No worries, I'm just trying to give you some basic info regarding engines with the metal pinch/compression explination. I talk to so many people on here with a wide range of experience levels so I never know who understand/knows what lol! The questions that I asked regarding the slide and carb settings was to try and get a better understanding of exactly where the problem lies. Based on your responce it sounds like the slide is ok, so have you narrowed it downtown to a linkage related issue?

Also as far as the tune is concerned at 1/4 to 1/2 turn in from flush on the HS and a temp of 220 I'm definarely thinking that you are rich on the top and lean on the LS. If this Im indeed correct this is not a good thing and having your engine set like this is probably the easiest way to wear it out prematurely! if your motor is already broken in I would suggest that you lean the HS roughly 1 turn from where it is at. Pop the air filter off and set the air gap to about 0.5mm with the insert inside (using the idle screw). Richen the LS needle about 1/2 turn, put the filter back on and fire it up. Be carefull as it might (probably will) have a high idle right off the bat. If sostart richening the LS to bring it down. Keep on doing so until you get a smooth steady idle then toss it on the track and start tuning the HS to get the performance that you want. What this should do is make the engine less finicky to tune and by running a richer bottom you will he able to lean the HS further to get more power and/or increased run time if you want. It is also a much safer way of running your engine as you are less likely to overly lean the motor possibly blowing it and/or prematurely wearing it out (as in the sleeve which will be seen by a loss of compression). People always tweak on the HS needle when you are on the stand and if you think about how the carb works if you have a lean LS to start with and then your pit person leans the HS more, it also affects your LS and you end up with an even leaner bottom, again not good. They go to far and boom, you've just had a bad day!

The thing with the lean LS and rich HS is that this conditon is often masked especily if it's with a driver that tends to drive punched as in allways grabbing full throttel (WOT). In any case I'm rambling lol, give the stuff above a shot and get back to me on the linkage/slide question.

Regards,

Ron