My 346 dissapointment.

sawinredneck

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As Jeff brought up in another thread, he got to play with some of my toys this last weekend.
My 046BB puts a smile on my face everytime I use it, and I think he was suprised at how it ran.
The bi shocker was when I handed him my modded 346xp and 350xp. I will try not to taint this and let Jeff give his unbiased opinion before I say too much. But I have done the same work to both saws, and am not that impressed with the 346 myself!
 
What did you do to the 346 ?
mostly curious if you raised the outlet much ?
I'm planning on giving my 346 a face lift so all info about this is appreciated :D
My plan is to go for torque ,,,, as much as possible in a 45cc saw :P
 
The 346 already turns a helluva lot of RPM's,so if you opened the ports up too much you probably did more harm than good
 
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What did you do to the 346 ?
mostly curious if you raised the outlet much ?
I'm planning on giving my 346 a face lift so all info about this is appreciated :D
My plan is to go for torque ,,,, as much as possible in a 45cc saw :P

Been a while had to go llok again.

When it was all said and done the transfers where ground out and blended to almost a sliver. The intake and exhaust ports where widdened .080"-.100". The intake port was lowered and the exhaust port was raised both by .040".
I did my homework, and all of these numbers were verified to work on this saw by MANY saw builders. I had a heck of a time geting the carb se right. I finally got POD one day and deciced to wind it up and if it blew it blew, it seems happiest there? Got a nice bun on the plug, nice film of oil on the piston, so game on!
 
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The 346 already turns a helluva lot of RPM's,so if you opened the ports up too much you probably did more harm than good

I have been told you can widden the ports .140" and raise and lower them .060" before you run into timming issues.

I did do a litle research.
 
Dean claims he got one to cut right beside a Stihl 440...I don't believe him..I left the transfer ports in mine alone and just made each port wider..I felt a huge difference,but not that big..
 
How much have you run it? All of mine took an extra long time to break in and come into power. I was quite disappointed by my last 346 and hardly ever used it for almost a year. Then it got used regularly for a couple weeks while I had the other one on the bench and it's really impressed me. It's just about as strong as my older one now.
 
In all the time I have been on the net this is the first time I can remember anyone having any disappointment with a 346!!!
 
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This saw has a shady history. I bought it used from a guy on AS that bought it online. He was sorryly disapointed with it.I got it and was even more so dissapointed. Come to find out, after modding it I had to cut the limit tabs off the carb so I could LEAN it out and get it o run right!! It was that acked up from the factory!
But to answer you're question Brian, I have 6-8 tanks in it since the second port job. It may make gains yet, but I doubt it wil live up to the hype.
And no Paul, I don't see any amount of prot work making it comparable to a 361, maybe a 5100, but now way a 440!!! Unless it's in small wood!!!
Keep in mind I am running an 18" bar on this saw, I figure I am carrying around the weight, I want t cut something with it!
 
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In all the time I have been on the net this is the first time I can remember anyone having any disappointment with a 346!!!

Sorry Rich!!! What can I say, you always did know I was an odd duck:lol:

I am waiting for Riverrat to chime in and give his review so you all don't think I am more than normaly crazy!;)
 
.325" chain? 7 or 8 pin sprocket? My original badass 346 pulls a .325", 8 pin with authority. My newer one will cut just as fast but it needs a 7 pin to keep it in the powerband.
 
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.325 with a 7 pin.I have been told to step up to 3/8's, but..............
 
Rich, if it won't pull .325 with a 7 pin, then it's weak.

And people don't sell low hour, used professional saws unless they are weak. ;)
 
And people don't sell low hour, used professional saws unless they are weak. ;)


Disagree there Brian.................people have all sorts of reason for selling good saws or whatever.

When you need money the hobbies or toys are sometimes the first to go!!!
 
Flyboy, I ran an 044 like that once....:D
Seriously, Brian's PP346 seemed dandy whenhe brought it out and the stock e-tech 346 I bought for my dad impressed me plenty...No it wasn't equal to a good 70cc saw but a whole lot of performance for the weight.
 
Between the 346 & 350 the 346 had a much better tone to it. It sounded real good. It was faster than the 350 but not enough for you to notice with out both saws being there.
Oh, the suprising thing for me was the 350 was running safety chain.
 
In all the time I have been on the net this is the first time I can remember anyone having any disappointment with a 346!!!

Me neither. Both of mine will easily keep up with a stock 044, in 16 inch wood or less. They cut about 50% faster than stock. Both pull an 18 inch bar, with .325 and 8 tooth with authority....and only lag the ehp 5100 by a tad.
 
I ran Woodsjunkies 346 at a GTG,damned fast little saw.That one would no doubt cut with an 044 Stihl .

I'm certainly not an expert on the things but were it I,I believe I would go for the torque in port alterations ,those things already have the RPM's.
 
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That is why I widdend them so much Al, that is where the tourqe gains come from, as I have been told at least.
I know they can be made into bad as saws, I just think this one was a lemon, and my point is I can make mods to a cheapie homeowner saw and have it keep up with the pro saw for a lot less money!!!
 
My stock 346 is on its 5th tank of gas. The ground men cant start it and always flood it. I make it to the ground, take off the carb air filter and pull it fast to get it to start. Runs fine the rest of the day. Its been flooding alot but no more body slamming it to the ground I promised AL.
 
My stock 346 is on its 5th tank of gas. The ground men cant start it and always flood it. I make it to the ground, take off the carb air filter and pull it fast to get it to start. Runs fine the rest of the day. Its been flooding alot but no more body slamming it to the ground I promised AL.

My 346xpg likes one pull with choke and one in high idle and of she goes :)
 
Roger that skipp. THanks for the pointer. I'll try and employ it tommorrow let ya know how it goes. The strating sequence I just aint figured out yet. thanks again.
 
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