What is the best MS390 cylinder kit?

[Dub11]

Someone has to have a 290 kit lying around.

And who the hell wants a ported door stop?

 

[isaaccarlson]

Someone has to have a 290 kit lying around.

And who the hell wants a ported door stop?

The 290 kit is about 10cc smaller than the 390 kit. 55 vs 65 cc. And they are certainly not doorstops. My ported 390 has served me well for 14 years of personal and commercial use and has never missed a beat. It has always started and run perfectly, even in sub zero temps when I thought the starter cord might break. It has cut at least several hundred cord of wood and still runs great. I bought a 372 yesterday out of curiosity (I certainly don't need it). I have heard for years that the 372 was the greatest saw ever, or some such talk. I almost left it there because my stihl 390 runs so well, but curiosity got the better of me and I brought it home, only to be completely disappointed by the lack of power. (It's not ported) I'll port it and hopefully then it'll put a smile on my face.

Ported ms390's are no joke when done right.

 

[drf256]

They do run well. A bigger pita to port because of less leeway to do things by the nature of a clamshell design.

Do they make a popup now? When they didn’t, I made my own.

 

[Maintenance Chief]

I put together one for one of our maintenance shops. The pop up from cross was decent and with a muffler mod it performed well.

 

[isaaccarlson]

I cut the "ears" off the piston below the pin boss where it is a full circle. It helps flow. I did that on my 350 too.

 

[lehman live edge slab]

The 290 kit is about 10cc smaller than the 390 kit. 55 vs 65 cc. And they are certainly not doorstops. My ported 390 has served me well for 14 years of personal and commercial use and has never missed a beat. It has always started and run perfectly, even in sub zero temps when I thought the starter cord might break. It has cut at least several hundred cord of wood and still runs great. I bought a 372 yesterday out of curiosity (I certainly don't need it). I have heard for years that the 372 was the greatest saw ever, or some such talk. I almost left it there because my stihl 390 runs so well, but curiosity got the better of me and I brought it home, only to be completely disappointed by the lack of power. (It's not ported) I'll port it and hopefully then it'll put a smile on my face.

Ported ms390's are no joke when done right.

Actually nothing wrong with a 290 they actually cut pretty well and will take a load of abuse. Seen plenty of tree guys start with a few 290’s when they start on their own

 

[lehman live edge slab]

Few of the Chinese 390 kits I ran were worse than a stock 290 of course no port cleaning or anything was done that I know of. If the owner doesn’t care that or stays a 390 I have an all oem low hour 290 at home that was smashed In the bucket of a tractor I’ll send for shipping cost. 390 kits are hard because everyone out there wants to convert so good used oem is hard to find. This 290 was literally 2 weeks old when he picked up a log with the tractor bucket but didn’t realize it wasn’t bridged across and one end went in on saw. Told him bet he quit doing that, he said nope still carry saw in the bucket

 

[cus_deluxe]

Few of the Chinese 390 kits I ran were worse than a stock 290 of course no port cleaning or anything was done that I know of. If the owner doesn’t care that or stays a 390 I have an all oem low hour 290 at home that was smashed In the bucket of a tractor I’ll send for shipping cost. 390 kits are hard because everyone out there wants to convert so good used oem is hard to find. This 290 was literally 2 weeks old when he picked up a log with the tractor bucket but didn’t realize it wasn’t bridged across and one end went in on saw. Told him bet he quit doing that, he said nope still carry saw in the bucket

was workin with a buddy and forgot to take my polesaw out of dump trailer. proceeded to smash the whole top of a big hemlock in trailer using a loader w grapple. didnt realize it until i could t find pole saw then i put it together…. thankfully place where i dumped had a loader to dig through the pile. somehow it was undamaged. still cant believe it but i always check to make sure trailer is empty now haha

 

[lehman live edge slab]

was workin with a buddy and forgot to take my polesaw out of dump trailer. proceeded to smash the whole top of a big hemlock in trailer using a loader w grapple. didnt realize it until i could t find pole saw then i put it together…. thankfully place where i dumped had a loader to dig through the pile. somehow it was undamaged. still cant believe it but i always check to make sure trailer is empty now haha

Yours is an accident, unfortunately this guy always carries his saw that way and purposely picks up logs at the same time to carry to a pile to cut. I suggested a saw holder on the tractor but he likes doing it this way. Just told him he can bring me all the smashed ones

 

[Onan18]

They do run well. A bigger pita to port because of less leeway to do things by the nature of a clamshell design.

Do they make a popup now? When they didn’t, I made my own.

View attachment 358124 View attachment 358125 View attachment 358126 View attachment 358127 View attachment 358128

Show off.

 

[stretch5881]

About 5 years ago I upgraded a ms290 with a hyway 390 kit and cross popup. He uses it for firewood every year, and now, his grandson cuts stumps with it before stump grinding. They really like it.

 

[Duke Thieroff]

Thanks Randy!

 

[srcarr52]

They do run well. A bigger pita to port because of less leeway to do things by the nature of a clamshell design.

Do they make a popup now? When they didn’t, I made my own.

View attachment 358124 View attachment 358125 View attachment 358126 View attachment 358127 View attachment 358128

I along with Nathan @Black Dog Chainsaw prototyped a 390 pop up for the HLS guys. We couldn't make it wide as I'd like as it needed to work in all the AM cylinders we had. I think this became the Cross one?

 

[Mastermind]

Thanks Randy!

Just now looking it over Chris. The damn thing looks really....really good.

 

[farminkarman]

Just now looking it over Chris. The damn thing looks really....really good.

The 562xp p&c I got from him looks nicer than OEM.

 

[Mastermind]

The 562xp p&c I got from him looks nicer than OEM.

I believe this jug is as good, if not better than the original one.

 

[Agent Smith]

I believe this jug is as good, if not better than the original one.

Will you fling up a couple pics? Not being a smart-ass. I'd like to see the quality as sometimes I get stuff from friends across my bench where oem is just too expensive and if duke's is now a viable option, I'm interested. It's been awhile but when I did dabble in the aftermarket world, I was disgusted with what arrived.

 

[Nutball]

How about the stock numbers too?

 

[Mastermind]

Will you fling up a couple pics? Not being a smart-ass. I'd like to see the quality as sometimes I get stuff from friends across my bench where oem is just too expensive and if duke's is now a viable option, I'm interested. It's been awhile but when I did dabble in the aftermarket world, I was disgusted with what arrived.

I'll get some tomorrow.

How about the stock numbers too?

I'm not porting it....so I won't be checking timing numbers.

 

[mainer_in_ak]

Yep, hard to do better than Duke on 290/310/390 parts. His prices are good and his shipping is fast.

He shipped me lots of goodies for both an ms 310 build and a cs 6700 build

Those lil-red barn pop-ups for this 290/310/390 series are purdy good.