Stihl 07 (1961-1965) Rebuild Process.

[Bob Hedgecutter]

Thanks for the heads up Tony. I used a few clone parts in the first couple weeks of chainsaw rebuilding when I started last year. I didn’t know any better then, but shortly thereafter, I began to understand more about the Chinese Knockoffs and also my experience on the quality (lack there of) to know I’d rather not support or purchase from them. None the less, thank you!

Yep, you are better off waiting 8 weeks plus to import a NOS from half a world away that has been sitting in a parts bin for 40 odd years slowly deteriorating and reverting to its original base ingredients for probably a lot more than 41 cents.
It is a base gasket....... you can cut them out of beer cans.

 

[Vintage Engine Repairs]

Ywep, you are better off waiting 8 weeks plus to import a NOS from half a world away that has been sitting in a parts bin for 40 odd years slowly deteriorating and reverting to its original base ingredients for probably a lot more than 41 cents.
It is a base gasket....... you can cut them out of beer cans.

I’m patient and take pride in the work I do.

A little financial loss is annoying, but it was worth trying OEM. The lesson was valuable too.

During the wait I rebuilt the 076 super.

I have found a gasket supplier in Perth, I’ll call them Monday.

 

[PV Hiker]

Do you have a good quality automotive parts house there that has gasket material?

 

[Vintage Engine Repairs]

Do you have a good quality automotive parts house there that has gasket material?

Yes, I’m going to contact a local company Monday.

 

[Vintage Engine Repairs]

Update, the eBay seller refunded me for
the gasket which is great. Monday will see me contacting companies regarding an alternative to the OEM. It will be time well spent.

So far I have good local nut and bolt store, bearing and oil seal store and hopefully by Monday a gasket store too. It will all help with future rebuilds where OEM parts are NLA.

 

[Bob Hedgecutter]

Update, the eBay seller refunded me for
the gasket which is great. Monday will see me contacting companies regarding an alternative to the OEM. It will be time well spent.

So far I have good local nut and bolt store, bearing and oil seal store and hopefully by Monday a gasket store too. It will all help with future rebuilds where OEM parts are NLA.

Not to mention poor old @trains that has had the ear chewed off of him and has saved you many an expensive mistake. So you can add local therapist to the list.

 

[Vintage Engine Repairs]

Not to mention poor old @trains that has had the ear chewed off of him and has saved you many an expensive mistake. So you can add local therapist to the list.

 

[Bob Hedgecutter]

View attachment 842006

So you are saying trains has been not much help and saved you being completely stumped on more than one occasion and has been your "goto guy" whilst you tried to nut and bolt spit polish rebuild several saws?
That is a bit arrogant on your behalf.

 

[trains]

Ok you two, unless you want me to start billing both of you for my therapist sessions, lets get back to fixing saws, learning more about saws, sharpening chains well, and enjoy running saws safely.
And helping out each other in the process so we can save and preserve more saws from the scrap heap for the future generations.
Or just enjoy them ourselves.

 

[Bob Hedgecutter]

Ok you two, unless you want me to start billing both of you for my therapist sessions, lets get back to fixing saws, learning more about saws, sharpening chains well, and enjoy running saws safely.
And helping out each other in the process so we can save and preserve more saws from the scrap heap for the future generations.
Or just enjoy them ourselves.

All good- I have a few more than half a dozen under my belt and a few on the bench- no billed therapy sessions required...... you keep cuddling Koala's.

 

[Vintage Engine Repairs]

So you are saying trains has been not much help and saved you being completely stumped on more than one occasion and has been your "goto guy" whilst you tried to nut and bolt spit polish rebuild several saws?
That is a bit arrogant on your behalf.

 

[Vintage Engine Repairs]

Continuing with this 07 -

I have used some Permatex in the gasket and mating surfaces and it holds almost perfectly now.

New O-ring on the oil pump actuating shaft has been added and now the saw holds 7psI. It will drop 1 PSI every few minutes so that’s fine. As some have suggested, heat cycles and may help that final leak.



I cleaned the carb and squared the faces. I did this to all mating surfaces, though to limit page loading speed I’ll only upload a couple of images.






Before:


After:


Checking for square:

I then removed the steel welch plug. I set the carb in the drill press with the locking collar set just below the surface of the welch plug to ensure the drill isn’t pulled Into the idle drilling’s. From there it was easy to pop out with pliers.



