Rex if he black coated,wouldn't the front half be coated also? because it is not. When I opened it up to clean and I use a special lube on all moving parts,the crank end did not look black like the other ones go-tec had put out for a while. But it did not look grayish silver either. I am thinking he may just do the back end so his signature shows up.I am going to take the break in shim out today and retune. Maybe take it to the track and see what she's got. I have only been able to get 1/2 throttle around the back yard. Seems like it has a whole lot more to give.