An EZ learning experience

[mineralman2]

Good evening everyone. My latest acquisition is an old EZ (original) from the mid-late 1950s, and it's been one heck of a learning experience! The serial number is 670854. I read through Wilson's precious sales records and found that saws within that range were sold beginning in early 1957, so my hunch is the saw would have been manufactured in late 1956. If someone knows better then please correct me. A compression test yields 175 psi. The piston looks pretty good on the exhaust side with only a minor bit of carbon scoring. It has compression and it has spark, so it will run! The saw has a Tillotson HL-1A carburetor.



After the compression test, I squirted some fuel into the carburetor and gave it a few pulls. It popped a couple times and belched a bit of smoke but nothing more than that. The spark was present but intermittent at best. I kept injecting fuel and pulling the rope for about 15 minutes with no real fire, just a few more pops. I'm pretty sure my problem was in the ignition/timing. Time to pull the flywheel! The saw has the goofy ball-drive recoil starter mechanism. It looks intimidating at first, but getting it apart and back together was fairly straightforward. I took pictures every step of the way and held all the washers and bearings together in proper order with wire twisty-ties.



The flywheel came off and the key was still intact and in place. I cleaned the magneto and the points with emery cloth and verified the .015 points gap with a matchbook cover and calipers. I noticed a small bit of corrosion under the coil, but decided to take my chances and put things back together. The spark is much stronger now. A nice blue spark will jump a gap greater than 1/4" with every revolution. I can pull the saw over at about 100-120 RPM and still get a spark every time. The spark plug is old but it still sparks when I test it outside of the cylinder. I sprayed fuel in the carburetor again and this time she started up and ran full throttle for a few seconds. Boy is she loud!



The carburetor will draw fuel but the saw will not run reliably on its own for very long. It will draw fuel from a tank with the choke butterfly closed. I got the saw running again for about 30 seconds on its own (choke and throttle both open) before it quit suddenly. Now it's back to a few pops and sputters here and there but will not run like it did before. The spark is still really strong, so I'll change the spark plug and continue with the carb work. I'm in the process of cleaning all the shellac and gummy bears from the bottom of the fuel tank. Looks like she's been sitting a long time!


The carburetor doesn't want to hold pressure steadily past 6 psi. The first few pumps will take it up to 10 or 12 psi, but it will pop after 12 and fall back to 6 where it then will hold steady. There are no leaks at the fuel turret or other gaskets, so I suspect its a leaky needle seat. I swabbed it clean but it still won't form a good seal. I'll probably have to change the seat in order to fix it, but I'm having a hard time finding a rebuild kit specifically for the HL-1A.



I'll keep posting to this thread as the mystery unravels. I'll post more complete pics of the saw once I've resolved my punch list. I'm really enjoying working on these old saws and getting them back to running order. I've learned so much just in the past year, and this old EZ has been my greatest learning experience thus far. Working on these things is oddly satisfying. Thanks for reading this, and I look forward to learning more about this saw as time goes on!

[edju1958]

If the carb is holding pressure at 6 psi,that's great.It should pop off at the higher pressures.Usually an RK88 covers MOST of the HL carbs,there are some HL carbs that require other kits,but I'd try the 88.

[mineralman2]

Thanks for the tip, Ed! Thanks for confirming the carb pressure test result as well. I just installed a new spark plug and I had the saw running reliably for about 10 minutes, so the carburetor definitely pumps fuel and it's not flooding out. If anything, its still starving a bit but that's a matter of tuning. I know for a fact the carburetor is whistle-clean on the inside. The engine still pops and cuts out every now and then like it's not firing at every revolution, but it's running well enough to where I think I can make some cuts with it when the time comes. It seems that cleaning the points and replacing the spark plug did the trick (for now). Just for shagrins, I gave the engine another compression test once it was hot and it's at about 155 psi so I lost about 20 psi as the saw warmed up. I think that's more than adequate.

