Tested my keep off
7-xl today, felt very soft on bottom but power delivery is very linear... Doesn't feel the pop of my paloma so i think is a more buggy engine

what pipe,manifold,insert and clutch ? your selections probably play a gigantic role in the soft bottom...when setup properly these engines can have strong bottom ends....

performance wise a Keep-Off and Bonito are the same engine, only difference between them is the rear bearing, other then that they are 100% the same

I'm comparing to paloma, not bonito. No big deal. Is a good stock engine

im running mine in buggy with an m2c four shoe with .95 springs, 2096 with a 33 header in a tki4. its not mod +4btt snappy but im never lacking. i was thinking of running two 1.0 springs to see if i can gain some snap.

ive never ran it in a truck so i cant comment on that.

Out of curiosity how do you have the engine setup...pipe/manifold, insert and clutch ?

7mm insert, steel flywheel, 4 corbon shoes + .9 spring, 9901/41021,C5 plug, same setup i use for my paloma

ultimately you have the most detuned setup you possibly could use on that engine...So its no wonder it has no bottom end ...9901/41021 is pretty lame on a extra long stroke plus 0.9 springs and 7 mm will choke it back further............ pretty much as far as setup go you have that engine setup to have the least amount of power possible..those X-Long stroke Nova's hate the 41021, 9901 combo..it just sucks the life out of the engine....

I have the Mito 7 in my truggy with the 41031 conical header and 9901 SS pipe....is there a torqueier pipe set up? Just want more out of it across the board

I think the 41031 conical works pretty good with the 9853. Running that combo with the elite 8 in truggy recently and it has plenty of snap. Or if you want to just swap manifolds the square 41032 conical turns the 9901 pipe into a beast as well.

41005 with a 9853 is claimed to be the go too truggy pipe but I haven't used it

Edit..

I have a little more time LOL

So in the testing I have done it shows that the manifold plays a huge part in engine performance and efficiency so much so that in many ways the manifold choice is more critical then the tuned pipe itself and just a simple manifold change will often have a much more dramatic effect and noticeable effect then changing the tuned pipe would. Armed with a Novarossi 9853/9886 a person could optimize performance on any current nitro engine on the market by just swapping to the appropriate manifold... And when i say optimize I mean optimize, where performance would be measurably better across the entire powerband vs even the very best current factory recommended EFFRA approved pipes... Simply by swapping between 410019,41032,41021,41033,41005,41001,41031 you can tailor those 2 pipes to sync with any engine you wanted and you would never need to buy another tuned pipe ever again no matter what engine brand you decided to run, or even what sized engine you wanted to run , anything from a 0.19 to a 0.32 can optimized with these pipes mated to the correct manifold... Typically the lower timed and mellower the engine is the longer the manifold it prefers, and the higher timed and more aggressive an engine is setup the shorter the manifold it wants, the higher the exhaust timing the is the shorter the manifold needs to be....... When you try to put a short manifold on a low timed engine you slightly raise the RPM where peak power occurs but at a loss of torque and narrowing of the powerband... and when you try to put a long manifold on a high timed engine the RPM drops where peak power occurs but it loses torque and the powerband narrows...

* 9901 is a very versatile pipe as well, doesn't make peak power quite like the 9886/9853 but with the right manifolds its not far off.... on a 41033/41001 this pipe can be beastly on many engines
* 2096 mates well with 41021, out of all the pipes I have tested this one seems to thrive above all others on the 41021...on all the Nova's I have tested the 2096 will outperform even the 9853 and 9886 when they are all mated to the 41021....for some reason the 41021 doesn't play nice with the older 2 chamber pipes whereas the 2096 is at its best ... Also the 2096 doesn't respond nearly as good to manifold changes as does the 9901,9886,9853, it seems to exclusively like only the curved manifolds with the 41021 being the most favored..

edit..

try a 41001/41033 on that pipe instead , I think you will like how it reacts...also run a larger carb insert, the 7mm will be causing it lose power..a 8mm will allow it to breath properly and will delivery more across the entire powerband.... Also you can remove as much as 0.2 mm worth of head shims which will give the engine a massive boost in performance.... So if you added a 41001, 8mm insert and dropped 0.2 mm from the head stack your engine would seem like it was from a whole other planet then where it was originally... you would see a increase in torque of about 25% and a peak RPM increase of roughly 5000 RPM...You would want to richen the needles and retune as well you will want to run #6 and even #7 plugs to compensate for the higher compression...You would also notice a stronger idle, but if your not careful you will lose a tiny amount of fuel mileage... If you drive easy and limit trigger you will use less fuel, but if you trigger hard you use more, but the on track feel difference will be amazing

I ran the stock Elite 5 this weekend after breaking it in on my MBX7r. What a great little engine!!! Tunes well, idles well, runs well -- even stock. I did have it blubber/fat for a few heats, where the temps only reached 160-170F -- yeah I was just trying to be cautious for awhile (first 10-15tanks). I will probably try removing the 0.2mm head shim down the road, when I feel I might be losing some pinch and the idle is a bit off, or if i need more power. But right now I am running an OS 2090 pipe combo and it is working well. I have a 9901 pipe and 41021 pipe laying around, but I will probably buy a 41001 or 41033 as Neal recommends if I want to go that route.

As Neal recommends, be sure your idle gap is set properly and your carb is closing. I only opened my idle maybe an hour during the first 2 tanks. Then put it back down to stock. Now I am probably and hour down from stock. There should be no reason why you can't get the Elite 5 to tune well.

I want to again thank Maximo/Neal for all the knowledge he provides on a daily basis.

Hope this helps anyone who is on the fence.