The Cut Report - After the Bench

[redline4]

Finally completed my approximately 9 month long 357xp rebuild.
I received the saw disassembled in a box.
Pto bearing was destroyed.
I used Koyo bearings, oem gaskets and a Meteor piston.
The squish band was pretty rough and pitted.
A trip up to @Stump Shot and Steve had set me up with a nice clean band and base.
I did some port work for the first time and believe it or not, the damn thing actually runs.



I plan to leave it as is for now, but may make some changes later on

 

[Stump Shot]

Finally completed my approximately 9 month long 357xp rebuild.
I received the saw disassembled in a box.
Pto bearing was destroyed.
I used Koyo bearings, oem gaskets and a Meteor piston.
The squish band was pretty rough and pitted.
A trip up to @Stump Shot and Steve had set me up with a nice clean band and base.
I did some port work for the first time and believe it or not, the damn thing actually runs.
View attachment 279419


I plan to leave it as is for now, but may make some changes later on

Good job Ed!

 

[Stevetheboatguy]

Finally completed my approximately 9 month long 357xp rebuild.
I received the saw disassembled in a box.
Pto bearing was destroyed.
I used Koyo bearings, oem gaskets and a Meteor piston.
The squish band was pretty rough and pitted.
A trip up to @Stump Shot and Steve had set me up with a nice clean band and base.
I did some port work for the first time and believe it or not, the damn thing actually runs.
View attachment 279419


I plan to leave it as is for now, but may make some changes later on

Did you shave anything off the flywheel key? Sounds good.



Steven

 

[redline4]

Good job Ed!

Thanks Steve!

Did you shave anything off the flywheel key? Sounds good.



Steven

Yes, I forgot about that. I filed roughly 1/3 of it off. Stupid key cast into the flywheel..

 

[Stump Shot]

Been some time since I posted here, with a "minty" 272xp that I gave a woods port job to, I had to say how well it came out. I guess the time I spent with this model is starting to show. Lol Otherwise saw was in perfect condition other than age, so seals, fuel line and filter and a diaphragm kit in the carburetor were in order to protect the new ported cylinder. Sure was nice and even fun to work on such a fine example of an old power saw. Anyways, I let you take a look at it and see what you think.

Have some other "minty" saws coming up in the future of both major brands, I don't know where you guys are finding these rare beaut's, they sure are some dandy's though.

 

[Stump Shot]

Haven't fired my 550xpg since last summer, fire it though I did After a bit of burbling, she took right off like a champ and cut like the dickens. Really am blessed to have such a good cutting rig that's still easy on an old man.

 

[GCJenks204]

Haven't fired my 550xpg since last summer, fire it though I did After a bit of burbling, she took right off like a champ and cut like the dickens. Really am blessed to have such a good cutting rig that's still easy on an old man.
View attachment 287449

Did you ever tickle it’s tonsils or still stock?

 

[Stump Shot]

Did you ever tickle it’s tonsils or still stock?

Still stock.
I've been happy mostly with its performance, one thing that would push me towards that is giving it some more torque and eliminate it hanging on the odd random tooth and being near helpless to get off'n it.
Biggest trick will be scheduling it in, might have to send it out so it actually gets done. Lol

 

[Stump Shot]

Just had to do a report on this 353 with 346 top end and 357 intake with Zama carburetor. Have to say am well pleased how well it turned out. Which makes up for the few troubles along the way, which led me to name the saw "Lucky". First off, he got delivered to the wrong address. Took a week for that to clear itself up. Then everything went absolutely perfect through the build right up to putting the top on, I had ordered a 357 top instead of a 353, when I was acquiring the intake stuffs doh! But, all's well that ends well and "Lucky" is one good runner.

Didn't take much pictures along the way but here's one of the finished machining work.

 

[Saber_DD]

Well, this is the first time trying to put a video up. Hope it works .
Thank you Steve. What an impressive little beast “Lucky” is!!!

 

[Stump Shot]

Well, this is the first time trying to put a video up. Hope it works .
Thank you Steve. What an impressive little beast “Lucky” is!!!

Looks like Lucky's cutting pretty good for you.

 

[Stump Shot]

Figured I might as well resurrect this thread now that I've done been resurrected twice now, once with bad innards and once with the covid. Needless to say it had me off for quite a spell. Anyway enough about that, lets see something on a power saw.

