonder it doesnt run correctly and he wants to trade it off with it only showing 4 hrs.

Step 2:
Owner of said saw gives the history of the saw... and i basically said NO>>>no interest in this at all but why dont you let me tear into it and have a look. Promised to treat him right and do what i can to get him a reliable saw without breaking the bank considering the money he already has invested.

Step 3:
A test run just to see what the old girl does but first, lets do a pressure and vac test and compression test.

Compression was a miserable 160psi

Pressure test failed miserably, it required constant pumping to maintain 7psi...In just a couple minutes we found the base gasket/transfer cover leaking.

Step 4: forget about a test run and just tear the stupid thing down and fix some air leaks. Here is what i found. What do you all think of this. The following is what caught my attention first.

 

[fordf150]

And the cylinder...some of those marks go all the way to the squish band and will easily catch a finger nail in them...Low compression...culprit found.

 

[fordf150]

Reason for air leak found....pretty deep grooves left behind from cutting the base

 

[procarbine2k1]

That makes me sick. I bet I can guess who did it, just by what I've seen here... But I ain't going to.
Good on you Nate for taking care of this guy. Is it a Jred?

 

[Chris-PA]

It does not appear to be ported? It looks like a base and piston cut and little grinding on the lower transfers?

As for the damage, that might have been all due the leak, but it looks more like mechanical damage on the piston - something came through the transfers?

 

[David Young]

Were the transfers even touched? What caused the scratches on the side if its factory transfers. I would have to guess poor ex shape.

 

[Chris-PA]

Were the transfers even touched? What caused the scratches on the side if its factory transfers. I would have to guess poor ex shape.

It does not look like any of the ports were touched. Probably just some aluminum bits from grinding the lower transfers that were left in the jug, came through the transfers and scratched up the sides.

 

[Jacob J.]

It looks like there's chatter marks inside the cylinder from a grinding tool or bit.

 

[fordf150]

That makes me sick. I bet I can guess who did it, just by what I've seen here... But I ain't going to.
Good on you Nate for taking care of this guy. Is it a Jred?

2260, ask all you want. i am not telling who did it. thats up to the owner of the saw and the builder

 

[fordf150]

back on track...the porting itself. intake is just superficial grinding that stops just shy of the cylinder wall so the port edges are untouched, exhaust port edges are untouched, transfers are untouched

 

[procarbine2k1]

2260, ask all you want. i am not telling who did it. thats up to the owner of the saw and the builder

I wouldn't ask who did it, nor would you hear a builders name come out of my mouth. I don't roll like that, but you probably already knew that.

 

[Backyard Lumberjack]

>What do you all think of this.

good foto essay and pix!

I am wondering about the piston crown?... if the arrow is for positioning that side of piston to the exhaust port when assembling piston onto the the connecting rod... why does the intake side show the exhaust carbon build up? am I missing something?....

 

[fordf150]

It does not look like any of the ports were touched. Probably just some aluminum bits from grinding the lower transfers that were left in the jug, came through the transfers and scratched up the sides.

It looks like there's chatter marks inside the cylinder from a grinding tool or bit.

1. here is the story on the piston/cylinder damage.
   
   saw was bought new, ported when new.
   
   soon after buying it the crank bearing went out. It was shipped back to the builder and replaced under warranty. owner was told about damage to the P&C but that it cleaned up and would be fine.
   When it came back from the bearing replacement it still didnt run right and got sent back to the builder again. this time it received a new carb and shipped back. still didnt run right so it got set on a shelf with a disgusted owner for a time. The owner finally decided it was time to do something with it and get a useable saw so that is where we find ourselves today. Unfortunately i did not recieve dates or copies of the correspondence with the builder so some of the time frame and details are unconfirmed but the builder acknowledged the bearing and carb replacement to me.
   
   

 

[cgraham1]

So, is this considered 'ported'? Besides cutting the base and popup, there wasn't much porting done on this saw...

 

[angelo c]

1. here is the story on the piston/cylinder damage.
   
   saw was bought new, ported when new.
   
   soon after buying it the crank bearing went out. It was shipped back to the builder and replaced under warranty. owner was told about damage to the P&C but that it cleaned up and would be fine.
   When it came back from the bearing replacement it still didnt run right and got sent back to the builder again. this time it received a new carb and shipped back. still didnt run right so it got set on a shelf with a disgusted owner for a time. The owner finally decided it was time to do something with it and get a useable saw so that is where we find ourselves today. Unfortunately i did not recieve dates or copies of the correspondence with the builder so some of the time frame and details are unconfirmed but the builder acknowledged the bearing and carb replacement to me.
   

my concern would be if the "builder" was cognizant of the P/C damage when he reassembled the saw bottom end. maybe the main bearing wiped out the P/C and it was boxed as is....either way, the saw was not run by builder for certain.

 

[Chris-PA]

soon after buying it the crank bearing went out. It was shipped back to the builder and replaced under warranty. owner was told about damage to the P&C but that it cleaned up and would be fine.

Ahh, ok. Maybe that's what came through the transfers.

I see that the purpose of the cylinder and piston cutting was to increase compression, but I don't get what was intended by the other grinding that was done.

Still, I guess if it had not been damaged it would have run like a saw that had the jug lowered and a popup cut with no porting changes. Longer intake, shorter exhaust and transfers, lots of compression.

It's silly to treat "porting" as if it was some commodity, interchangeable service.

 

[fordf150]

So, is this considered 'ported'? Besides cutting the base and popup, there wasn't much porting done on this saw...

thats my point....at what point do you decide that your getting what you pay for?

Was this "porting" worth $200-300? The bottom end was warrantied along with the carb...why wasnt this cylinder warrantied right along with it because other than the old saw that has an unabtanium cylinder i would consider this cylinder/piston toast.

 

[blsnelling]

I hope someone didn't charge $300 for a pop-up and re-assembly.

 

[Definitive Dave]

Was the damage somehow caused by the porting?

 

[fordf150]

Was the damage somehow caused by the porting?

nope. crank bearing failure....builder sanded the cylinder and piston to smooth out the damage and reassembled it.