Huskavarna Conversions
11-02-2002, 04:19 PM
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Huskavarna Conversions
Anyone out there with experience in modifying this brand chain saw to commit aviation?
If so is the conversion easy?Much machining?Is the quality of the engine worth the conversion?Weight of a converted 44cc unit?Anyone supplying parts.......ie mufflers prop drivers etc........?
Thanks Kevin
If so is the conversion easy?Much machining?Is the quality of the engine worth the conversion?Weight of a converted 44cc unit?Anyone supplying parts.......ie mufflers prop drivers etc........?
Thanks Kevin
11-02-2002, 07:58 PM
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Huskavarna Conversions
KEVIN ALL TESE KIND OF ENGINES (HOMELITE, POULAN HUSQVARNA, ETC... ) CAN BE CONVERTED WITH A LITTLE CREATIVITY AND A LOT OF PATIENCE . YOU ALSO GET THE ADDED DEPENDABILITY OF GAS ENGINES AND THEIR GAS CONSUPTION IS MINIMAL.....
11-02-2002, 08:52 PM
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Thanks TRI......maybe I should have been a little more specific....I use gas engines exclusively and have converted a few including installing electronic ignitions.I am more specifically interested in facts on the Husky as to quality and ease of conversion to try to advise a friend who is contemplating his first gasser and has a line on new stripped Husky engines.My casual understanding is that Huskavarna make a quality product and that their basic parts are even used by some manufacturers of model gas engines like FPE for example.
11-02-2002, 09:01 PM
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husky 44 and 40
I have both the 44 &40 they are good runners it takes quitabit of machineing and cutting the case down then make a mount and muffler all total lots of work but you will end up with a decent engine but limited on size.liter than a us 41 and more money because of the ign. unless you can make your own.so you wont save any money but you can save some weight
11-03-2002, 07:13 PM
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Huskavarna Conversions
Kevin,
From the standpoint of quality, Stihl, husq. and Dolmar all are similar in terms of the way the perform in saws and other power equipment. I also have priced replacement parts (cylinder/piston sets) and they are in line with each other. I would say any of these would give a similar performance in a conversion.
That being said, the lighter the better - cant say which are lighter, but I bet they again are similar.
Id say to try one out!
And finding a muffler is NEVER a problem. Just trace the exhaust and fax it to Jim Bisson. He will make up what you need and probably less than a stock muffler from someone else. I have had him make up many, many mufflers for me.
http://www.bissonmufflers.com/en/index.html
Andrew
From the standpoint of quality, Stihl, husq. and Dolmar all are similar in terms of the way the perform in saws and other power equipment. I also have priced replacement parts (cylinder/piston sets) and they are in line with each other. I would say any of these would give a similar performance in a conversion.
That being said, the lighter the better - cant say which are lighter, but I bet they again are similar.
Id say to try one out!
And finding a muffler is NEVER a problem. Just trace the exhaust and fax it to Jim Bisson. He will make up what you need and probably less than a stock muffler from someone else. I have had him make up many, many mufflers for me.
http://www.bissonmufflers.com/en/index.html
Andrew
11-03-2002, 09:54 PM
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Thanks Andrew.Im actually researching the conversion of Huskys in particular for another zone member who is at that painful stage of pricing the options of his first gasser experiment and was asking about conversions of these saws in particular.I have worked with Jim on custom mufflers,and isnt it handy having him here too?This chap is located in Sudbury.......maybe I should refer him to you....... 
11-03-2002, 10:06 PM
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Huskavarna Conversions
Kevin,
I dont know if Jim gives "us" deals or not, but I have had him make me about 6 muff's in the last season alone, and he (and his son) is allways fast, and good to deal with. For instance, when I built my twin from Tecumseh cylinders (those are quite heavy) I faxed him the space I had in the cowl, the tracing of the exhaust and two weeks later I had a set of mufflers. Yes, it is nice to be able to do that.
