Axe Rossi motors have fallen out of favour in Australia due to them constantly flogging the bottom bush out of the rods. I have personnely had 2 fail and have seen at least 10 others. It has got to the stage in Australia now that you can pick up a cobra evo for $229 at Ultrahobbies as no one will buy them. Unfortunately the new updated rods seem to be failing just as much as the old rods. They fail in all motors but if you have a .25 cobra it is a given that you want make the 7 litre mark before it fails. I love the motors and still run them but not with the axe rod. I use the nova rod or a go tech rod in them and they don't have the issue.

What we have noticed is that the machining of the tapper on the intake side of the lower bush to allow it to slide over the crank pin is the issue. If you look at the tapper on the rod you will notice that the machining of the tapper is never poor and you can actually see 4 machine marks on the face of the tapper. These have an associated step in the material and over time these lines/ridge develope into fatigue cracks and the bush brakes appart.
What i have tried in an old .25 cobra is to take a tappered grinding bit and manually grind down this poor machining to remove the ridges and hopefully solve the problem.

Don't get me wrong i love the engines and will continue to run them but not with the axe rods in them. If signs of the probems are flame outs and poor idle if you are haveing these problems pop the back cover of and check the bush.

Good luck.