Winter MX...Dolkita Oiling Good, Now the Tanaka ECS3301 Woodeater

[AlfA01]

Yep....not a weedeater, a woodeater. My little ECS 3301c is a second hand saw that I picked up a couple years ago. I was pruning olive trees with it last year and it started to running really strangely. It was performing erratic to throttle input, rough idle and dyeing pretty often with a consistent loss of power regardless of throttle position.

I tore into it in the field and noticed that the filter was pretty clean and but the carb bay was full with sawdust and wood chips. I checked the air filter again to see if it was damaged and couldn't at first find a reason why the thing was full with sawdust and wood chips. But, I knew that the thing had probably taken in some wood, as the intake of the carb is directly exposed to the bay full of wood chips. Basically, the PO had lost the little rubber boot/plug for the H&L adjustment screws, which allowed the thing to suck in debris.

I plugged the hole and cleaned the carb and left it until now. I've ran it about 10-20 minutes in the past 6-months or so. Anyway, I tore it apart today to see what was going on with the P&C. This engine doesn't intake fuel/air directly into the intake. Instead the carb feeds via reed valves and x-fer ports directly into the bottom of the crankcase. So, the transfer ports are the only source of intaking fuel/air mixture to the cylinder when the piston is about half way through its down cycle. Essentially, it doesn't have transfer ports, but more like transfer channels, as they are open and not closed as ports are.

So, the area in and around the crank had quite a bit of sawdust. The transfer channels/ports also had quite a few debris. Surprisingly, the P&C are in good shape. It does look like the PO was running it quite rich. A lot of gunk and buildup on top of the piston for a relatively low hour saw.

Anyway, I'm gonna clean up the exhaust port and polish up the transfers and throw it back together.

Any of you Tanaka guys know the specs on this thing? Bore and stroke? Max RPM? I believe its 1.6HP, not sure though. If it I get sick of cutting wood with it, the self-contained crankcase will mount very easily and nicely into and RC car.

Cheers,
Dan

 

[AlfA01]

I'm probably talking to myself here, as it seems not many guys on AS deal with Tanakas. As I said, I tore every nut, screw and bolt out of this little saw. The only thing that wasn't completely disassembled/removed were the crank bearings.

So, I did a base gasket delete. Well, not a full base gasket delete, as I took out the thick rubberized gasket and replaced it with a thin piece of aluminum (.004").
Polished up exhaust port. The exhaust had a ton of carbon buildup. Being that this thing has open transfer ports, there is no restriction on the flow through them. I did remove all of the casting lines and burrs in all the ports.
Modded the muffler and took out the baffle. Matched the cylinder port to the exhaust so as to eliminate any restriction of escaping gases through the exhaust.
Reassembled and tuned it up. It really rips now. A big improvement all around for this little saw. I ordered a new L and H adjustment cap/cover/plug thingy where the carb is sucking wood through. I'm waiting for that to get here to do final tuning, as I think she is sucking way too much air at the moment. With the plug installed I believe the carb will be pulling all its air through the filter instead of through a hole in the side of the case.
Also, I did the business card trick on the ignition coil. It seemed like my gap may have been a little in excess previously, but now it has nice strong spark and fires up immediately every time I go to start it.

Anyway, we'll see.

If anyone has a little Tanaka ECS3301a/b/c, I suggest doing these easy and rather quick mods, as it will definitely give this little saw a boost without hindering reliability.

 

[Little Al]

Most Reed valve 2 Smoke motors breathe in a similar manner as do piston ported it must be a known fault as a tree guy runs one & has a strip of duct tape stuck over the H/L grommets

 

[AlfA01]

Most Reed valve 2 Smoke motors breathe in a similar manner as do piston ported it must be a known fault as a tree guy runs one & has a strip of duct tape stuck over the H/L grommets

I think the problem is that they are removable to adjust the screws, whereas other saws have rubber boot/grommet with small openings to allow the screwdriver to pass through, but not sawdust and debris. I was thinking of taping the hole, but the original part was less than $2, so I decided to order it. And, I don't need to run the saw right now, as I have my little Husky T425, but I do like the Tanaka for certain jobs and as a backup. The reed valve takes fuel/air mix similar to closed port saws, but there isn't a lot that can be done porting wise to open this saw up, as it takes air through the crankcase, not through a cylinder intake port.

 

[Conquistador3]

I believe it's 37mm bore and 30mm stroke saw (32.3 displacement), advertised for 1.2kW. I think the engine spins around 10,000rpm, but somebody more knowdegeable than me will pop up sooner or later.
Oh, and since Echo phased out the CS306/346 and Husqvarna stopped manufacturing the Italian McCulloch's based on some old Poulan designs this is the last reed valve saw in production.

Hitachi still sells a very similar saw, the ECS3350/3351, which also happens to be the last proprietary Tanaka design they still manufacture. You can swap over most parts between it and the 3301, but wait for Hitachi parts can be extruciatingly long if they aren't in stock at the local importer. Hitachi has shifted towards a big box store-supplier model for their "outdoor power equipment" so parts aren't high in their list of priorities.

 

[AlfA01]

I believe it's 37mm bore and 30mm stroke saw (32.3 displacement), advertised for 1.2kW. I think the engine spins around 10,000rpm, but somebody more knowdegeable than me will pop up sooner or later.
Oh, and since Echo phased out the CS306/346 and Husqvarna stopped manufacturing the Italian McCulloch's based on some old Poulan designs this is the last reed valve saw in production.

Hitachi still sells a very similar saw, the ECS3350/3351, which also happens to be the last proprietary Tanaka design they still manufacture. You can swap over most parts between it and the 3301, but wait for Hitachi parts can be extruciatingly long if they aren't in stock at the local importer. Hitachi has shifted towards a big box store-supplier model for their "outdoor power equipment" so parts aren't high in their list of priorities.

No kidding? Last of dying breed? Its a pretty good little saw and seems to still be advertised at 280 EU new here in Europe. Good to know where to source parts in the future. So far, I've had pretty good luck finding Tanaka spares, but you never know. I went ahead and ordered a carb kit to have on hand.

I was thinking to try my hand at chainsaw carving. Was curious how this thing would fare. Not sure if I can can scare up a carving bar for it, but I may look around. I see people using MS170s and this thing has equivalent power and an outboard clutch (bonus), which should allow me pretty good bar control for carving. Not sure if the top handle will be comfortable, but its worth a try.

Thanks for the reply and the info!

Cheers,