What's on your bench now?

Now that the 61 project is complete, it’s time to get back to rebuilding this basket case 288 I got off eBay.

Splitting cases is a breeze now that I’ve done it a couple times.

The cylinder is ready, I have the new piston/ring, gasket kit, bearings and seals, so hopefully within a week or two working on it here and there I can get it back together.

 

The stressful part (for me) is done. It’s great having access to dry ice The crank spins really nice. I’ll continue with the build tomorrow.

A couple things I overlooked that I needed for this saw:
A muffler and a flywheel. The muffler that was on it was hacked up and dented badly, not worth salvaging IMO. I ordered a cheap $20 replacement. The flywheel had a large chunk missing on one of the fins which would have put it way off balance. I found an OEM flywheel on eBay for $40 so I went with that. So next week will be the earliest I can fire it up. In the meantime there’s plenty more I can work on.

 

I've seen the race guys remove fins so I'm sure it's possible to take some off the opposing fin... . And just as I was about to comment on fresh powder you had it back together. Did ya fire it up yet?

 

lol. The 61 I put together over the weekend got fired up on Sunday evening. Seems pretty snappy with the base gasket delete and lighter piston. Still have to tune it in wood but it sounds pretty close now.

This 288 I just assembled the cases for will get started next week, as long as I didn’t miss anything else and my parts arrive in a timely manner. I debated powder coat and plastic dye, but my powder coat guy has a baby on the way and is in the nesting stage now. I don’t want to throw another chore at him. So the 288 will have sort of a beat up rat rod look once assembled. It’ll be mechanically sound, which is all I want from a work saw.

 

Miserable weather here so I put in some time on the 288 this evening. I’m still waiting for the new used OEM flywheel and aftermarket muffler, but good progress was made tonight. It never ceases to amaze me how fast these actually come together. A Meteor piston, Caber ring, and base gasket delete with Motoseal.

 

I often like the journey more than the destination.

 

I like the simplicity of the older Husqvarnas.

 

100% Agreed
Once I acquired my 61 and started working on that, my first thought was this is how working on a saw should be. Take the top cover off and everything is right there with plenty of access room. It’s like an old truck.

 

I get that completely… Once a saw is running then what? Which is why I have another bottom end coming in from eBay later this week lol.

 

Id much rather have one than a 5 series. Outside the 543xp anyway.

 

I have an Echo 501P apart and a CS400 too. Soon as it stops getting into the 20's at night and 30's fir highs, I'll get back on those.

 

This has been in the works for a while. Even though I’ve got a cheap muffler on the way, I can compare this creation against it and find out if it makes any power or just a lot of noise. This was machined from solid 304 stainless steel I still have to make some end caps, have them welded on (I’m not a good enough welder yet to do 0.050” wall on a piece I have this much time into) then machine the outlets a little bigger afterwards. As it sits, it’s actually substantially lighter than the original muffler. The machine work came out satisfactory at least.

 

Someone watches iron horse. Lol

 

Someone watched a couple of that hack's videos a year or so ago I believe if this was his abomination, he'd use a round galvanized fence pipe crushed to an oval in a vise, then weld on an old Folgers coffee can bottom for a flange...

 

Craftsmanship looks great Eric. I’ve seen a couple designs on some other groups that make me very curious. One looks like a mini expansion chamber, of course the length isn’t proper to do the job right but I’m really doubtful they are hindering performance compared to the traditional square box. Let me try and find pics.

 

Here it is.

 

That looks promising for sure. I wish I was a sheet metal guy for stuff like this. That kind of fabrication is a bit outside my wheelhouse. If that was my pipe I'd probably thread the end and try a couple different sized outlets on it - first wide open, then maybe two or three different diameter end caps. Just to see what it does throughout the RPM range.

 

Lol. Hack is right. Yours is a work of art. Your machining abilities are excellent.

 

Thanks but if it makes the saw a dog, my ability to whittle away at metal is kind of moot

 

Someone is " Iron Horse" ..

Dang , that is a work of art Eric.