550XP is here.....and MMed! :D

[stormpetrel]

I gutted the muffler on my 562xp for a not really needed, but good power gain.

In hind sight I think I would have been better off just drilling a couple 3/8"+ holes under the deflector and a few in the baffle from the exhaust port side.

I carefully followed the muffler mod threads on AS....the idea is to make a hole approximately 120% of the size of the existing port, just to the right of it. They all talked about not being able to reuse the screen. I was able to.

Just got the bar & chains, will run out to the garage and post in a while. I'll try to make sure these are bigger, and will include a shot of the muffler w/no screen so you can see the hole.........

[stormpetrel]

Here's a photo of the new hole next to the port, and of how it looks finished. And....how the 18" bar is a 20" bar even though it came in a package marked "18" bar"
(I see the photos are tiny...I suspect it's because I loaded the photos into my wife's computer, then emailed them to myself. then dragged them into my photo files. I'll try to load them onto this balky P.O.S. computer)

[stormpetrel]

Ok....got em to load in my computer! Let me try again.

[stormpetrel]

More photos...

[Scooby074]

Thanks for the updated pics..

So just that large hole under the screen was all that was done?

[stormpetrel]

Thanks for the updated pics..

So just that large hole under the screen was all that was done?

Yep. It may be more than 120% larger than the original exhaust port....the thing sounds amazing. The guys who do MMs for $ do it that way, except that some of them TIG weld the overhang. I am pretty happy that I was able to get the original screen to work.

[Bluegill2]

The 550 is a little beast with a MM!

20" 3/8 will work, but 18" would be my choice. You going to keep the Sugihara?

[stormpetrel]

The 550 is a little beast with a MM!

20" 3/8 will work, but 18" would be my choice. You going to keep the Sugihara?

HECK yes! I'm keeping the dream bar . The Sugi Hara is 18" the Husky bar is 20"..but they're more or less the same size?!? I mistakenly bought a 66 link chain,the bar takes a 68 link chain. So, bars and chains can be longer and/or shorter than their stated length. This is a new one to me!

So I hafta wait til Friday to use the saw, which is when the chains arrive. I live on a tiny island, you can't just buy what you want whenever you want it. :/

Anyhoo, that brand-new Husky bar is for sale..........

[Tollster]

I got mine in late october...it was 589 out the door with an 18" bar, it did take some time for the auto tune to self adjust, I did not count the tanks though. It stalled maybe 4 times at most over 2-7 tanks perhaps. I figured it was doing the self adjustment because after each restart, it seemed to run better. It a little fire cracker for sure. Here is a shot of it side by side with my Husky 51 on a 1.0" grid for size comparison. I got the 51 in 1993, I too upgraded that chain to a 3/8" and dropped the bar length to 16". It has served me well, it was just time for something lighter and faster. the 51 has become my dirty wood saw now. I would honestly say its twice the saw of the 51. I do wanna hear more about you exhaust mod.
One thing I did notice, I have not had my 550 out in a few weeks, and noticed it ran a little rough for about 10 minutes today, it maybe cause the cooler weather and having to recal. Who knows, but even with the sluggishness, it was still a little ripper.

[stormpetrel]

I got mine in late october...it was 589 out the door with an 18" bar, it did take some time for the auto tune to self adjust, I did not count the tanks though. It stalled maybe 4 times at most over 2-7 tanks perhaps. I figured it was doing the self adjustment because after each restart, it seemed to run better. It a little fire cracker for sure. Here is a shot of it side by side with my Husky 51 on a 1.0" grid for size comparison. I got the 51 in 1993, I too upgraded that chain to a 3/8" and dropped the bar length to 16". It has served me well, it was just time for something lighter and faster. the 51 has become my dirty wood saw now. I would honestly say its twice the saw of the 51. I do wanna hear more about you exhaust mod.
One thing I did notice, I have not had my 550 out in a few weeks, and noticed it ran a little rough for about 10 minutes today, it maybe cause the cooler weather and having to recal. Who knows, but even with the sluggishness, it was still a little ripper.

Mine is very obviously a beast, and I haven't even cut with it yet!! It idles somewhat rough, but is very smooth (and loud) when it revs up. The autotune requires several minutes of running at high revs constantly to set itself; did you do that? I need to have enough wood to cut at the same time to keep the saw in the cut for that long without letting the revs off.

That 51 looks new! You must take real good care of it. I upgraded from a 445...the 550 seems the same size, maybe even a little smaller? But I have a lot of respect for it's power for such a little saw. The muffler mod supposedly give a 20% increase. That would mean 4.4+ hp out of that puppy.....whoa!!!!