Today's pawn shop find

[Auto5guy]

I have a soft spot for Husqvarna 350's. Today I walk into a pawn shop I frequent and see this little saw sitting on the shelf. The price tag said $200 but after a little sweet talking I walked out the door with it for $150.

It's in dire need of a cleaning but mechanically seems pretty sound, good compression, no cracks in the plastics and it fired right up and sounded good. One of the muffler bolts is incorrect so that gives me some concern that the threads might be buggered or that leaky exhaust may have caused some issues. At least the oil doesn't leak so hopefully there's no hole burned into the tank. It has a very nice 18" Oregon bar and a fairly new chain but the chain is an anti-kick back. I'm not a fan of those so I may swap it out.

How'd I do?

 

[schpankme]

Husqvarna 350
pawn shop
$150

How'd I do?

To Do List:

• Check if Oiling properly
• Check Air Filter condition
• Identify type of Clamp on Intake Tube/ is it loose?
• Remove muffler and confirm if case burned and/or scored piston?
• Check all bolts for tightness
• Optional - add Muffler Bracket
• Enjoy

 

[Auto5guy]

To Do List:

• Check if Oiling properly
• Check Air Filter condition
• Identify type of Clamp on Intake Tube/ is it loose?
• Remove muffler and confirm if case burned and/or scored piston?
• Check all bolts for tightness
• Optional - add Muffler Bracket
• Enjoy

Yeah, I'll put it on the bench after work today and dig into it a bit.

 

[Auto5guy]

So I had a chance to throw it on the bench real quick over lunch. I pulled the muffler. The incorrect screw turns out to be a 1/4 x 20. It looks like the previous owner tapped the barrel for 1/4 x 20. I can live with that. I'll just replace it with an allen head so it doesn't look so out of place. There is some melting/disfiguring to the plastic under the exhaust port but it looks to still be liquid tight. If I'm reading the tag correctly the saw was made in 06.

The piston looks FANTASTIC! I can still see the horizontal ribs on the piston top to bottom. It's a dished EPA piston. It looks like the factory barrel, still has the Husqvarna marked caps over the transfers and the color of the caps match the barrel. Hopefully that means the barrel has never been off and it really is a low hour saw. The carb has the plastic clamp and using a screwdriver I could slide the boot back and forth with minimal effort.

I already have a metal clamp and an exhaust bracket on order.

 

[grizz55chev]

Put the good clamp on, put a meteor 353 piston in, delete base gasket, enjoy.

 

[A10egress]

Put the good clamp on, put a meteor 353 piston in, delete base gasket, enjoy.

if you dont mind, tell more about this?

 

[Auto5guy]

I was being a little tongue in cheek when I asked how I did. About 2 years ago I got a real deal on a 350. Other than the chain looking like the guy was cutting rocks, it was mint. It still had the zip tie around the handle for the price tag. I got it for $100.

I have access to a fair amount of wood but I have to bust through the brush for it, vine maple, black berries and salal everywhere. Dragging a heavy saw through that kicks my butt so I put a 20" bar on the 350 and it does about 75% of my wood cutting. I know most think a 20" bar is to much for that saw but for me it works great.

Griz, I already have a Meteor 353 piston on hand. I bought it to hop up the 350 I've been using but it runs so sweet I haven't been able to bring myself to tear it down.

A10, the 350 came with nylon clamp for the intake manifold. It doesn't hold enough tension so a lot of 350's burn up from air leaking through the manifold. Early 350's were a 44mm bore and piston but the later EPA 350's came with a 45mm dished piston so it's lower compression than it could be. A 353 piston is a flat top and is a direct install for the 350 so it's a quick way to bump up the compression. Deleting the base gasket does more of the same. Those mods along with some dremeling on the cylinder and muffler can turn the 350 into a little screamer. That's my plan for this one.

 

[grizz55chev]

353 is a flat top piston replacement for the original dish top EPA original piston, this will increase the compression and in doing so increase performance.

 

[Chainsaw Jim]

A flat top piston replacement makes these things screamin sunsabitches. My second build ever was a 350 epa that I replaced the dished piston with a flat top from lil red barn. It was a very good quality piston. That would be one of two builds I've ever done using aftermarket pistons. That was also before I knew another husky piston would fit.

 

[A10egress]

Thanks guys, sounds like a fun little project if a bad 350 ever pops up and needs some work

 

[A10egress]

and I better check the clamp on my threefiddy

 

[Guido Salvage]

I have access to a fair amount of wood but I have to bust through the brush for it, vine maple, black berries and salal everywhere. Dragging a heavy saw through that kicks my butt so I put a 20" bar on the 350 and it does about 75% of my wood cutting. I know most think a 20" bar is to much for that saw but for me it works great.

If it is difficult even getting a saw to your cutting spot, how do you get any of the wood you cut out?

 

[CrufflerJJ]

if you dont mind, tell more about this?

I am in the process of redoing a Husky 350 I got fairly cheap on eBay.

As received, it had a LOOSE plastic intake clamp, original dished 45mm piston, and a worn ring. Original squish was 0.033" (with the 0.015" thick OEM base gasket), and it gave 90-100 PSI compression (sucky, I know).

Installing a new Caber ring upped compression to 120 PSI.
Swapping out the dished piston for a new Meteor 45mm 353 piston upped compression to 152 PSI.
I was concerned that a base gasket delete would give a squish of only 0.018"...maybe a bit tight (but I'm not sure about that). I ended up cutting a base gasket out of a magazine cover, assembling with Permatex 51813, which gave a final squish of 0.026", and final compression of 169 PSI.

The biggest hassle I've run into so far in working on Husky 350's is the ridiculous freakin' metal intake clamp. It's a royal bxtch to get closed, whether I'm using needle nose pliers or small vice grips. WHY couldn't Husky have just used a Stihl-style screw driven hose clamp for their intakes?

 

[schpankme]

redoing Husky 350
Meteor 45mm 353 piston upped compression to 152 PSI.
cutting a base gasket gave a final squish of 0.026", and final compression of 169 PSI.

biggest hassle
metal intake clamp
WHY couldn't Husky have just used a Stihl-style screw driven hose clamp for their intakes?

I've switched over to the "Husqvarna OEM 372 Intake Clamp".
part# 505283301

Cost $3 - $6 dollars, plus shipping

Thx again to member, "weimedog", aka YouTube - "afleetcommand"

 

[CrufflerJJ]

I've switched over to the "Husqvarna OEM 372 Intake Clamp".
part# 505283301

Cost $3 - $6 dollars, plus shipping

Thx again to member, "weimedog", aka YouTube - "afleetcommand"

Schpank you very much!

 

[Auto5guy]

If it is difficult even getting a saw to your cutting spot, how do you get any of the wood you cut out?

For example this weekend I was cutting some blown down maples behind he office building. It's a steep hill covered in ferns, salal and vine maple. There's no road access anywhere close to the top of the hill and there's a chainlink fennce at the bottom of the hill so I can't just run a cable up the hill and pull it down without messing up the fence. So I had to hoof it around the perimeter of the fence, climb up the hill, buck the tree, kick the pieces down to the bottom and then toss it over the fence.

Yeah, I know that's a lot of work for some firewood but when I look in the mirror it says I can use the workout. Most of the wood ends up at my 75 year old fathers house. He burns 10+ cord a year. It's his sole source. The last couple years he hasn't been able to keep up.

It's not all that way, A lot of the surrounding woods has road access and our Backhoe has a thumb so there are times I buck at waist level right behind my truck.

Some days you're the windshield and some days you're the bug.

 

[Auto5guy]

Schpank you very much!

Yes thanks for that great info!