Duke's 262XP top end

[Spike60]

Goes without saying that I'm not a big fan of aftermarket top ends. Always prefer OEM. But there are times when AM kits have their place. Especially when OEM kits are NLA, as in the case of the 262/257. And there are very few AM options out there for this chassis. Unlike the 372 that seems to have 100's of AM sources along with OEM kits still available. 262/257 is too good a chassis to be left out in the cold, so Chris and I have been talking about this and he sent me this sample top end to have a look at. Not really sure if he has these in stock, but he'll be along to fill everyone in on what he has.

Fit and finish look pretty nice. No chamfering needed anywhere.

 

[Spike60]

Did a comparison with OEM and a farmertec. Mounted them on a 262 top get some base squish numbers. OEM on the left, Duke's in the middle and FT on the right.



Duke' kit clears the flywheel; the Farmertec didn't.

 

[Spike60]

To avoid any extra variables due to differences in supplied pistons, I checked all 3 with the same OEM piston.




Ports of Dukes appear larger than OEM, in the pic but really aren't . But good size and cleanly done.

 

[Armbru84]

@cus_deluxe has a 3120 from Duke that was pretty good looking out of the box as well. Cool to see another potentially good variant.

 

[Spike60]

The disappointing factor with much of this AM stuff is high squish/low compression. Similar story here if you use a gasket, as the Duke's jug yields .040 with the .020 gasket. It will run, but be a disappointment to those expecting 262 performance. (There are 2 gaskets for this chassis, .020 and .030). But in this case the numbers settle in just right as a gasket delete puts the Duke's kit at a nice .020. As anyone familiar with the 262 knows, you can't do a gasket delete with an OEM jug as the squish will be down around .010; much to tight! So, it should make good power. (raining here and have yet to run it. Probably not until the weekend.)

The FT kit looks like it came from a similar mold, but it's just too crude to get a passing grade. Everything needs to be chamfered. The flywheel side port casting doesn't clear the flywheel, so some further grinding/filing there would be necessary. The squish numbers aren't much different than the Duke's kit though. Also, the piston with the Duke's kit is nicer than what you get with farmertec.

 

[Lightning Performance]

$shipped?

 

[Wonkydonkey]

Thanks for the review.. it’s always good to get a comparison review..

Cheers

 

[82f100swb]

How does port timing look? I have had one of those FT kits in a box on the shelf for about a year but really haven't even looked at it much other than when I got it and decided it was going to need a bunch of help.
My 262 is long seperated from its KS cylinder and has a decomp Mahle on it. I should pull it off the shelf one of these days and play with it. It has a small muff mod and a base gasket delete (.016 squish...) and runs dang pretty strong as is.

 

[CJ Brown]

Nice to see these type of reviews. It appears the Duke's cylinder has much larger transfer tunnels (at least externally) than an oem cylinder. Can you confirm this?

 

[Spike60]

Nice to see these type of reviews. It appears the Duke's cylinder has much larger transfer tunnels (at least externally) than an oem cylinder. Can you confirm this?

Not really larger. Clean vs dirty, and the Chamfering makes them look a little bit bigger 0n the inside. Outside, just extra but unnecessary material. Optical contusion.

 

[Spike60]

How does port timing look? I have had one of those FT kits in a box on the shelf for about a year but really haven't even looked at it much other than when I got it and decided it was going to need a bunch of help.
My 262 is long seperated from its KS cylinder and has a decomp Mahle on it. I should pull it off the shelf one of these days and play with it. It has a small muff mod and a base gasket delete (.016 squish...) and runs dang pretty strong as is.

Have no idea on timing numbers. Don't even own a degree wheel.LOL

 

[CJ Brown]

I don't think you mentioned if the bore on the Duke's cylinder is chrome or some nikisil variant.

 

[Duke Thieroff]

$shipped?

These would probably fall somewhere in the realm of $75-80+ the ride. Likely will get some stock here in the near future.

I don't think you mentioned if the bore on the Duke's cylinder is chrome or some nikisil variant.

This one here is chrome plated and nicely done, too.

So Bob and I have both talked about the StarGry kit that has historically been considered the most desirable set for this chassis. Unfortunately the manufacturer likely won't make a run until they have a substantial amount of orders ready or someone willing to purchase a higher quantity. With a lot of these old saws getting older daily it is likely that one may not even see another run of the StarGry, but that's just my speculation.

 

[Spike60]

I don't think you mentioned if the bore on the Duke's cylinder is chrome or some nikisil variant.

I think it's chrome? The Duke himself will probably drop in here later and can provide all the details. And he has better pics too. LOL

My next step will be to run this kit side by side with an OEM saw. Stock and with muff mod. (I have a few 262's to mess with.) My gut feeling is that as long as we have the compression up where it ought to be, we'll have decent performance. Close to a genuine 262 hopefully, and an improvement over stock when bolted onto a 257. Longevity will take some time to determine, and that will be beyond what my testing will reveal cause I've got too many saws to run to stay with this one for any accurate info there. For most here who will split their run time over several saws for personal use, or just the average firewood cutter, it's probably going to be fine. I'd never recommend any AM kit for all day pro use, but that's not what we're looking for here anyway.

Bottom line for me is do we have a decent option for the 262 and 257, and maybe we do here.

 

[Duke Thieroff]

 

[Lightning Performance]

View attachment 227059 View attachment 227060 View attachment 227061 View attachment 227062 View attachment 227063

If you can get a whole batch like that with a concentric bore your good.

 

[CJ Brown]

If this kit came with a Caber ring, that would be a big selling point. It would add little to the price of the kit, but buyers would have confidence that the ring won't go flaccid after a short period of time.

 

[Sawrain]

1) Very nice.

2) Is this the same cylinder that features on sawsalvage.com?

3) Which standard cylinder was this based on?

4) excellent timing.

 

[Duke Thieroff]

1) Very nice.

2) Is this the same cylinder that features on sawsalvage.com?

3) Which standard cylinder was this based on?

4) excellent timing.

View attachment 227071

1. Thanks!
2. No, currently this is a different one Bob and I had been talking about and I got one and sent it up to him.
3. Not positive, to be honest, maybe Bob has a better idea.
Thanks!
Chris

 

[Mastermind]

Good stuff men. We need more threads like this.

Thanks.