I picked up several saws over the last year on Ebay and got around to going through each this past week. Hence the topic earlier about the 346XP NE oil tube. A 350 that I got in a package deal with a 455 (sold it which recovered all the money invested) started upon initial inspection. I went to go through it and the fuel line was cracked, the primer return line was disconnected and decided to delete the decompression button. I had noticed a few dark streaks on the exhaust side of the cylinder but didn't pull the muffler off to closely inspect. I started it, seemed to rev fine freely but in the cut, it'd run out of fuel within a few seconds. Back to the bench, I took off the carburetor, went through it and everything looked good. I adjusted the lever on the needle to flush (it was down slightly). As I'm putting the carb back on, I notice that the impulse line is disconnected to one barb and the impulse line is kinked shut. On this saw, it's in a tight area that's hard to visually inspect without knowing what you're looking for. I replace it and the saw resumes back to normal like it should run. Run it for 15 minutes making some test cuts and pull the spark plug, and it has an anti-seize like silver oil on the plug. Long story short, I think the impulse line being disconnected caused damaged to the piston and cylinder and running it now fixed is only exacerbating the issue. Who knows how long it was run by the previous owner with a kinked/disconnected impulse line. Any thoughts? I don't think it's worth fixing for a 350. Any ideas? I'm curious how long it'd continue to run at this stage. Needless to say, I'll be instituting a mighty vac set up to pressure test future saws.
Pull the muffler, wiggle the crank, then go through the entire fuel system if the piston isn’t shot and the bearings seem okay. They’re decent saws.
When I pulled the muffler to do a pressure test last night, the piston has some scrapes. It's not gouging but definitely marks and it's isolated to the exhaust side mostly. There is one line on the intake side of piston and cylinder. The 346 thing is an option but as I recall, you have to grind on the cylinder for the impulse line?
My .02, pull the cylinder off and clean it up using the acid free transfer removal process then put a Meteor piston and fresh ring in. Here’s Randy’s vid and this is only pt1. Check out the others if you’re doing it. 350 is definitely worth it IMO. If you want to hot rod it, get a 346 top end kit, it’ll bolt right on but for me, I’d only do that if it were to get ported.
