chris, leave the thin brass in, unless you would like the engine to remove the head by itself for you. the thin shim and thick alum shim need to be in together, this puts you in the correct range of squish, any lower and det time. it will destroy the button and piston, and eventually the whole engine, and plugs will start being an issue.

i have been tinkering with a way to flow check the carbs and see where they should be for breakin compared to race tune, and with that data, i have broke in a 5 port with much better fuel flow, the engine was puking tons of fuel and i had all the fans going to clear the smoke, i started off with the lsn in a bit further in than out of the box, but with the hsn being 2 to 2 1/2 turns out from flush, the engine was way to fat to even apply throttle on the bench, and to maintain an idle, the carb had to be open quarter throttle, and the idle at this setting sounded like a standaerd idle, not like a wot breakin. and one thing i was glad to see, raw fuel spitting out the carb, this is very common on the v spec, and they run very fat during breakin as well. A leaner setting was needed to start the engine but after the first tank it was a very good sign to see what it was doing.

i am hoping the outcome of this is going to allow more movement of the hsn and getting the reaction out of the engine that is normally expected when people are breakin in a engine, they do this to bring temps up a little and also move it after a few tanks down the process.

i think the race settings are going to be the same or very close, but starting off with this setting will be a little more forgiving when it's time to use the hsn and the lsn. again, when moving any of the needles go just a bit at a time 2 hours can be to much on a new engine, i have 7 tanks through this 5 port and i havn't moved the needles yet, once it's in car it should be ran for about another 5 tanks and then go 1 hour on the hsn, more fuel will through the engine will allow more adjustability, you can't rush it.

Test Breakin settings

HSN 2 turns out from flush
LSN 3/4 to 1 turn in from flush
Idle, set it to where it will idle with this fat setting, mine was about 1/4 open. And always keep temps(with heat gun) at around 230 to 240