Where’s the best place or way to increase performance with a chainsaw.

[MossRoad]

Our shop imported 4 RZ 500's back when you could get them from Canada. Stock they could do about 150 flat out. My rz350 with toomeys would do about 128

Stock they were rated at 135.... I'd like to test that out some day! :laughing: That bike is definately on my wish list. :thumbsup:

I did race my highly modified RD400 against a stock RZ350 one day at the local drag strip. I turned several sub 11:95 runs. Best he could do was high 13s, which is similar to what my stock RD400 would do. He was all disappointed looking. Like a sad puppy. I told him hey, a stock 350 doing 13s is awesome and his bike would most likely eat mine on any road course. He had a great platform to start modifying. I think he felt a little better, but I never saw him there again.

 

[Greenland South]

I致e been running my stock 372XP for about 2 years but I feel like it could do better. I知 generally not a good 2 stroke mechanic but I wouldn稚 be above doing it if it痴 simple. Neither of the saw places in town can sharpen a chain worth a flip so I don稚 trust them.

I have a 372XP that was woods ported by Mastermind. It is light years ahead of my buddies stock 372.
Mastermind Worksaws – Fast Chainsaws Built Fast

 

[4570Man]

I have a 372XP that was woods ported by Mastermind. It is light years ahead of my buddies stock 372.
Mastermind Worksaws – Fast Chainsaws Built Fast

What did they charge to do it? That place is only like 40 miles from my house.

 

[Greenland South]

What did they charge to do it? That place is only like 40 miles from my house.

I'm not sure what he charges. I bought the saw a few years ago from a guy in New York.
I can say I've run the saw hard for the time I have had it. No issues yet.

 

[Wasmeneh]

Still have a 72 Mach III, 500CC. Need to get her out running again, blast to drive. Had a 71 that I bought new and it really was fun to drive. That was when you could fill up the tank with 101 octagon for about a dollar.

 

[MossRoad]

Still have a 72 Mach III, 500CC. Need to get her out running again, blast to drive. Had a 71 that I bought new and it really was fun to drive. That was when you could fill up the tank with 101 octagon for about a dollar.

:drool:

I drool over your bike.

 

[ericm979]

Our shop imported 4 RZ 500's back when you could get them from Canada. Stock they could do about 150 flat out. My rz350 with toomeys would do about 128

I had an RZ500 back when they were relatively affordable and not super rare like they are now. It was a fun bike but a pain to work on compared to an RZ350. The underseat pipes would roast your butt in traffic on a hot day. Mine was close to stock but they were greatly overbuilt and could be modified to make a lot more power. I could order parts if the part # was common with a Yamaha that was imported to the US (Yamaha was good about using the same parts on multiple bikes unlike Honda). 500-specific parts I had to mail order from Canada. I was afraid to take the bike on the track in case I crashed it. I used 350s for the track. Yamaha shipped the 500s with mismarked main jets- they were marked with a larger number than they were. Yam did that so they would not see as many seized bikes for warranty claims when people bought them and immediately leaned them out for more power.

The pipes made a huge difference in the powerband. Toomey RZ350 pipes were super high rpm screamers. That combined with their overly rich jetting recommendations made for a bike with poor low end and midrange. I much preferred Lassak pipes. They did not have quite the top end as the Toomeys but much more mid range and were easier to ride on the street or a road course. Spec II street pipes were also good. The Lassak pipes would peak at about 10.5 and the Toomeys 11.5 while stock redline was 9.5. For track use on a highly modified 350 you had to turn down the ignition rotor to lighten it up so it would not come off the crank at high rpms. Even then it needed to be lapped to the crank and loctited. I knew RZ350 racers who lost rotors on the track.

I still have my last 350 track bike and a ton of parts. One of these days I'll restore it and make a street bike out of it.

My current FJ-09 is a mildly tuned touring bike and makes 115 hp out of 850cc with not much more weight than the RZ500 that only made 85hp or so stock. I still love two strokes but bikes sure have come a long ways.

 

[MossRoad]

Re: Where痴 the best place or way to increase performance with a chainsaw.

I used to love kicking my RD400 over in the morning and watching it smoke and pop like a popcorn popper, listening for the change in sound, then turn off the choke. Hop on and putt away from the house as quietly as possible so as not to disturb the neighbors. Then getting out to the curvy roads and warming it up. Man, when that power comes on! :shocked:

:laughing:

I used to take friends out in the country and let them try it out, and remembering them making the dog comments because they were weenies and wouldn't crank the throttle or get over 6-7K RPMs. Once they finally got it, pretty much everyone was amazed.

That was one of the troubles with tweaking out the two strokes to get max speed is there's just about no low range torque. The more you tweak it, the more it's just for one purpose, going stupid fast or nothing, and that makes it so much less streetable.

Which brings me back to chainsaws and tweaking. I see folks commenting about porting saws. I wonder what it will do in the long run, if you run ported hot saws for things like firewood production? How long will the saw last? Will the cost of modifiying the saw cost you in the long run with shortening the life of the saw? Will it really produce that much more wood VS a stock saw over time? Etc.... why not just by a bit larger saw and run it in stock form?

 

[Wasmeneh]

The most fun I had on my 71 H1 was watching some on on a Sportster kicking like crazy trying to start it and then I would lean over and kick start the Kawa with my hand. Then leave him in a cloud of two stroke.

 

[dfkrug]

I had an RZ500 back when they were relatively affordable and not super rare like they are now.

I have never seen an RZ500. Is it a 2-cyl like the RZ/RD350?

I also bought an RD400 back in the 70s. I bought it, but it was for a friend, and it was quick and fun. Never a problem, tho keeping the
front wheel down was difficult under acceleration.

I have a network of folks who bring me bikes, quads, and chainsaws to fix or modify. Recently got a Yamaha Banshee 350, my first one. Wow. I
get why they are popular. Only the Yamaha 660R I had seemed quicker.

As to chainsaws, other than a sharp chain, there are lots of mods that can make them more powerful. But more practical? Maybe not. My biggest
modification success was a 70s Mac SuperPro 125C, which I converted to electronic ignition from points. If all you did was put on a bigger muffler/expansion
chamber, you could double the power. Of, course you would want a bigger carb, too. And so it begins....