stihl 031av electronic ignition conversion ?

[captain dangers]

I recently purchased a n honest stihl 031av for the collection, I did an electronic ignition conversion with one of those SIG-1 chips and she starts and ticks over o.k. I had the opportunity to take a load of my old saws to cut fire wood at my buddies over the weekend and the stihl 031 was one of them as I thought I would tune it in the cut as it appears just a little flat at full revs and not quite crisp in throttle response? it appears to reach approx. 90% performance wise. anyway to cut a long story short it didn't matter what was done to the jets, it was still flat, fuel lines and filter are fine. my question is do these need the timing adjusting to accommodate the electronic chip ? has anyone else experienced any problems like this ? I don't think the exhaust is the problem as its plenty loud enough ? thanks in advance CD ;O)

 

[old 040]

As much as most will say that these saws run okay with a chip, I disagree, if you can replace the points and condenser do so, the timing isn't right using the chip on a points version 031, I've heard, but haven't actually tried, that a 031avE (031 with electronic ignition from the factory) flywheel with the chip will work just fine, again, I have not personally tried this, yes, the saws will run with the chip, just not right, I've used the capacitor like the one in my pic, and they do work very well, they can be put in behind the ignition coil.

 

[captain dangers]

As much as most will say that these saws run okay with a chip, I disagree, if you can replace the points and condenser do so, the timing isn't right using the chip on a points version 031, I've heard, but haven't actually tried, that a 031avE (031 with electronic ignition from the factory) flywheel with the chip will work just fine, again, I have not personally tried this, yes, the saws will run with the chip, just not right, I've used the capacitor like the one in my pic, and they do work very well, they can be put in behind the ignition coil.View attachment 667263

thanks for the reply. I think I will just pop the fly wheel, remove the key and advance or retard the timing through the flywheel and hopefully we will get somewhere ? I recon a fraction either way should sort it? I will let you know how I get on? when I find time ;o) CD

 

[captain dangers]

finally found some time to look at the old 031av and removed the flywheel key and advanced the timing by locking the crankshaft and turning the flywheel counter clockwise approx. 1.5 key way widths = approx. 3/4- 1 inch on the external radius of the flywheel. the tick-over isn't fantastic but its reaching top end revs which is what matters and I hope can fine tune it on the L jet to get a more consistent tick-over ? CD

 

[a. palmer jr.]

I usually advance the flywheel about 3/4 inch on the outside of the flywheel when converting to electronic chip and sometimes that depends on what chip you install..

 

[CFPerformance86]

Im waiting for my stihl dealer go get the newer chip in for my 031ave. I will let u know how that one works when I get it. This is supposed to be better timing from what I have read

 

[CFPerformance86]

Also price from the dealer was 37 plus tax. Ebay guys are a rip off

 

[a. palmer jr.]

Ebay is not necessarily always a ripoff, the sellers have to charge at least 10% more to offset their fees plus the shipping fees..

 

[captain dangers]

Im waiting for my stihl dealer go get the newer chip in for my 031ave. I will let u know how that one works when I get it. This is supposed to be better timing from what I have read

if yours is already an electronic ignition with an electronic ignition flywheel, a SIG chip should work without having to alter timing ? as the points flywheel , like the one fitted to the original post are different. you may be able to fit a standard one piece electronic ignition coil and do away with a secondary chip all together, its what I did on an old 048 av which had a circular chip under the flywheel. CD

 

[CFPerformance86]

if yours is already an electronic ignition with an electronic ignition flywheel, a SIG chip should work without having to alter timing ? as the points flywheel , like the one fitted to the original post are different. you may be able to fit a standard one piece electronic ignition coil and do away with a secondary chip all together, its what I did on an old 048 av which had a circular chip under the flywheel. CD

From what i was reading the points chips dont have the correct timing for the electronic ignition saws. A few users said that trigger i ordered has the correct timing as it was used in newer saws of that style

 

[captain dangers]

From what i was reading the points chips dont have the correct timing for the electronic ignition saws. A few users said that trigger i ordered has the correct timing as it was used in newer saws of that style

as far as I'm aware the tming is determined by the relation to the magnets and laminates on the ignition coil, and the magnets are determined by the position of the key on the shaft. the electronic ignition fly wheels are already advance (key way in a different place) than the old points version flywheel, which shouldn't necessitate a timing adjustment. I wasn't aware chips had different timing? its a new one on me, like I say its usually determined by the relationship between flywheel magnets and coil . I'm no expert by any stretch, but perhaps a more qualified academic/engineer on the site will put us straight ? ;O)

 

[a. palmer jr.]

