POULAN The Official Poulan Thread

[Llama]

Hey guys first timer here with some experience and lots of research. I'm working on a 2003 Poulan 2375LE wild thing. Did a little porting on the exhaust and reduced the squish to about 0.022". Not sure if the LE stands for limited edition or low emissions. It's a non strato.

Anyways the cylinder looked good, most of the cross hatch marks were visible, I bought a new "husqavarna" ring as the old one was roughly 0.030" end gap. The new one is a little over 0.025" which was disappointing. Maybe normal? Maybe it's the cylinder, maybe it's the ring. Compression is only in the 135psi range at best. Compared to 120psi before.

I'm thinking instead of buying a new cylinder I can buy a 41.5mm ring and file it down to about 0.007" gap. I'd have to take off roughly .040" from the ends and the radius or curvature might not match the cylinder perfectly. I think it would be really close and just take a little longer to break in. Has anyone done this before?

 

[Mastermind]

Hey guys first timer here with some experience and lots of research. I'm working on a 2003 Poulan 2375LE wild thing. Did a little porting on the exhaust and reduced the squish to about 0.022". Not sure if the LE stands for limited edition or low emissions. It's a non strato.

Anyways the cylinder looked good, most of the cross hatch marks were visible, I bought a new "husqavarna" ring as the old one was roughly 0.030" end gap. The new one is a little over 0.025" which was disappointing. Maybe normal? Maybe it's the cylinder, maybe it's the ring. Compression is only in the 135psi range at best. Compared to 120psi before.

I'm thinking instead of buying a new cylinder I can buy a 41.5mm ring and file it down to about 0.007" gap. I'd have to take off roughly .040" from the ends and the radius or curvature might not match the cylinder perfectly. I think it would be really close and just take a little longer to break in. Has anyone done this before?

I don't want to discourage you from working on saws at all...but. This era of Poulan is not a saw I'd spend much time or money on.

 

[Llama]

I don't want to discourage you from working on saws at all...but. This era of Poulan is not a saw I'd spend much time or money on.

Yeah I hear you there, I just got this for free and wanted to try porting and adding compression, this being my first. It's mostly about the learning experience. Just wanted to bump that compression up and see how it reacts, maybe weld a pop up on there too. I've realized there's not much to get out of this and I'll move onto some better and bigger saws that will benefit a lot more from this work. Seeing some wild thing challenges got me going and here I am haha

I've got maybe $20 into it with the new ring and carb rebuild. Might spend another $15 for an oversize ring and see what happens

 

[Mastermind]

Yeah I hear you there, I just got this for free and wanted to try porting and adding compression, this being my first. It's mostly about the learning experience. Just wanted to bump that compression up and see how it reacts, maybe weld a pop up on there too. I've realized there's not much to get out of this and I'll move onto some better and bigger saws that will benefit a lot more from this work. Seeing some wild thing challenges got me going and here I am haha

I've got maybe $20 into it with the new ring and carb rebuild. Might spend another $15 for an oversize ring and see what happens

Worth a try.

 

[hacskaroly]

Did a little porting on the exhaust and reduced the squish to about 0.022

Here is a video of a guy who ported his Poulan WildThing, might be some tidbits of information in there for you.

 

[Llama]

Here is a video of a guy who ported his Poulan WildThing, might be some tidbits of information in there for you.

Thanks, I did watch that earlier and got some ideas for it. I think he was aiming for 155 duration on both exhaust and intake. Which would be 102.5 on exhaust and 77.5 on intake. Intake seems a little high for a 42cc, I was aiming for 75 but went over at 76.5.

And to add to the possibly low compression, I think the valve core on my compression tester is failing, it keeps reading lower on everything. When I pump air into it from my air compressor it reads about the same as the regulator so the gauge itself is good

 

[FergusonTO35]

135 psi is bog standard on these things. Tune it properly and use a good chain and you will find they are actually quite capable little saws. But yeah, probably not something you’d want to put a ton of time or money into.

 

[Llama]

Got a new valve core on the compression tester and it's back to about 130psi. Still a little disappointed with the low squish and big ring end gap negating that. Just ordered an oversized ring for about $10, I'll check back later when that's all dialed in and installed

 

[Llama]

Got the new ring installed. Wasn't quite as easy as I imagined, obviously the ring won't fit in the cylinder to measure since it's oversized. So I took a few swipes at the ends and before I knew it I was at .009" gap, was aiming for .007" but good enough. Came out to a whopping 145psi lol.

Last week while waiting for parts and stuff I had nothing else to do and welded a dual port exhaust. This was minimal effort work but it looks aggressive and breathes much better now, probably the most effective mod I did to it and also the easiest.

 

[JIMG]

The case on this patched together machine is Poulan badged, does that count? This ugly old 455 with pioneer parts is today's favorite. I had to weld a few holes, including under that patch of primer on the gas tank. Those Boyesen reeds are a nice upgrade. Very improved idle and spool up.

 

[Squareground3691]

The case on this patched together machine is Poulan badged, does that count? This ugly old 455 with pioneer parts is today's favorite. I had to weld a few holes, including under that patch of primer on the gas tank. Those Boyesen reeds are a nice upgrade. Very improved idle and spool up.

Those saws are strong runners , 405 BP

 

[heimannm]

This came home with me from the PNW GTG last month, I guess it could go in either the Poulan or Pioneer thread.











Even with a compression release, you'd better be serious when you pull the starter rope...

Mark

 

[hacskaroly]

That looks like a beast!!

 

[Squareground3691]

That looks like a beast!!

They pull real nice,

 

[FergusonTO35]

This came home with me from the PNW GTG last month, I guess it could go in either the Poulan or Pioneer thread.

View attachment 464048

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Even with a compression release, you'd better be serious when you pull the starter rope...

Mark

Handsome saw you have there, another victim of the Elux/Husqvarna steamroller!

 

[Hoggwood]

I’ve been clearing my way into an old honey hole that I left to grow over for a few years. I’ll end up with all the D.Fir I can burn next year before I even get to the good stuff. Had the 3000 and 4400 out. The large frame CounterVibes are very, very rare out here in BC. A few survived on Vancouver Island and I have only seen one for sale a bit closer in the Kootenays in 12 years of looking. I don’t run the 4400 very often, but it sure chucks the chips. Threw in a jug of vintage 40 year old heavy red bar oil from Canadian Tire. Bloody slaughter.
Nonetheless, looking for a tensioner pin assembly north of the 49th if anyone has a pile of old carcasses and a love for Canada Post. PO somehow butchered the original one and it worked its way out in the bush. I should have known better. I have one sourced from the States but shipping is off the charts atm. Tried my bin of random tensioner assembles without success. Could cobble something together.