This 359 with 357 top end turned out nice, all original parts other than being ported. It turns out different than a straight 357 build, not quite the top end but has more grunt or torque to buck in and cut. If one wanted a longer bar version of these saws this is a good way to go. In the vidja the saw is running a 7 pin sprocket, 24" bar with a new Oregon DPX semi skip chain. The wood is frozen Ash hardwood. I really like how these turn out for a firewood/work saw. I also did a 357 earlier for @Saber_DD maybe once he gets to messing with them he can give a comparison of them.

 

[markds2]

Figured I might as well resurrect this thread now that I've done been resurrected twice now, once with bad innards and once with the covid. Needless to say it had me off for quite a spell. Anyway enough about that, lets see something on a power saw.

This 359 with 357 top end turned out nice, all original parts other than being ported. It turns out different than a straight 357 build, not quite the top end but has more grunt or torque to buck in and cut. If one wanted a longer bar version of these saws this is a good way to go. In the vidja the saw is running a 7 pin sprocket, 24" bar with a new Oregon DPX semi skip chain. The wood is frozen Ash hardwood. I really like how these turn out for a firewood/work saw. I also did a 357 earlier for @Saber_DD maybe once he gets to messing with them he can give a comparison of them.

@jcf86mod

 

[jcf86mod]

Thanks @markds2, can't wait

 

[Stump Shot]

Well, even though I posted this in the McCulloch thread I'll re-post it here just to talk about how this old saw pulls like one much much larger. Yes these oldies don't have quite the speed as a new one and I can't give them that kinda speed without knocking the bottom end outta the thing, but cut RPM can/was improved substantially and the pull is something you have to experience for yourself, the vidja won't show that unfortunately. While these old saws aren't everyone's cup of tea, for those that like them, some tinkering can pay off.

 

[Stump Shot]

This is a beautiful example of a survivor MS660 Stihl that you don't see quite often. So this is proof that examples like this are still out there to be found. You guys get out there and get to looking!
It had a full woods port done to it and the response was good it pulled like a freight train. I had a hard time not mimicking the pro porters stance in the vidja. Lol
Note: Some minor fuel system issues from storage is what lead this saw to be in such nice shape. So if you're willing to tackle a little work, you could end up with a dandy saw like this on the cheap.

 

[Maintenance Chief]

This is a beautiful example of a survivor MS660 Stihl that you don't see quite often. So this is proof that examples like this are still out there to be found. You guys get out there and get to looking!
It had a full woods port done to it and the response was good it pulled like a freight train. I had a hard time not mimicking the pro porters stance in the vidja. Lol
Note: Some minor fuel system issues from storage is what lead this saw to be in such nice shape. So if you're willing to tackle a little work, you could end up with a dandy saw like this on the cheap.

Good thing the dogs stuck! That thing was gonna suck you into the log.

 

[Stump Shot]

Good thing the dogs stuck! That thing was gonna suck you into the log.

It was a bear to hang onto for sure.

 

[Stevetheboatguy]

Been a long time waiting on this one. I finally got a chance to swap out the NPW kit on muh 066. It got replaced with a mint bore oem jug that a friend did his thing to. And a new old stock oem piston.

Very impressed with how it runs. Thing just doesn't lay down. Holds rpms in the cut very well. Night and day difference. Can't wait to get some real run time on it now.




Edit: 20" bar is just for breaking it in. Will be wearing a 28" for pretty much the rest of it's life after a few more tanks.


Steven

 

[MG2186]

This is a good thread and I never paid any attention to, I’ll give it couple adds.
First off is a 572 that a dealer couldn’t make run. It’d run but the hotter it got its start cutting out, Husky kept telling them to change the carb, 4 new carbs and no fixy they gave the guy a new saw. It came to me in pieces, so I couldn’t pressure/vac test it. Upon assembly I noticed one ignition wire rubber bare so I repaired that, put it all together with no base gasket and a muffler mod and got it running to figure out what it was doing. Yup once hot it started cutting out. Ordered a new coil and boom ran great. So I decided to port it, and this was a learning experience for me after taking the cylinder off and raising the transfers 3 times it finally came to life. I’m not much for taking pictures and videos but I’m happy with it and I think Lee will be too.