I took the clutch apart and found a few areas of concern. The springs holding the shoes to the spider were clearly not correct for the saw. They look really flimsy, almost like they belong on a lawn mower carb linkage. One spring was stretched and broken into numerous pieces that got wrapped around the crank. I ordered some NOS springs based on what's shown on the IPL, and they're a lot stronger. There's a flat metal disk with concentric ribs on it, and the IPL calls it a clutch cover. Based on the exploded view, I believe it was installed incorrectly. I found it between the clutch and the sprocket drum, and the IPL shows it sandwiched between the backside of the clutch and the crankcase. It also appears to be incorrect for the saw, as the center hole is much wider than what's shown on the IPL. Photos of NOS clutch covers with that same part number indeed confirm my suspicion. Someone has definitely noodled with this saw and they made a few blunders along the way. One last note about the clutch, the 2 keys that hold it on the crank are clearly worn on the crankshaft side, but they're not twisted and they do still hold the clutch in place. However if I'm already replacing parts then I might as well snag a couple NOS keys and install them.

[mineralman2]

I looked a little closer at the original clutch cover disk that came with the saw, and it looks like the previous owner had carved out the center with a Dremel tool. In doing so, he doubled the diameter of the hole so there's no way it would have functioned properly. Looking very closely at the original cover I could see tooling marks and uneven edges where the Dremel had been. The 2 keys, which are worn, had been subject to shear force for so long that they actually slightly deformed the slots on the crankshaft. This "mushrooming" of the edges of the slots on the shaft were preventing the NOS clutch cover from sliding all the way down the shaft to where it belongs. I suspect this is why the previous owner had defaced the clutch cover in this manner. There's still more than enough depth in the key slots on the shaft, so I'm not too concerned. I (very) lightly filed these ridges on the crankshaft down to where the cover slides in place like it's supposed to. Clearly this saw's seen a ton of use. I'm still waiting on the new keys. I ordered two on eBay and the seller sent me the wrong part. I ordered two keys today from Leon along with bar mounting studs and a governor spring. Now I know for certain I'll get the right parts!

[mineralman2]

Looks like I misspoke. Leon didn't have the keys in stock so I ordered from another seller. Leon sold me bar studs, governor spring, and muffler screws. I'm confusing myself through all my parts orders. I think I've spent more on saw parts than groceries in the past few months. Come Hell or high water I'm getting those keys!

[mineralman2]

Finally got the new keys and they are correct for the saw. Come to find out, I'm also missing a thrust washer which belongs between the clutch spider and the sprocket drum. Whoever put this clutch back together previously made some annoying blunders. They took a lock washer from behind the nut on one of the bar mounting studs and stuck it on the the crankshaft after the sprocket drum, but there's already a flex-lock nut there so we don't need a lock washer in theory. I'm holding the IPL as gospel, so I'm basing my conclusions about missing parts solely on that. This project is a classic example of "just because it came apart that way doesn't mean it goes back together that way!"

My dad always told me, "Joe when things don't go your way, it's called experience."

[mineralman2]

I got the thrust washer in the mail today and successfully rebuilt the clutch assembly according to the IPL. Just for grins I installed the bar and chain for the first time since the saw arrived in pieces. A couple links on the chain are still rusted together so I'm not quite ready to run the saw with the chain on it, but I couldn't hold back my diabolical laughter when I held the saw fully assembled knowing it's a runner. Took a while to get to this point, and I still have a ways to go, but I'm thrilled to have this thing so close to cutting wood! At some point I'll probably strip it down again to repaint and add decals.

[onlyhomelites]

Very nice!

[mineralman2]

Thank you sir! You've been a tremendous help in getting this thing back together properly!

I just had a wonderful awful idea. How about changing the sprocket on the EZ to run a .404 pitch chain? Currently it has a 1/2" pitch chain (which still has the rusted links) and those chains are almost impossible to find. Looks like a .404 pitch 063 gauge chain is much easier to find. Leon had a .404 sprocket on his website for sale with Homelite part number A-57344. According to his site, that sprocket will fit my saw. Currently that part is sold out on his site, but I found another one on eBay for the same price. I'm thinking about snagging it to use on this EZ. Have any of you done something similar?