I did go price Husky, Stihl and Makita/Dolmar jugs, went with the Dolmar just becuase they are well used (fox, brison, etc) but the husky and stihl were allmost the same cost for the same size. Talking to the saw guys you get the picture they are all similar in terms of power.
I would do a husky conversion in a heartbeat if I happened to get a "deal" on a bare engine.
Andrew
I dont know if Jim gives "us" deals or not, but I have had him make me about 6 muff's in the last season alone, and he (and his son) is allways fast, and good to deal with. For instance, when I built my twin from Tecumseh cylinders (those are quite heavy) I faxed him the space I had in the cowl, the tracing of the exhaust and two weeks later I had a set of mufflers. Yes, it is nice to be able to do that.
I did go price Husky, Stihl and Makita/Dolmar jugs, went with the Dolmar just becuase they are well used (fox, brison, etc) but the husky and stihl were allmost the same cost for the same size. Talking to the saw guys you get the picture they are all similar in terms of power.
I would do a husky conversion in a heartbeat if I happened to get a "deal" on a bare engine.
Andrew
11-03-2002, 11:31 PM
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From what I saw, chainsaws starts to get exponentially pricier once you go above 50cc. Unless I can find a source for reasonably priced reconditioned units, it doesn't look any less expensive than buying big block gassers made specifically for RC.
11-03-2002, 11:54 PM
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Well Andrew and I are talking $C,but I agree that if you buy a new short block and add a Ch or RC IGN to it you are going to find yourself in the same territory as buying a brand name electronic ignition engine.The gent I was doing the homework for is looking in the 40cc range,and its awful hard to beat say the new ZDZ sport package which comes complete with the battery,switch,prop, charger and muffler for $430!
11-04-2002, 12:08 AM
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Volfy,
YEs, that is true if you are looking at new parts. For a single, I allways get a good shape saw or whatever for next to nothing at a local small engine shop. Some guys break a small part and dont want to fix it, so it ends up sitting there and eventually the shop gets rid of the abandoned equipment (after over a year) and you can pick up deals. For instance, I bought two Homelite 3.6 cubic inch saws (360XL model) for $50 Canadian. The one saw I fixed up into a running model with $10 worth of parts, and the other will convert to aircraft use. Thats a deal.
On the other hand, I paid about $1000 Canadian for the parts (dolmar) to make my 4.8 twin (C&H synchro spark, Bisson mufflers, walbro SDC80 carb, homelite reed) and machined my own 4340 crank and 6061-T6 crankcase and mount. The fox or Brisson 4.8 is over twice that amount, so I saved a lot of $$. If I sourced the parts used I would have saved even more.
Part of this is the fun of doing it for yourself, and even if it costs the same as a bought engine, you can say "I did that", ie, satisfaction.
Andrew
YEs, that is true if you are looking at new parts. For a single, I allways get a good shape saw or whatever for next to nothing at a local small engine shop. Some guys break a small part and dont want to fix it, so it ends up sitting there and eventually the shop gets rid of the abandoned equipment (after over a year) and you can pick up deals. For instance, I bought two Homelite 3.6 cubic inch saws (360XL model) for $50 Canadian. The one saw I fixed up into a running model with $10 worth of parts, and the other will convert to aircraft use. Thats a deal.
On the other hand, I paid about $1000 Canadian for the parts (dolmar) to make my 4.8 twin (C&H synchro spark, Bisson mufflers, walbro SDC80 carb, homelite reed) and machined my own 4340 crank and 6061-T6 crankcase and mount. The fox or Brisson 4.8 is over twice that amount, so I saved a lot of $$. If I sourced the parts used I would have saved even more.
Part of this is the fun of doing it for yourself, and even if it costs the same as a bought engine, you can say "I did that", ie, satisfaction.
Andrew
11-04-2002, 12:52 PM
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Husq Conversion
As a warbird flyer I really like chainsaw conversions. Used saws are easy to find , they offer the nose weight warbirds generally require and they run like industrial machines.
