Mai-Mai is a B!TCH!!!!

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Inlet - 82.

 

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There was no pin in the brake strap, so I ground down a dremel tool shaft and stuck it in there.

Clutch drum and bearing fit was TIGHT!!!!!! Would have liked OEM here but didn't have them.

 

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This is the tiny little brake lever arm spring that goes behind all of the other parts to the brake. See the angle of the "hooks", they should be 90 degrees to each other, but they aren't, which makes putting this piece in a freaking nightmare!!!!

 

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I tried all sorts of manipulations and tricks I know to get this prick on its mounting points. First I talked to it. It told me straight up to just "F&*% right off"!! Well I thought! A bit rude aren't we?! Next I thought I would tweak it a little. Just a little twist is all!! Nope. Didn't want a bar of it. I thought I could put some other stuff on first and then just sneak it in there after. Who was I kidding, it knew that s#@t was coming, and just laughed in my face! "Maybe I don't need you. I'm a big boy now......" Wake up dickhead!!!!
I said a prayer. I begged. I held my tongue at the correct angle. I pushed the brake handle onto the other arm and moved it all into place. Looking good..........looking good.........nearly there............ twang!!!......... "Motherf..........". Die *b-word!!!

 

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I can't really write about what happened next. Mostly because it involves me abusing prescription medicine and drinking something straight from the bottle, BUT I did finally manage to get that SOB together. Then I noticed that the tension spring was made incorrectly too!!!! F&*% me, are you serious right now!! I knew what needed to be done. I bent the rear hook and corrected the shape. Even writing this now, my blood pressure is creeping up, so to save my sanity and not relive events too much I will just say that the brake is together and it works!

 

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Went to put the dust cover on and noticed it came cracked. Meh!

The fitting on that cover is pretty crappy.

 

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Av in. Starting to look like a chainsaw. Can you spot my mistake??

How about now?!!

 

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Starter on. These Chinese elasto start handles are just garbage. I have bought 3 now, and all of them have failed in exactly the same way. The rubber is bulimic and just breaks.................

Jump forward slightly............like this!!!

 

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(This happened earlier - before squish measurement) So I looked at the Cross piston and compared it to the Farmertec one that came with the kit. They were slightly different. They both looked of equal casting and machining quality, but the Farmer version had an ever so slightly higher pin to piston-top height.

 

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I put them on the scale. Farmer wins here again. Lighter piston AND lighter pin. Not much mind you, but still enough to be happy about, 3 grams.

 

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Piston on rod. Cabers in.

Ease it on in. I just use a finger nail to push the rings in as I slide it down.

 

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Boot on.

And in.

Don't like the look of this extra "tit". (Turns out it sealed fine)

 

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Carb hits on the top of the mounting box. And in hindsight I should have checked it over before I installed it.

Some more pieces on..........and yet another mistake made by me! Air filter mount don't go that way you fool!!!!!!

 

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No heat shield in the kit, so I made my own.

Muffler mod next. I'm not doing too much yet to the muffler as I want to get a bit of run time on it first. I just removed the baffle and enlarged the openings.

Pretty stock looking at this stage.

 

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So I got Mai-Mai together finally and filled her with fuel and oil. Time to see what she sounds like. Pull, pull.........elasto starter broke!! So I pull it apart, again, to install the original handle and rope back on. Spring goes everywhere of course because there is no metal cover sleeve to keep it in there! Yet another s#@t fight!!! Finally all back together and I'm pulling harder than a 14 year old watching a documentary on African tribes, but she won't go. Just floods. I know what that would be. Pull her down and out comes the carb. I open it up and the metering spring is about 4 foot long!! I tested pop off pressure (thanks to you guys teaching me how) and it is off the scale! So I "trim" the spring. First I took off about 3 coils. Nope, not enough. Then another 3. Wayyyy high still!! Then a couple more.......now it's at 11-12 psi. Should be ok there.

 

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Installed it all back together. Pulled her again. And this time she popped. So I flick her to "high idle"...........but the throttle just snaps closed. Of course it does!! I have read about most people having the same problem. Now, I could go on to detail how I spent the next 3 hours reshaping, bending, poking and prodding at the shaft, rod and throttle to try and make it work as designed, but the short story is that I failed. So if anyone has any ideas on how to make the high idle engage, then I am all ears.

 

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Anyway so back to pulling!!!!!!!!!!!!!! And this time I held her open slightly as I pulled with my left hand (which felt like a whole new person I might add!) and she fired up. Ran rough for a bit then settled down to a pretty smooth idle. Mai-Mai sounded sweet!!! I let her idle for a while then a couple of blips on the throttle. She is snappy too!! More idling then shut down to cool. I let her heat cycle a few more times and tucked her into bed for the night. She wanted me to stay with her, but in true Asian fashion she had busted my balls too much for one day!!!

 

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So tomorrow comes around and I have a date with Mai-Mai. Truth be told, I was a bit nervous about using her. She just seemed a bit too "delicate." But she ain't just for look'n at!!!! We go out to the wood pile. I picked out a couple of smaller pieces to break her in on. It's green Blue Gum. Pretty soft. Mai-Mai is wearing a traditional Chinese dress......er......bar. 24 inches long. Chain is semi-chisel. Mai-Mai rips through the Blue Gum. I would expect nothing less! I fed her a tank on the Gum and refilled. Tuned rich, she was thirsty!

 

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I muscled out a BIG piece of old Yellow Box. Now let me just give you a quick lesson on Aussie hard wood. Almost nobody here cuts anything softer than Blue Gum to use for firewood. On the hardness scale (for us) it is way down there. BUT it is much harder than the majority of the American hard woods. Up the scale from there is timber like Stringy Bark, Grey Gum and Red Gum. When seasoned, they are hard as s#@t, and nothing in America would come close. Then you start to move into Whitebox and Ironbark. Literally like cutting concrete sometimes. After that comes special timbers like Locust and Yellowbox. They feel petrified!!! There is just nothing I can compare it to for you Northern Hemisphere guys. You regularly see sparks and chains cringe in fear at the sight of the stuff!!

 

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So this piece of Yellowbox is 20 inches in diameter and has been used by myself and a mate to do some recent saw testing (I modded his 395 and we put it up against my 288 - spoiler - I got spanked!!). The wood isn't fully seasoned and so whilst it is very hard, it could be wayyyy worse than it is! My 288 with a 20" full chisel Oregon chain cuts it in about 21 seconds. My mates 395 with the same bar and chain (after mods) does it in 16ish!! (My 288 is getting a new ring today, so a rematch will be on the cards soon). Mai-Mai, with her 24" bar and semi-chisel chain does it in 25 seconds. Now, with only one tank of run time and semi-chisel, I don't think that's too bad.