I decided to open it up and take a look before sending it in. I did the best I could with the pix but it's hard to see what I can describe. What is obvious is I see some scratches on the sleeve - about 3/16 apart, symmetrical, going circular from the top of the sleeve toward the bottom. They are not deep enough to catch a fingernail but they are clearly there.

The piston and rod are intact, no slop in the bushing. There are what I could only describe as "speckled" coloring on the top and sides of the piston. I also note that the bottom of the rod seemed to have rubbed against the backing plate a little bit, as you can see in the pix.

So at this point put it back together and run it? Send it in for warranty consideration? Any thoughts? Thanks and here are the pix:

She is fine bro. Put it back together and run it. Just make sure you do not run the stock needle setting from the manual. I would start off with the HSN flush with the brass housing and LSN about 3.5 turns out. You always want to start rich and work your way to a leaner tune. Set the needles before you start the engine; and make sure that the engine is above 160 degrees before you start to adjust the tune. These engine have to be warm before you start playing with the needles.

Looks perfect to me. The scratches in the sleeve are from the factory, that's normal.

Well that is awesome, I appreciate the advise! Now I won't have to wait at least two weeks to find out it's fine.

The scratches in the sleeve looked to me like something might have scraped it before going out the exhaust port. I almost thought a piece of glow plug but the thing is I the one I replaced was still working when I changed it.

I will reinstall it and retune. Thanks very much for the help!

Well lesson learned, don't believe what you read in the manual!

Reassembled it and richened everything back up the tuned from there and it ran like a champ today! Starting to loosen up and go pretty good. I kept it a little rich after it started going over 250 and kept it at 210-230 for several tanks. Everyone was right that said break in was a $%@#@ on these things, but now its getting good!

Next time out I can lean it a little more and really see what it will do!

Thought I would revive this thread rather than start a new one.

So I just got this truck. Same problem with coming out of the box pig rich. Mine idled about half way though the first tank and died. When it did it was very tight and the starter box wouldn't turn it over. I used a heat gun to get to 200 degrees and it started up. I'm now at about 15 tanks. The first 10 were easy break in tanks.. And I've gotten more and more aggressive on the last few tanks.

I seem to have two issues. The car doesn't want to start unless I lean the hsn to the point that it won't take WOT, too lean. It also seems to idle better with the hsn far more lean than I want it. After several passes it is around 240-260. I'm pretty sure the lsn is pretty close. It has good bottom end power and passes the fuel line pinch test. Even with this setting, it seems to lay down at the very top end of its power band..making me think its too lean.

Is this engine still breaking in??

Also would the idle being set relatively high have any affect on this? It seems to be a little high, I haven't bothered to slow it down thinking a higher idle will keep it running (when it was too rich). I went to adjust it...and yea starter box battery decided to call it a night. So that's where I'm at.

Help?! Lol. Trying to get this thing reliable so I can take it to test & tune at the local track.

Set your idle gap at around .5 mm(about half the thickness of a credit card). You are way to rich on the lsn, thus your starting issue. After you reset your idle gap, it probably won't idle without feathering the throttle. Lean the lsn until you get the desire idle speed you want. Now your lsn is in the ball park, but will need more fine tuning. Hope this helps.

Ok thanks for the help. I kept telling myself that the lsn must be off. I set the idle, but didn't have a chance to get back at it because the starter box batteries were done. (Need some better batteries) Ill get back at it tonight with fresh batteries and start leaning the lsn in hour increments until she runs right. Then maybe adjust the hsn some... I've been trying to adjust too much at once I think.

In reality...how good is this engine? Already thinking about yanking it and getting the OS truggy engine...but maybe I'll be happier with it after some more tuning and a few more tanks of fuel.