The picture below is a Husq 272 XP I have broken down, you can clearly see the chopping I have done to the casing with my band saw.
The picture below is a Husq 272 XP I have broken down, you can clearly see the chopping I have done to the casing with my band saw.
11-04-2002, 09:21 PM
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That case looks like the larger Poulan chainsaws I looked at. I got quite a bit excited when I found out that Poulan makes 54cc and 60cc chainsaws. But when I dug up the exploded diagrams on these, the crankcase looks to be very large metal castings that seem to double as structural housing of the chainsaw. I wasn't too sure how much I can shave off the aluminum castings without compromising the structual integrity. This is very much unlike the big-ol'-cylinder-with-a-little-bottom-plate construction of the smaller Poulans.
That big 80cc Husky that flipflop converted looks very good though.
Along with my last order from Carr Precision, I received what looks like the latest newsletter from C-H Ignitions. They listed just about every brand of engines, both RC specific and weedies, that they have a kit for. They did mention Husqvana as being well known for their rugged reliability and raw power. They say it's the brand to watich for more RC conversions in the near future, but listed no specifics.
Now that C-H has a kit for the Poulan 46cc, I just ordered another one from Lawnstation.com to play with. Having gone through the gyrations of trying to find conversion parts for a Cub Kadet weedie and hitting dead ends every where, I would rather stick to the popular conversions. It's either that or bite the bullet and buy a CNC mill/lathe.
That big 80cc Husky that flipflop converted looks very good though.
Along with my last order from Carr Precision, I received what looks like the latest newsletter from C-H Ignitions. They listed just about every brand of engines, both RC specific and weedies, that they have a kit for. They did mention Husqvana as being well known for their rugged reliability and raw power. They say it's the brand to watich for more RC conversions in the near future, but listed no specifics.
Now that C-H has a kit for the Poulan 46cc, I just ordered another one from Lawnstation.com to play with. Having gone through the gyrations of trying to find conversion parts for a Cub Kadet weedie and hitting dead ends every where, I would rather stick to the popular conversions. It's either that or bite the bullet and buy a CNC mill/lathe.
11-05-2002, 12:14 AM
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that big husky
That big Husky that I converted looked about like ngr1s xp272 before I started. Cutting the saw cases away from the crankcase is nothing to be afraid of. You can do a good bit of it with a small bandsaw. I had to do a small amount of milling for the backplate mount and to remove a little more weight (not much weight though, these cases are magnesium) I actually prefer the motors that you have to cut out of the case, they come out lighter than the easy to convert saws like the Poulan 46 which has to use the Hanger Nine mounts. My Poulan 54 weighs 3.5lbs ready to go. Lambert has a Poulan 3.7 that hauls his 16lb Midwest Cap straight up forever at half throttle.
11-05-2002, 12:40 AM
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That's good news. I don't mind spending the time cutting the case, if it ends up lighter. Now all I have to do is find a source for the Poulan 3.7 (60cc). Lawnstation.com only shows the 54cc.
11-05-2002, 01:50 PM
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I have a 3.7 in the form of a Husky 61 saw. Is that the good one? I have it stripped down and will eventually send it off to RC Ignition to do the dirty work.
11-14-2002, 04:09 AM
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My conversions
I currently have one very successful "saw" conversion in the form of a 36cc homelite. This was an old XL-1 saw and was a fairly straightforward conversion. These saws are a dime a dozen at any small engine repair shop. Most have had the ignitions robbed because it is worth more than the engine so an Electronic conversion might be in order. The mill is a tiger turning a 18-10 at 74-7500and pulls a 16+ lb plane straight up. Hard to hand start with the current mag set-up, but runs like a top once the sullivan dynatron s it to life. Picture attached shows engine minus the carb which mounts directly to the reed case on the left side of the engine. This mill is smaller and lighter than a 28cc Mac trimmer engine I am working on. Also working on a 65cc Husky brushcutter engine I found in pieces at a garage sale. This is a very nice conversion. I can send pictures if any one is interested
