Homie 540 Carcass brought back to life

[weimedog]

I got a "barn" basket case of a Homelite 540 a couple of weeks ago and finally had to time evaluate and spend time with it...

I had to put a spark plug hole insert as the spark plug threads were gone..and had to heli coil the holes for the muffler mounting at the bottom to the case and also heli coil the screw holes for the top cover.....and the cylinder & piston look like new. The carb diaphragms and fuel lines were "Ok" as the saw was stored correctly dry..SO a little clean up and heli coils later....time to start it.

It fired 3rd pull. And has started on the first pull ever since. It has great power and pulls the new Oregon "Power match" 28inch bar with ease.

A really nice saw!

Is it worth investing in for a real hard core working saw? I've used it to drop some big ash trees so far...its a power house in the Modern sense of the word as well. A really functional saw!

I Need to make it "prettier" with new plastic. The Top cover is melted in spots and the air cleaner cover is cracked and has a piece broken off..

Anyone know where I can find those plastic parts for reasonable money?

[MCS]

Hi,
Welcome back to the forum Nice writeup in the profile.
I've have not been around the newer Homelites but I looked up the 540 on the Acres site and and see that 540 must mean 5.40 cu in. That is almost a 10% bump against the 903 at 5.0 cu in. so it should have plenty of power for some longer bars. A new 5 cu in saw these days brings a pretty penny. I glad I don't have to buy one ;D

[chainsawwhisperer]

Nice to see ya hear Walt!
After reading your post, I wish I had kept my 8800/MP88 parts
Jim

[weimedog]

Yea..sounds like converting the cylinder to a 8800 is a good idea. I'll keep an eye out for that stuff. I think what I will do is either sell or swap my McCulloch stuff to finance/trade to build a nice 8800 or upgraded 540. My 540 is actually really clean..just needs plastic. I don't want to burn it up so it will be a felling saw and GTG saw. Short bursts of usefullness. So i want to build a solid working saw along those lines vs. a new Dolmar I think.

[chainsawwhisperer]

The fellow who now has my new MP/88 - 8800 P/C, has no serious plans to do anything with it. It is most likely available, to do the 540/8800 conversion I think you will need the 8800
muffler and intake manifold parts. He has that stuff as well.
CSW

[weimedog]

You know I'm interested, especially if there are some other bits & 540-8800 pieces like covers...Give me an idea of how much you need for that stuff. Maybe work a swap around a pile of gear drive parts? (That includes a new barrel for a 707) or maybe work something around that yellow saw you have interest in?

[chainsawwhisperer]

'W' you have a PM