McCulloch Super 44A rebuild

[Lee H]

I can't say if the seal is the correct one or not as I have never had
a 44 apart or an IPL. I use a socket that is a tad larger in diameter
so when to tap it in it is pushing on the edge of the seal and you
won't drive it in to far. If your saying your seal is now a little bent
I would remove and replace it.

 

[heimannm]

Generally the seal must be square to the shaft to achieve a positive, long lasting seal.

Mark

 

[Sleeper]

Okay, that is what I thought. Sounds like that seal is going to be replaced. I will try a bigger socket this time.

 

[Sleeper]

Working on this saw today... (I work part time right now) got the seal in properly this time. Square and straight.

Getting the old bent up one out was fun. Drilled a hole in it after center punching a spot on the side of the seal, and yes, I did use grease on the end of the drill bit to keep the shavings from getting into the bearing.

Worked well, just take a screwdriver and carefully pry up on it... if you did it right with just the right size bit, the inside edge (by the inner rubber lip) of the seal will pull apart and allow you to get a bigger screwdriver in there and pry that seal out.

Sorry I am slow with this project... it's just taking the time to do it right and acquiring parts along the way.

Mods planned for this? Some Boyesen reeds, and a Nova II ignition chip, as well as the governor delete, and 090 carb with a soon to be made custom elbow to attach a 395 air filter onto.

Yes, not completely original. But it will be done with minimal modifications of the saw itself. Only thing that will likely be done is trimming the tab at the back of the airbox by the handle to clear the air filter elbow. If I can make an elbow that doesn't require that to be trimmed, I will. It will still be a tight fit.

Maybe later, I will go back with a degree wheel once I can get it into my head as to how to read it... and see what the port timing is and what can be done there. However, from what I've read, people say these 87cc Macs run real good as they are from the factory.

 

[heimannm]

All of the 44/55 saws were pretty hot right from the factory.

I have a 55 (gear drive, 77 cc version) that tears up the 5 & under CID group in Baraboo.

Mark

 

[Sleeper]

All of the 44/55 saws were pretty hot right from the factory.

I have a 55 (gear drive, 77 cc version) that tears up the 5 & under CID group in Baraboo.

Mark

I have a quick question for you... is the Nova II the proper chip for converting this saw? I read the instructions and it said not recommended for saws with more than one magnet in the flywheel... does that mean more than one set of magnets (triggers both legs off the coil, but no other magnets in flywheel, just the two that go by the coil on the same side) or one magnet total on the entire flywheel?

 

[Al Smith]

If I didn't mention it before the Super 44A was one of the first go kart engines which morphed into the MC 10 kart engine .It had an impressing degree of success .How much difference between the two I don't really know .
I own one Super 44A ,stock as far as I know .For something circa 1959 it's pretty impressive .It came with a big fat belly 32" hard nose which is now on another 87 cc saw,a Mac 650 gear drive

 

[Sleeper]

If I didn't mention it before the Super 44A was one of the first go kart engines which morphed into the MC 10 kart engine .It had an impressing degree of success .How much difference between the two I don't really know .
I own one Super 44A ,stock as far as I know .For something circa 1959 it's pretty impressive .It came with a big fat belly 32" hard nose which is now on another 87 cc saw,a Mac 650 gear drive

If the 44's are hot like Mark H. said, then it's probably got similar timing numbers as the MC10 kart engine, they probably figured "We made this thing run like this? Hell, let's make a kart engine out of it!"

I am just going to squeeze a little more out of it.

I think the big carb being the same throat size (at the carb/tank adapter to throttle side of carb) as the original, and the Nova II chip... then reeds. I figured if there was anything to be gained, it would be in the simpler stuff. The carb has a huge opening on the filter side... choke is a big honking flap in there. Easily a few mm's bigger on that intake side.

 

[Al Smith]

It should have a Tillotson model HL carb but I suppose it could be a Walbro MAC .The proverbial "flat back" and a pain in the buttocks in my opinion .If I recall the piston is the same as a 250 with a longer stroke .I'll cross ref the bearings in a little bit but they should not be that hard to find .

 

[Sleeper]

It should have a Tillotson model HL carb but I suppose it could be a Walbro MAC .The proverbial "flat back" and a pain in the buttocks in my opinion .If I recall the piston is the same as a 250 with a longer stroke .I'll cross ref the bearings in a little bit but they should not be that hard to find .

