I figure we need a little excitement on this part of RCTECH! I am usually a free-rider but today I bought a .12 Keep On Tuned Pre-Broke-In from my local hobby Shop (Playmore Hobby) and of course--as a person who strongly believes that nothing compensates for average driving like a great engine -- I opened it up immediately.

Before I begin, Roelf and Stefan, I like and appreciate your posts, but please spare me a hard time regarding anything I say. I am a "happy amatuer" and likely to stay that way.

I have had a 353, Flash 3 and Flash PT and what I noticed was differnt about this engine is:

1. I have to shim 0.5mm more behind the flywheel to get 9.2MM on the crank (per NT1 manual) so I think this means that either the crank is longer or with the new bearing design, the crank sticks out more because of the new bearing.

2. I remember my first 353 that went rich during a race after 1.5 gallons. In fact all the Nova's I have had were always very tight. The new Keep On that I have is loose in comparison. See the picture where I can hand-turn the piston to the top of the sleeve, in the sleeve without the sleeve coming up and out of the crankcase. All I have in the engine is a little engine maint. oil.

Enjoy the pics. The tuning is very evident on the sleeve and in the case.