Wednesday, December 16, 2009

What is this doing here?

Maybe its the Wisconsin in me, or the farm boy passed down from my father, but I've always had a soft spot in my heart for the mighty chainsaw. Of all power equipment, it has the most potential to reduce human work, its a two-stroke, and up until retards started buying them at Home Cheapo, they were almost exclusively made in Wisconsin. What more can you ask? Oh you want it to be the most hated entity by hundreds of thousands of smelly hippies and an ideal zombie killing weapon (when attached to your arm). Done.
From Chainsaw

Ok, I admit I have a bit of an addiction to 2 stroke...


Yesterday, Instead of doing something productive relating to homework, getting a job, or the Ciao, I dorked around with this beautiful old chainsaw that was languishing in my buddy's garage. At first i was just going to get it running so i could clean up some brush around my yard, but then he said 'heck if you get it running you can keep it' (I love it when people say that).

So, i tore the whole thing down, cleaned it up, and did a little performance tuning. Once I realized how beautifully this was made, I couldn't resist. A perfect example of 'they dont make 'em like they used to' this thing is entirely aluminum and weighs next to nothing. Its probably 30 or 40 cc's, with a MASSIVE 15mm walboro carb. The intake and exhaust ports are huge, and it has fully open 4-port transfers. It even has some sort of wierd side porting in the piston that looks like its supposed to boost the transfers. It would definitely explain why such a tiny little saw has such a massive blade on it.

From Chainsaw

Talk about some serious slasher-movie shit.


It wasn't running because the points (i cant think of the last time i've worked on lawn equipment with points) were completely out of adjustment. I dont know what they are supposed to be, but I eyeballed it, and put it together enough to start the engine outside of the housing with starter fluid. When it caught it just about tore my arm off... close one. Sure enough started on the first pull.

I ported it with the engine completely together.. because who cares really. After porting the cylinder was hosed out really thoroughly with carb cleaner and compressed air. I went about 1.5 mm higher on the exhaust... width was maxed out at at least 70% of bore. The intake i dropped about 1mm and smoothed out the intake manifold transition. The intake and exhaust were on the sides of the engine, and they were already massive. The stock air filter, as seen under that beautifully styled black grille, was made out of what looked like arts'n'crafts-style felt. I replaced that with a 'hi-flow' chunk of air conditioner filter for a little extra boost (mostly because i was too lazy to clean the old one.)

After putting it all back together, I realized someone had tried to adjust the Wally Walboro carb and failed miserably. The high idle screw was all the way in, the low idle screw was mostly out, and it wouldn't run at all. I put them in the ballpark of 1.5 turns out and got it running on starter fluid, and dialed it in. Holy Crap this thing rips. Definitely one of the scariest chainsaws i've ever used. It doesn't have the smooth balance of say, a Husqvarna, but it revs way higher than it should now, and the inertia of that huge blade just about yanks it out of yer hands. I'm going to dig around for some hockey tape today and try to tape up the handlebars for a bit more grip and to give it that 'freddy krueger' look. Maybe while i'm at it I'll fashion some sort of crude prosthesis for my arm.

Zombie Apocalypse here i come! Does anyone know where i can find a mini circuit pipe for cheap? Maybe one of those Puegeot Faco chambers on treats? How rude would that look hanging off the bottom?

UPDATE:Just got a chance to slice up some brush in the neighbor's yard. Holy damn, this thing is sick. Not quite as fast as my Poulan Pro model back home, but definitely more torque. A smaller blade would probably run faster, but the blade thats on it is really nice with a roller tip and a brand new chain. The autolube isnt working, but i'm sure its just a bad seal or sawdust in the guts.


Update Part 2: I was going to go buy bearings right now, but my stupid landlord parked me in again. Instead I went all Bob the Builder (can we fix it, yes we can! for those of you who don't have 5 year old cousins) on this shit. Turns out I was removing the engine all wrong. When done correctly, you can pull the entire engine out of this thing by removing 6 screws. Yes thats right, the entire engine can be torn down and put back together with a 5/8" socket and a flathead screwdriver. Awesome. Four more screws removed the oil tank, which bolts to the bottom of the engine. This reminded me how much i hate it when people goober RTV all over everything. Someone else had this apart at one point in time, and apparently they felt they knew more about the design of the saw than the engineer who originally designed it (a pretty smart guy apparently, as he figured out how to get the engine in and out with 6 FUCKING SCREWS!) Anyhow, they gobbed RTV all over the mating surface, which happens to go around the passage way that the oil runs through. There was RTV all up in the oil injector hole. Thank god whoever did this was also too dumb to tune a wally carb or else the clutch, roller bar, and chain would probably all have been shot.

In other news, i think the next time i get an extra $25 chillin in my pay pal i'm gonna put one of these on it.

Tiny Puegeot Pipe That looks about the right size for the engine i'm working with. Silencers? Silencers? We dont need no stinkin' silencers.

6 comments:

  1. Sick chanisaw ripper.
    Vintage murder.

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  2. does anyone know anything about autolube systems?

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  3. Not a fan of new Homelite chainsaws but the vintage models are the shit! Cut about 8 years worth of firewood for a big old Sconnie' farmhouse as a young lad. Miss those days sometimes but cutting firewood every fucking weekend really blows. You can come up by me and trim my 4 trees someday if you get a chance, lol. Peace out, Salty

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  4. I have a few comments on this. First off, that little saw is nuts for the number of CCs it has. They definitely don't make them like they used to.

    When you port a chainsaw, never raise the exhaust or lower the intake. You're looking for torque, not revs. Just widen that sucker. I've ported so many different saws that I don't remember if you have 4 transfer ports or 2, but if you have four, make sure to round the divider between the two. Most saws just have a flat surface that kills the flow.

    On an off note, I found an old 85cc Poulan with a 21mm Tillotson carb in a buddy's barn last year. He said it doesn't run so I can have it (I agree with you, I love it when people say that). After getting it to start, I realized it needed new crank seals. I opened up those ports quite a bit. It came with a 32" bar, so I cant wait to get the monster running.

    If you find a mini circuit pipe, post it up. That would be awesome.

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  5. http://mopedhq.blogspot.com/2009/08/lets-cut-some-grass-quickly.html

    Hydroform!

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  6. sweet comments... the cylinder is a 4 transfer unit. Its all cast together, and I didnt want to risk a bunch of loose roller bearings jumping out all over the damn place, so i left it together. The ports are already so large, I didnt think I could make them any wider, they are at least 70% of bore, so i just rounded the exhaust a little bit and added a tiny bit to the top. Given how awful the original spark arrestor is on this thing, i imagine putting a pipe on it will easily double its power.

    There is a MAC15 (80 cc version of the MAC10) sitting on my workbench right now waiting for some free time for me to make the Batavus motor mounts.

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