The carb was then cleaned in the ultrasonic cleaner, confirmed all galleys and passages were clear. I then fitted the new welch plug, a new crush washer, inlet needle valve / seat and needle.

The welch plug holds great (I tested it by placing oil around the mating surfaces of the plug and carb body and blew compressed air through the L screw. Nothing passed the welch plug.

I then checked the inlet needle held under pressure, rebuilt the carb, added a fuel line and checked it for leaks.

Lastly I heated the fuel line and pressed it on to the barb and again checked for leaks.



Interesting to note there is no high speed check valve In this saw. The Tillotson HL series info sheet doesn’t show one either.


I fitted new clutch springs and reinstalled the clutch - the nut and shaft threads held great (read earlier post about threads)


I reinstalled the flywheel and magnets, checked the gap and tested spark from HT lead. Sparked fine from the HT to ground but not through the plug, which I know works. I will re-test when I have installed the capacitor.

EDIT TO UPDATE:

The wiring from negative to capacitor and then ground is now complete as well as the negative to kill switch / ground complete.

As expected, now the capacitor is wired it sparks great.

I had to add a new fuel tank vent line and only had tygon, but it will be just fine.

Photo of wiring and tank vent line:

 

[Vintage Engine Repairs]

And done
As I have work to do and orders to fulfill, I won’t try and start it now. If I run into a problem I won’t be able to focus on work...

All that’s left to do is tension the chain and fill with gas and oil.

Compression feels fantastic.

I’m hoping to get my hands on an 08 and rebuild that next, but that’s getting ahead of myself.

Thank you so much to everyone that has helped me on my journey. This is the 6th saw I have completely rebuilt from the ground up in under the year that I have had an interest in saws.

A special thanks to @trains - a true gent with a wealth of knowledge who is incredibly kind and generous with sharing and who has guided me on all the saws I have worked on. You’re a great guy and I’m honoured to call you my friend - thank you.

Also to @pioneerguy600, another top bloke who has been a fantastic support with all my saws too - another super generous and knowledgable guy. Thank you!

 

[Yukon Stihl]

A tip for future carb builds...
do not blow compresed air through carb passages
there are check valves that can be damaged by compressed air,they cannot be replaced if damaged.

 

[lone wolf]

A tip for future carb builds...
do not blow compresed air through carb passages
there are check valves that can be damaged by compressed air,they cannot be replaced if damaged.

Should I ask you how you know that

 

[Yukon Stihl]

Should I ask you how you know that

Reading and lots of reading...
I have been fortunate where i haven't yet had a carb present a head scratcher.
So far the Ultrasonic has done it's job,plus we don't have ethanol in our gas to worry about

 

[Vintage Engine Repairs]

Reading and lots of reading...
I have been fortunate where i haven't yet had a carb present a head scratcher.
So far the Ultrasonic has done it's job,plus we don't have ethanol in our gas to worry about

absolutely right, and I never blow air down the H circuit and only gently down L because of exactly this. The H circuit doesn’t have one on this saw which doesn’t seem right to me, and I had checked before any cleaning to see if it was stuck or anything etc, but there wasn’t one there.

 

[lone wolf]

Reading and lots of reading...
I have been fortunate where i haven't yet had a carb present a head scratcher.
So far the Ultrasonic has done it's job,plus we don't have ethanol in our gas to worry about

The Ethanol makes a hell of a problem here.

 

[Vintage Engine Repairs]

I have been scratching my head regarding this lack of H speed check valve and why Tillotson encourage blowing through the channels




I then came across a thread on arborist site about check valves and a post where @alexcagle said his HS series didn’t have one either.




And @Chris-PA commented with this being why.





Maybe this is the same design for my carb, but I won’t know until I have tried the saw.

 

[Yukon Stihl]

Hi Tom
I just got #3 07 in and i noticed this one is a little different
Do you know what the hole is for on the recoil with the plastic plug?I also noticed that there is a piece of rubber between the front wrap and recoil.This is the only one with the hole,the other two have a different recoil with the vintage Stihl logne of the other two has a full wrap.
Was going to get rid of a duplicate,but technically they are all different so i may have to keep them all
Thanks Thomas