Came with a flatback. I ordered a chi com knock off 090 carb and swapped throttle and choke shafts. Did some minor work with the bottom plate as well... took the 090 plates off and put the plates from an HL that came off of a 1-43. The 1-43 HL carb throat was way too small to feed this engine.

Not sure if it will work right away or if it will need some more tweaking... we will find that out once I get around to the first test run. That test run will be without the filter elbow and filter and will not be cutting. Just idle and throttle up with a bar and chain attached. Just to see if it holds a tune and has proper fueling.

 

[Al Smith]

So here's what I found .Both bearings as per IPL McCulloch number 100824.Clutch side seal 104432 clutch side felt washer 512335 .Flywheel side seal 102940 ,can't read what the felt is .This came from a micro film as I do not have the IPL on paper and some of the slides are hard to read .

 

[Sleeper]

So here's what I found .Both bearings as per IPL McCulloch number 100824.Clutch side seal 104432 clutch side felt washer 512335 .Flywheel side seal 102940 ,can't read what the felt is .This came from a micro film as I do not have the IPL on paper and some of the slides are hard to read .

Well, I found a strip of felt from McMaster-Carr for 10 bucks... didn't need the whole thing but if I get any more Macs with external points, it will come in handy if they need rebuilds. As for the crank seals, found SKF 6640's to work well. I did check the fit on the shaft and they seal well on both sides. As for fitting in the bore of the housing and cylinder, they fit well too. A little tight on PTO side.

I do have the IPL's on CD (thanks W5) and have one printed out sitting on the workbench for guidance to reassemble the saw.

I contacted Boyesen regarding reeds for it... have yet to check email to see if they have them.

I have another S44A sitting around... needs some work. Think I could get it running with some effort. But only have one S44A air filter cover, hence this one being a lightly modified saw.

At some point, I will be able to run both side by side and see if those mods made a difference or not. We won't know until we try.

 

[Mastermind]

Excellent thread.

 

[Sleeper]

Excellent thread.

Thanks MM, that means a lot coming from you. I mean that.

 

[Mastermind]

Thanks MM, that means a lot coming from you. I mean that.

I love that old mag. Just wish I had more time for stuff like you are doing here.

 

[Sleeper]

I love that old mag. Just wish I had more time for stuff like you are doing here.

Someday. Just acquire projects and once you can, go ahead and fix them. Sell some if necessary to fund new ones if you get a hankering for it.

I had to give up some of my projects, one reason was to get a more modern saw that I could get parts for easily... and the other was because I had trouble with building a 372. (remember, I sent cases to you for assembly?) I simply wasn't in my right mind at that time... there was a lot going on.

I had absolutely no idea what I was doing with the 372. Granted, I did not JMS the cylinder up or anything like that. More minor mistakes than major ones. Mainly stripping some bolt holes. I decided to just quit and get rid of it before I did really screw it up.

Had an itch to get my very first brand new saw. Parents said no, unless you get rid of some... so bye bye PM850's. (those went to a member on here, you'd know him)

Got my 372 XT... which even with me using it, still has stickers on the bottom. Super fussy with it. Always clean the clutch cover out when I change chains, and wipe it down with a shop towel when I take it into the barn.

And at that time, I had a lot of wood that needed to be cut. Not enough time to fix the other saws.

Sometimes, things just don't go the way we plan. I had intended to spend a lot of time R+D'ing the 850's to see if I could get anything out of them, but never got around to it. I see Chainsaw Jim has done some work to one and found it will keep right up with an 066/660 that is stock.

 

[Brush Ape]

I love that old mag.

which one about a 1975 hustler ??

 

[Al Smith]

While I like the 81 cc Macs it would be a stretch to get one to out cut a good running 066 Stihl .Just sayin

 

[Mastermind]

which one about a 1975 hustler ??

Faptastic.

 

[Sleeper]

While I like the 81 cc Macs it would be a stretch to get one to out cut a good running 066 Stihl .Just sayin

I'm pretty sure Jim's is far from stock... it probably has a pop up on the piston, and all of the port work to boot. I would not be surprised if he got one to keep up on a stock 90cc+ Stihl.

After all, I have heard of ported 372 XT's holding as much rpm as a 385/390 that is stock in the cut. Sure, with the limited coil, you can't get them to turn more than 13,500 free of load, but they don't lose as much in the cut and either nip at the heels of the 385/390 or even beat them.