hi everyone 038av super age?

[auusie joe]

gday from Australia,im dave,i couldn't find an introduction section here, so here I am!
I have an old stihl 038av super im wondering if someone here could date it for me?(I have engine number by exhaust outlet above chain) found it in my job as a dumpster truck driver years ago and have run it just doing home clean ups and the odd firewood for sale gig,man its unstoppable!im a mechanic and motorcycle enthusiast aswell so it goes hand in hand I know I have a decent old school saw here worth keeping,it has a 20' bar and 7 drive teeth,i also have an old obscure sachs/dolmar 111 given to me by my brother inlaw ten years ago,the shop said it needed new carb kit etc etc and he walked out with some new larger husky saw they sold him and he gave me the old one,heck,all I did was fire it up,adjust the carb screws and its been cutting ever since!my brother inlaw even borrowed it back once or twice!it has a 15"bar and 8 drive teeth,ive opened both saws exhausts as per normal and I think these saws are the best in the world!i mostly cut very hard dead dry iron bark that's already dead on the ground(I live on acres)and both will more or less just float through any green wood with sharp chains of course,so there you are,i aint no arborist or forester in any way shape or form but I like chain saws and make use of dead wood on the ground.

[k9klf]

Welcome Auusie Joe, I had to chuckle at the source of your Stihl since I spent a year driving a garbage compactor and have had similar luck finding some real gems just thrown away. Some HAVE to be out of spite from an "ex" due to the function and fitness of the treasures. Nice score, and a Stihl no less.... (jealous).....
I am curious what you meant about "opened both exhausts". I'm no expert either but am curious if there is a trick to getting some more horses out of my saws I haven't heard of yet with what you are mentioning about exhausts. I have 5 Husqvarnas in different sizes and are in Stock condition. Any tips?

[auusie joe]

gday k9klf,thanks for the reply,ive been driving for the same garbage company for 12 years,boy have I found great stuff over the years,bit like a yard sale where everything is free!
opening the exhausts im refering to the muffler itself,some come apart in two pieces and are easy to derestrict while others take a bit of inventiveness to free up the flow,id guess most new saws have pretty restrictive mufflers for those darned epa guys happiness?i wouldn't modify any muffer on a motor with no or non adjustable fuel screws,the tamper proof ones can be un tamper proof if your carefull.
ill have a try at posting photos.

do I need a number of posts first to upload photos? cheers fellas.

ps im an idiot!i spelled aussie wrong in my username ha ha!

[Magicman]

Welcome to the Forestry forum, auusie joe.

Picture posting has no post requirement.  Check out the posting instructions at the bottom of the index page.  If you have questions, just ask.

[auusie joe]

  thanks magic man,im just fooling around with it now,beer helps,just out of interest my neighbour who once worked with me about 7 years ago also found an old stihl in the trash back then,its an 048!his brother took it and said he would fix it up,never did of course!
he got it back from him coupla months ago and asked me to look at it,i threw the chain away rusted solid,i said ill bet itll need carb removed etc,checked it for spark was good,it turned fine but I put some oil down the cylinder anyway and spun it over a few times,tipped out the old and added new gas,i said we'll try and start it without the bar to check oil flow,i kid you not I wasn't ready for the compression and managed a half effort yoink on the starter,second time I gave it a good haul full throttle held with choke and it half farted,next try no choke full throttle it fired right up!man great old saw,found in trash not run about 8 years and it ran fine!we pulled the muffler and gutted it and threw a chain on to test it out,its a great old beast,he also has a little ms170 he bought new,he wont sell me the 048!

[auusie joe]

copy paste worked better for me,this my mates 048,ive since put a new start cord on it was only half as long as should be and frayed through ready to give yourself an upper cut!looks crap but no scores on piston and runs like a steam train.

[auusie joe]

I scrounged up that serial number of my 038 if someone can date it,thanks?