Not an expert by any means but I've had a little experience in changing these over. The only way for me to be sure the timing is right is to put it together and test it. If it runs really sluggish and the muffler gets overly hot then the timing is too far retarded and needs the flywheel advanced or a different module. In my experience there are differences in the modules which can alter timing. I wish I'd kept track of the brands of chips that I've used and the results of each but I was mainly interested in getting each saw running at the time. I do remember having better results with the Oregon chip than some of the others like the Nova II but it could have been due to flywheel types rather than chips in this case..

 

[BDCulver]

Hello everyone. I am new here. I have a 031AV it was given to me I rebuilt the card put new hoses and filter. I put one of the Oregon chips on it to replace the points and condenser the old ones were too erratic. It starts and runs fine but when I go to actually cut wood it starts to bog down and then if I don’t pull out and let the rpm drop back to idle it dies and is hard to start back. Before I put the chip in it was too erratic to set the carb consistent. Took it to two dealers in my area one didn’t know which screw did What on the carb the other said those saws are junk cause you can’t get parts for them anymore. I should say it backfires every once in a while maybe every 10th time of reving of the throttle and sometimes it doesn’t at all. Anyone have any ideas on what the problem might be? Thanks

 

[captain dangers]

Hello everyone. I am new here. I have a 031AV it was given to me I rebuilt the card put new hoses and filter. I put one of the Oregon chips on it to replace the points and condenser the old ones were too erratic. It starts and runs fine but when I go to actually cut wood it starts to bog down and then if I don’t pull out and let the rpm drop back to idle it dies and is hard to start back. Before I put the chip in it was too erratic to set the carb consistent. Took it to two dealers in my area one didn’t know which screw did What on the carb the other said those saws are junk cause you can’t get parts for them anymore. I should say it backfires every once in a while maybe every 10th time of reving of the throttle and sometimes it doesn’t at all. Anyone have any ideas on what the problem might be? Thanks

what you need to do is pull your flywheel off, remove the key and rotate the fly wheel approx. 3/4 inch counter clockwise on the external circumference, as that's exactly what I had to do in this post . they will be nothing wrong with your carb, but the electronic chip throws the timing out, which is why you need to advance the flywheel to compensate. CD

 

[BDCulver]

Thank you Capt Dangers, I went and did the change on the flywheel and adjusted the carb a little to fine tune. Went out in the rain and I didn’t want to stop cutting holy cow. What a difference that made. Can’t thank you enough I was thinking I was going crazy. Now I wonder if I really needed an new carb at all. Kind of drives me nuts I watched every video I could find on the topic and none said anything about changing the timing

 

[captain dangers]

n

Thank you Capt Dangers, I went and did the change on the flywheel and adjusted the carb a little to fine tune. Went out in the rain and I didn’t want to stop cutting holy cow. What a difference that made. Can’t thank you enough I was thinking I was going crazy. Now I wonder if I really needed an new carb at all. Kind of drives me nuts I watched every video I could find on the topic and none said anything about changing the timing

nice one ;o) I think off the top of my head that the L jet on the carb is 1 1/4 from fully seated and the H adjust until it four trokes at full revs but just disappears in the cut ;o)

 

[BDCulver]

I don’t really worry about the turn count. I turn the idle screw till the chain starts to turn look for the peak and then turn the idle back down till the chain stops turning. The rev it up and listen for highest rpm then richen just a hair maybe a 1/16th or an 1/8th and call it good. I make sure it sets for a minute or 2 and try to start it back they usually fire and pur on the first pull. When cold 1 pull to chocke 2 pull running most of the time anyway.

 

[a. palmer jr.]

Thank you Capt Dangers, I went and did the change on the flywheel and adjusted the carb a little to fine tune. Went out in the rain and I didn’t want to stop cutting holy cow. What a difference that made. Can’t thank you enough I was thinking I was going crazy. Now I wonder if I really needed an new carb at all. Kind of drives me nuts I watched every video I could find on the topic and none said anything about changing the timing

You must have missed it because I went through the same thing a few years back and posted it on AS. I moved the timing up about 3/4 inch measured on outside of flywheel and it ran right. I think you might be able to use an 032 electronic ign. flywheel and not have to set the timing up. There's a symbol of a transistor on the outside of the flywheel so you can tell electronic from points flywheel.

 

[BDCulver]

Probably not since I just joined the group today. I don’t have a 032 flywheel just the one that’s on my 031 AV

 

[a. palmer jr.]

Probably not since I just joined the group today. I don’t have a 032 flywheel just the one that’s on my 031 AV

There's a search feature you can use to look up old files, I use it often when I repair older saws. In the upper right corner..