Well, my search for a builder is over... HOORAY 288!

[PA Dan]

Hurry up lol

What he said...

 

[RIDE-RED 350r]

Lol! Stand by fellas...having some issues and I believe the carb governor is the root of it..

 

[RIDE-RED 350r]

Well that didn't cure it. What it's doing is piss revving like a champ but once the bar starts eating 10" of wood it falls on it's face. All the while, it's very responsive and stable in tuning. Got to thinking and I'm going to raise the metering lever to the height I found the old one to be when I kitted the carb....stand by

 

[RIDE-RED 350r]

No dice...

Gonna have to start swapping carb and ignition in from Josh's 288 in an attempt to troubleshoot this thing. I can't fathom how it's remotely possible that my porting is causing this. The numbers are not extreme at all.

Done with it for today, I'm irritated with it right now

 

[RIDE-RED 350r]

Sitting here thinking as I cool off....I'm not sure how ignition could be effected by load, most certainly a fuel issue. That carb looked very clean inside but I still cleaned it in the parts wash tank. Starting to wonder about a couple things...possible I may have an obstruction in one of the high speed orifices?? Maybe I need to pull that carb down again and put it under the microscope.... Or, I wonder if I need a new intake block?? Fuel line seems fine, no obstructions...

I did disable the carb governor by making a gasket to plug the hole.

I guess the quickest and easiest way to confirm whether or not my carb has an issue somewhere is to see if little brother would let me swap his carb in for testing.

The friggen thing is strong up till the point it falls on it's face. It seems to be a matter of time under a load that causes it. Fuel supply seems to fall off.

 

[Mkinslow]

Sounds like you’re heading in the right direction brother

 

[RIDE-RED 350r]

I'm sure I'll get to the bottom of it. Just a bit frustrating

 

[Daserlon]

I hope that carb I sent isn't junk.

 

[RIDE-RED 350r]

I doubt it's junk Dale. I'm thinking there is something stuck inside it somewhere. I'm hoping it runs normal on Josh's carb. Then I can go about really digging into this carb to find the problem.

Just odd as it was very clean inside.

 

[Agr516]

Had an issue like this with an 028 Super recently. Turned out to be a blocked take vent. It let enough air through to rev unloaded but fell flat when it really needed to suck fuel.

 

[Daserlon]

I hope you get it figured out cuz my 268w started doing the same thing. New fuel line and filter didn't fix it. I was going to kit the carb but if its something else then I wont.

 

[traffic903]

Fuel line collapsing or pinched somewhere? Filter blockage? Vent blocked? Could it be something related to movement of the a/v? Like when loaded up and pushing on her, she is putting pressure on the intake block and causing a leak? Just some suggestions.

P.S. Breakfast is ruined now!

 

[XP_Slinger]

Fuel line collapsing or pinched somewhere? Filter blockage? Vent blocked? Could it be something related to movement of the a/v? Like when loaded up and pushing on her, she is putting pressure on the intake block and causing a leak? Just some suggestions.

P.S. Breakfast is ruined now!

Sorry about your breakfast. All good suggestions, going to install a new fuel line and pull welch plugs on the carb tomorrow.

 

[RIDE-RED 350r]

SUCCESS!!!!

Let me just start by saying, I'm afraid of welch plugs. First time I attempted to remove one I was too heavy handed and ruined what was likely a perfectly good WJ39.

Now that that's out of the way...

Got out of work today and went to work on the 288. It's been eating at me since I left it yesterday. Pulled the tank and replaced the fuel line "just because", the old one seems just fine.

Pulled the carb and tore it down. Josh helped me with the welch plugs (now I have a better idea how to work with them) and I blew out and shined a little light into every single little orifice I could find verifying that they were clear. What we are pretty sure was the problem is the little screen under the small welch plug had some deposits of some kind on it. Under that welch plug is basically the passage way for the high speed fuel to get into the carb venturi. I replaced that screen as well as the larger one on the pump diaphragm side. Also, I noticed that the pump diaphragm in the Oregon carb kit I got from my local guy seemed thinner and flimsier than the original I removed. For reasons I don't yet fully understand, I have had to re-use old carb diaphragms at times because the new ones that come in the kit aren't just right. So I swapped the original pump diaphragm back in as well.

So, all back together I set the high speed jet at 1 turn and the low at 1-1/4. It fired up after a few pulls to get everything primed again and seemed to be in a fairly descent state of tune, albeit plenty safely rich. It was spooling 12.6k no load at that point and 4-stroking quite strong. I walked down to the edge of the woods and found an 18-20" piece of seasoned hard maple with a nice big knot in it for a couple quick test cuts as the last sliver of daylight was fading fast. She flat out RUNS! Pulls very well and takes to the dogs in hardwood very well now with no loss in power! So happy about this!

Unfortunately due to being out of daylight and the real test log being down in the woods a bit, I just wasn't able to get some vid of it cutting that 24" hard maple. I'm planning to go down to Josh's after work tomorrow and get some vid for you guys.

So far, my port job seems to be pretty solid @Daserlon !

After doing that I went back to the barn and did a little more twisting on the high speed needle. It's now spooling 13.2K no-load and still 4-stroking. I don't want to get carried away chasing big tach numbers though as for one thing, my new piston and ring need to seat and the other is that I wan't it to stay safe when making long cuts in large hardwood. I'm going to get the final tune dialed in for the vid tomorrow. I don't want it leaning out due to heat-soak in those long cuts.

Once done, I'll be getting that cylinder, port matched heat shield, and 181 carb boxed up and on their way back to you Dale!

HOORAY 288!!!


@skidder you find this thread yet?

 

[Daserlon]

Thats awesome Joe! Cant wait to see some videos and ultimatly cut some big ol firewood trees with it. Thanks a bunch.

 

[Mkinslow]

What no headlights and some 288 WFO cutting action

 

[PA Dan]

Ya buddy! Good job searching for the issue! Can't wait to see the videos!

 

[traffic903]

What no headlights and some 288 WFO cutting action

I was thinking the exact same thing!! Jeez, most people own a flashlight!!

 

[RIDE-RED 350r]

Yeah but the vid would look like *s-word. Patience my friends

 

[Mkinslow]

True but the sound of it would be awesome