Then it would be a matter of finding a chain with the correct number of links. I measured the bar starting at the clutch cover and it's exactly 22 inches. My 1/2" pitch chain has 66 drive links, so I'm thinking the correct .404 chain for the saw would have something like 72 links, but I'd like to confirm before I spend more money.

[rowdy235]

I did that on my 707g. It’s a lot cheaper and you know you can find a new chain if that one gets ruined. I ran the rakers down to about .035 and it really throws some nice chips!

I believe the math would be:
66 drive links x 1” (1/2” x2) = 66”
66 /.808” (.404” x2) = 82 drive links

If you have a good saw shop nearby you can also take the saw in and have them make you up a chain in a few minutes.

[mineralman2]

Thanks for the help! The numbers make sense. I ordered the sprocket so now I'll hunt down a chain. I'm really looking forward to being able to cut with this saw. I still want to free up those links on the old 1/2" pitch chain, but now I'll have a viable alternative. It's easy enough to remove and swap the sprocket drum so no matter what happens with that old chain I'll be able to use something.

[mineralman2]

I just ordered a chain from Frawley's. Now we play the waiting game.

[onlyhomelites]

You'll be happy with that setup. 1/2" is fun to run (HUGE chips), but it's also terrible to run as you're always worried about messing it up!

[mineralman2]

Yeah to be perfectly honest I'm nervous about the likelihood of catastrophic failure with this particular chain. Only a couple links are still seized but 8 or 9 of the links are also quite pitted. Pardon the cliché, but the chain is only as strong as the weakest link. If the chain has 8+ weak links, then I would only have myself to blame when it snaps. Hence the chain should probably just be retired, which is kind of a shame considering how good the teeth look. I'll still keep the chain, in part because they're so hard to find. Maybe in the future I'll knock the bad links out and install it on a shorter bar. For now I'll just keep soaking it in Marvel Mystery Oil and check on it in a couple weeks. It's still a really cool discussion piece for when my buddies come over, but now I'm just rationalizing being a pack-rat.

[mineralman2]

I got the new .404 pitch sprocket and the corresponding chain with our calculated number of links. Installing the sprocket was a piece of cake! I installed the new chain and it turns out it's just a hair too long. When I bottom out the tensioner bolt the chain is just barely snug, so once the chain stretches from normal use then I won't be able to tighten it any more. No harm done, since I can use the chain on another saw and I'll order another with fewer links. I had a similar experience when I ordered a new bar and chain (sold separately) for my Partner 1633B. The old chain(s) must have been fully-stretched already. Oops.

I'm getting to a point with this hobby where I think it's time to get myself a breaker and spinner. Admittedly my collection is in its infancy as I currently only have maybe 15 saws, but that number is only gonna increase. I'd love to be able to modify my own chains. Most of my chains are the typical 3/8" pitch but I have a couple with 1/4", .404, 7/16", 1/2", and 9/16". I should probably spend a few extra bucks and get the Oregon rigs. I'll do some research, compare prices, read reviews, and all that jazz. Do any of you kind folks have any recommendations?

[rowdy235]

Never got into that area myself but I know a lot of pro loggers who use all oregon equipment for chains...

[blythkd]

Hard to beat the Oregon stuff. I looked at the cheaper tools then found a good Oregon spinner at the local flea market. Glad I waited.

[mineralman2]

Okay, that's 2 Master Saw Builders who vote for the Oregon! Care to chime in, Ed? LOL!! Thanks for the input, guys.

Just got another chain for the EZ today (minus one link from our calc number) and it's a much "tighter" fit. Now it can stretch quite a bit and still be useful with this bar. That being said, the bar has some pitting on top of the rails close to the tip where the old chain was rusted in place. Looks like I have to give the bar a little attention before I can do any serious cutting. Seems to be the theme of this old saw!