Author Topic: Need tuning / plug choice help for Pacific Northwest US  (Read 2928 times)

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Offline 660magnum

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When you change oil types or ratios it often changes the need for needle settings.

A chainsaw set at 90 degrees F will be lean at 50 degrees F with the same oil ratio and oil type.

A chainsaw with proper mixture setting and a gas/oil ratio of 32:1 will run rich if suddenly changed to 40:1 and dino oil like Pennzoil air cooled two stroke.

If you are going to be cutting all day with the Redmax, I wouldn't be tuning it to 15,000 and doing buried cuts.

13,500 is lean enough for all day cutting.
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Offline Old Iron Logging

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How many people have put in 8 hour plus days with that 5000?

Offline Cut4fun

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Jim that redmax could do it 15K all day.  I just chose to keep it to the fat side.

 Art told me when I got it he ran 15K for work and something like 16.8K for racing.   It ran real good at those settings as I had done both.  Before going back to 4 stroking and clearing up in the cut route.

My OE 346 liked those settings too, but I also chose the fat route on it.   ;)

Offline Cut4fun

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Whats weird to me is I ran it 13.8K in the end 32:1 klotz 100% synthetic and the plug stayed dry and coco perfect.  I have no clue how fat it was on his end with all the changes.

Offline MindFork

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660, that's a good point about 32:1 vs 40:1 -- I think that was the biggest difference.  The wet weather is probably a smaller factor. 

Art, this saw will never see an 8 hour day as long as I own it.  :)  My version of working "all day" with a saw totals about 4 hours of actual cutting time once I account for breaks, moving stuff around and into position, stopping for lunch, getting sidetracked with some other project, etc. 

If what the saw really wants is 15k, then 15k it will be!  I'm just looking for the "optimal" burn so that my plug looks good (and lasts) and the saw is happy.  It looks like I am pretty close to that optimal tune.  I think I just need to go a little more lean on H and I'll be there. 

Offline MindFork

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Kevin, I think that going 40:1 was a much bigger difference than I realized.  I'm almost back to a perfect coco-brown plug again. 

Offline EHP

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now remember what length of bar are you using as that will tell you the top rpms setting , longer the bar the lower your top rpm setting will be , longer bar causes more drag plus causes more heat into the engine so the top rpm setting is different from say a 16 inch bar to a 24 inch bar , How far are you above sea level ? , the higher you are the more you have to lean the carb down cause the lack of oxygen so a saw at sea level set proper then take it to 7,000 feet above sea level will run very rich

Offline MindFork

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now remember what length of bar are you using as that will tell you the top rpms setting , longer the bar the lower your top rpm setting will be , longer bar causes more drag plus causes more heat into the engine so the top rpm setting is different from say a 16 inch bar to a 24 inch bar , How far are you above sea level ? , the higher you are the more you have to lean the carb down cause the lack of oxygen so a saw at sea level set proper then take it to 7,000 feet above sea level will run very rich
Thanks Ed, that's really helpful information, especially the elevation part.  I am just under 500 feet above sea level, so pretty low. 

I think my biggest problem was that I am running at 40:1 instead of 32:1 like Kevin.  I leaned it out some initially, but it wasn't nearly enough. 

I got brave and kept leaning it until I got it tuned to a good point.  With this tune my plug has a nice light brown color with no fouling, it 4-strokes a little at WOT out of the wood, then cleans up in the cut.  I haven't measured the RPMs yet though.

Now that I have it tuned for my fuel mix this saw is even more impressive.  I have blasted through about 4 cords of firewood blocking, noodled a few big pieces and the saw just wants more.  My only problem now is that I am out of downed wood to cut, but soon I'll be dealing with the blow-downs out in the woods.

Thanks everyone who contributed to this thread.  I have learned a lot about tuning from this forum.

Offline Cut4fun .

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Good to hear your getting it dialed in finally.   8)

She is a runner for sure and glad it has a new home to give her the use it deserves.   

 

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