I'd love to hear some thoughts on the stock Kyosho clutch and 2-speed transmission for this car.

This is my first nitro car with a 2-speed transmission. I built it per kit specs. How do I know it's working, and what are some reasons one would make adjustments to it? It appears it can be adjusted without taking things apart: there are holes on the bell to do so, but you're doing it blind. I know it's a trial and error process, but curious what others have done with it to dial it in.

For the clutch, I built it per kit specs too, with the "sponge tire" configuration. My first drive didn't go too well. The clutch wouldn't engage until the engine RPMs were way too high for my comfort level. What I was expecting was for the car to start moving forward like a real car when I pulled the throttle. I went back to the bench and loosened the spring a bit. It took a few tries to finally get the car to do what I wanted, but the spring had to be really loose, with the spring nut much looser than kit spec. I also noticed way too late, that maybe you don't have to take the engine off the car to adjust the spring. There are holes in the clutch bell too. Any comment on that?

What a great kit. The usual Kyosho high quality, and I just love their manuals and how the read compared to others, like Associated's