All time favorite saw

[woodworkingboy]

I'm sure you could get some fine results tinkering with the 038, Al. Nice to know the saw has the potential.

 

[GASoline71]

The 038 Mag2 was actually offered with an optional "triple port" muffler cover. The only Stihl saw to do so. The 038 Mag2 was the predecessor of the infamous 044 and was one of the preferred fallin' saws for quite some time out in the West side softwoods. The power to weight of the 038 series of saws was pretty good.

Gary

 

[Cut4fun]

The 038 Mag2 was actually offered with an optional "triple port" muffler cover.
Gary

IPL shows 6 mufflers offered for 038 sries. Bottom right one appears to be the one Gary is talking about.

Section C Page 5 038 IPL muffler

 

[Tucker943]

Just wish they still made the 36 pro.... Really, I'm kinda getting fed up with Sthil saws... There are becoming bigger and bulkier with less power and cost more and more money.

My favorite saws are my modded 026, run 20" bars on them.

Your fixing to hung talkin like modern stihls like that around here. I do agree entirely though!

 

[ClimbingFool]

Your fixing to hung talkin like modern stihls like that around here. I do agree entirely though!

Yea ! I know, been a fan of Stihls my whole career, but damn! why should you have to put out another three hundred dollars into the saw just so it has some giddyup! after you just paid eight, nine hundred bucks for it.

 

[woodworkingboy]

I would guess that most folks in various countries know nothing about a performance increase that can be done with a saw, so with no other experience to compare to, they think the current slew of equipment is state of the art in terms of power. I know that is almost the total case where I live. I have never worked with anyone else here that uses a modified saw, they don't much seem to be interested for some reason, no familiarity with what is going on within the subject. I think they shy away from it mostly because of the noise increase, and my saws are to blame.

 

[stig]

Yep, I don't want to run noisier saws.
I'd rather live with less power.
I suppose that now that my hearing is screwed up bad enough for me to use hearing aids after running saws my whole life, it doesn't matter anymore.

 

[HolmenTree]

Same here Stig. I muffler modded my 372XP a while back and I had to make it stock again. The saw puts out plenty of power without it. Only exception is my little Husky 338XPT top handle which definately needed it, but the saw is only used not that often anyways, same with my 346XP.

But I have to admit Stihl was famous for muffler modding saws right from the factory. I remember when logging the Stihl rep brought me a demo 038 Magnum with a never seen before "dual exhaust" muffler outlet cover. The big problem that happened immediately during use was the 2nd outlet hole melted the plastic chain brake lever.
It was back to the drawing board.
My 1st 066 Mag had a dual outlet muffler, I actually replaced the 2nd [middle ] muffler screen with a piece of tin to quieten the saw up, way too noisey .
But I could see Stihls thinking. The competition the Husqvarna 394XP that came out a bit earlier was a very strong running saw for the pros to choose from.

 

[Al Smith]

It's pretty much is an understood fact that relieving the muffler back pressure is the most simple way to increase the power output of just about any engine .

It really doesn't take that much to either increase the outlet size or in fact install another outlet but keep in mind some shrouding might be neccessary to prevent melting down the rest of the saw if miss directed .

Lot of big ado about what size ,bigger is not always better .If that were the case you could just pull the whole front cover .

Brian AKA TW did some tests and determined about 80-85 percent of the exhaust port size seemed about the optimun size .Anything above that showed very little improvement except they got louder .Noise doesn't do anything except hurt your ears or make dogs howl .

 

[HolmenTree]

But I have to admit Stihl was famous for muffler modding saws right from the factory. I remember when logging the Stihl rep brought me a demo 038 Magnum with a never seen before "dual exhaust" muffler outlet cover.

BTW that Stihl rep who brought me that 038 to my chainsaw shed behind my house trailer on that hot summer day in the early 1980s was Steve Meriam.
Steve today is Stihl's manager of national sales and product development at Virgina Beach.