113121769

[auusie joe]

been a while but just out of interest ive still got that 038 super,done a lotta hard old dry dead wood cutting with it,seems the more I do the more it likes it?i sold the old 20" bar and two chains for 50 bucks,splashed out and bought a cheap 24" bar and two chains for 88 bucks delivered,yeah I know cheap but for my use a good thing,took four slices of this old hard stuff in less than 15 minutes,i just plodded along,sure its hollow but dead hard aussie wood!the torque on these saws is great,itll bite in and the exhaust note just gets angrier?

 

[Al_Smith]

The 038 super was not popular  in this area of the USA .The 038 AV and Magnum were ,more the later than the former. I've only seen two supers and I've seen a lot of saws .

[auusie joe]

if I wear it out id do a magnum top end on it,ive found a lot of saws in my garbage job,ive mostly got em going and sold em on our site similar to your craigslist,recently I found a husky 288xp!it cleaned up well,it had 1994 on the plastics moulds,i got 300 for it,it ran great but had only an 18" bar,i was gonna keep it but I like my old sthil.






 

[sawguy21]

One man's junk is another man's treasure, I would say you have done rather well lol. A friend was the compactor operator at the landfill, I never knew what I would find in my yard as he looked for good homes.

[auusie joe]

yeah im always finding good stuff,i once found still in a neat old wooden box a sextant,it was from the 30s,needed the mirrors re done etc but I still got 250 for it,if that thing could talk?

[Al_Smith]

Regarding grafting an 038 mag cylinder to a super crankcase I can't say .Some expound about doing same using an AV crankcase but the bolt pattern would need modified and to me a waste of time .They probably made more mags than any and they aren't that hard to find .Why not just start out with a mag the factory already made rather than cobble together a freakingstein contraption just to prove it can be done .

[Al_Smith]

Interesting find on the sextant .Not too many would know how to use it and I would have to review exactly  how myself because it's been decades since my navy days .Even 50 years ago they were only used on occasion   with the advent of electronic aids to navigation in use at that time .These days that  type stuff is much more accurate and easy to use and available  to just about anybody any where .For a slight nominal  fee of course .

[lxskllr]

If I did trash collection, I'd need two trucks. One to put trash in, and one to collect the treasures I fished from the trash  :^D  It's unbelievable what people throw away. I've been to the landfill a couple times, and seeing what people are pulling out of their cars and trashing, I'm thinking "What are you doing?! That's all good stuff!". In another life, I could have been a junk dealer. have a little bit of everything.

Hey Charlie, I think I'm happy for the first time since my accident
I wish I had all the money we used to spend on dope
I'd buy me a used car lot, and I wouldn't sell any of 'em
I'd just drive a different car every day, dependin' on how I feel

Tom Waits- Christmas Card from a Hooker in Minneapolis (Studio Version) - YouTube

[Al_Smith]

It has it's short comings .You can amass a great treasure  trove and be hip deep in oddities .Then be looking for something specifically and know you have but try as you may cannot find it .Have traveled that road many a time .

[lxskllr]

I hear ya. I'm kind of a packrat anyway. Not tv level hording, but I don't like throwing stuff out if I think I can use it later, and I never throw out anything good. I need to get a bunch of stuff together, and make a run to goodwill. Just a matter of making the time. One of our clients is a scrapper. I'm thinking about seeing if he can bring me a container gratis, and take the metal as payment. That would save me hassle of making midsize pickup loads, and he owes me anyway. At our old office, it had a tight parking lot, and he knocked the corner bumper cover off my jeep. I told him not to worry about it. Never did get around to putting it back on. That jeep's still in my driveway missing the cover  :^D

[Old Greenhorn]

Tom Waits- Christmas Card from a Hooker in Minneapolis (Studio Version) - YouTube

Glad to see I am not the only Tom Waits fan here. The guy is crazy, but brilliant. I am just crazy, the other part never took hold.