xl-903 piston cyl questions

[smokenfire76]

went to put the piston and cyl on my xl-903 i'm restoring and ran into some issues. The nos cyl I got I am pretty sure goes to a 923 I think it will work and work well but I wanted to ask folks who know more than I do

#1 problem the compression release is a bigger hole on this cylinder. the angles look ok for it to function. Do you folks think i can turn a adapter bushing to correct dimensions and use the original release or perhaps someone has one of the larger diameter releases laying around. #2 problem is with the piston. I got one of the ones from the little red barn for the 925. Outside dimensions seem ok but the inner part of the skirt hits a part of the crankcase that sticks up. the original piston skirt is a lot thinner. Do you folks see any issues with sticking the new piston into the lathe and thinning the skirts down enough to correctly clear the crankcase protrusion. Any information would be appreciated

Hope everyone is staying safe

[onlyhomelites]

I've got a 923 compression release...personally I'd use the right part vs. making an adapter: www.leonschainsawpartsandrepair.com/store/p5439/NOS_Homelite_VI-944%2C_XL-923%2C_XL-923FP%2C_XL-924%2C_XL-924W_Chainsaw_Compression_Relief_Valve_A-68026.html

The piston is another thing; I've never fit a Lil Red Barn piston to a 903, but I had to remove a bit of extra casting to get the thrust washers on the rod to fit on a 925. It was good after that, but I wasn't happy about needing to mod it. If you lathe is precision enough to turn the piston uniformly, I guess you could go for it. Is it possible to machine off a bit on the crankcase without weakening it? That might be easier.

[smokenfire76]

Thanks Leon. ordered the release and a few other things i needed for some newly found projects. I did chuck the piston up into the lathe and turn the inside of the skirt a bit thinner to clear everything. I can hold pretty tight tolerance with my old atlas lathe. It looks like this is what they did on the original homelite piston also. But homelites casting was a lot more accurate than lil red barn's is. Now when I took my 903 apart there wasn't any kind of washers or anything on the piston pin and i don't see any on the print. Just the pin thru the rod bearing and rod. unless I'm missing something.

[onlyhomelites]

You are correct, the 903 did not use thrust washers. They weren't added until the VI-944 & XL-92* series....which is good, that likely saves you more machining!