Porting, You get what you pay for

[fordf150]

So i had a saw cross my bench this week and it got me thinking....at what point do you get what you paid for with porting? I am no saw porter even though i have done lots of auto heads back in the day.

The saw showed up wanting traded off...to be honest, a like new ported saw wanting traded even up for a 6100 raised flags for me.

Step 1:
First step in determining if i would take it on trade involved hooking up and checking run time and fault codes.... 6 codes stored...3 of which are for air leaks, 1 for a faulty throttle function, 1 for a bad module, 1 for loose red wire. No wonder it doesnt run correctly and he wants to trade it off with it only showing 4 hrs.

Step 2:
Owner of said saw gives the history of the saw... and i basically said NO>>>no interest in this at all but why dont you let me tear into it and have a look. Promised to treat him right and do what i can to get him a reliable saw without breaking the bank considering the money he already has invested.

Step 3:
A test run just to see what the old girl does but first, lets do a pressure and vac test and compression test.

Compression was a miserable 160psi

Pressure test failed miserably, it required constant pumping to maintain 7psi...In just a couple minutes we found the base gasket/transfer cover leaking.

Step 4: forget about a test run and just tear the stupid thing down and fix some air leaks. Here is what i found. What do you all think of this. The following is what caught my attention first.

 

[fordf150]

And the cylinder...some of those marks go all the way to the squish band and will easily catch a finger nail in them...Low compression...culprit found.

 

[fordf150]

Reason for air leak found....pretty deep grooves left behind from cutting the base. feels like your running your finger across a file

 

[Deets066]

Caused by air leak or lack of bevel on the ports?

 

[GCJenks204]

I was hoping you would also post this over here. I think it will be interesting the discussion on both sites of the same topic.

 

[fordf150]

Caused by air leak or lack of bevel on the ports?

that will come later

 

[Gritz]

What do the edges of the ports look like? Maybe they forgot to chamfer and deburr the port edges. I've seen much worse. What's the squish like with that pop up in there?

 

[Carbine]

Good on you Nate. I hate seeing this stuff, especially when I know this isn't the only one. Makes me sick, at least you'll take care of him.

 

[fordf150]

Now lets get to the port work....or more appropriately, the lack of porting. transfers are untouched, intake untouched except for the superficial grinding that stops just shy of the cylinder wall. Last picture shows the untouched exhaust port.

 

[KenJax Tree]

Lol oh boy[emoji23]

 

[fordf150]

here is the exhaust....cant tell for sure but this looks like it was maybe given a quick polish...could tell better if i cleaned it up but this cylinder is junk so im not wasting my time.

 

[jmssaws]

Looks like it didn't get cleaned up before it was put together.

 

[fordf150]

Good on you Nate. I hate seeing this stuff, especially when I know this isn't the only one. Makes me sick, at least you'll take care of him.

im not sure what i am going to do with it yet...he isnt wanting to put more money in it but he already has close to a $1000 in this saw and its unuseable. it needs a new piston and cylinder but we are contemplating putting this one back on and running it, hope for the best

 

[jmssaws]

I've seen worse pistons run just fine. Is the ring shot? What was the squish? Wondering why the compression is so low?

 

[fordf150]

Caused by air leak or lack of bevel on the ports?

What do the edges of the ports look like? Maybe they forgot to chamfer and deburr the port edges. I've seen much worse. What's the squish like with that pop up in there?

Looks like it didn't get cleaned up before it was put together.

here is the story on the piston/cylinder damage.

saw was bought new, ported when new.

soon after buying it the crank bearing went out. It was shipped back to the builder and replaced under warranty. owner was told about damage to the P&C but that it cleaned up and would be fine.
When it came back from the bearing replacement it still didnt run right and got sent back to the builder again. this time it received a new carb and shipped back. still didnt run right so it got set on a shelf with a disgusted owner for a time. The owner finally decided it was time to do something with it and get a useable saw so that is where we find ourselves today. Unfortunately i did not recieve dates or copies of the correspondence with the builder so some of the time frame and details are unconfirmed but the builder acknowledged the bearing and carb replacement to me.

 

[DSS]

So do you know who did the work?

 

[fordf150]

I've seen worse pistons run just fine. Is the ring shot? What was the squish? Wondering why the compression is so low?

i cant get a good picture but there are several deep grooves in the cylinder that run top to bottom, enough that there are ridges starting to wear on the ring from them

 

[fordf150]

So do you know who did the work?

yes...not my place to say. keep an eye on AS as the owner is a member there and may choose to step forward along with the possibility that the builder may decide to own up to the work.

 

[KenJax Tree]

The pop up says it all

 

[Moparmyway]

The pop up says it all

No, it really does not

There are a few videos around with different guys turning popups on those pistons

That being said, it does kind of narrow down the field a little