Well now that I have the plane flying rock solid, I am moving on to phase 2, which is now turning into a 2 part project. I have sent one TD 020 out to Bob Mattes to have him work his magic and send me back a 27k to 30k (depending on nitro content) motor. This should get me well over the 70mph mark.
The second motor I am doing myself. I am sending a burnt out plug to Doug to have him do his conversion on. I also picked up some parts from Mike (also known as ridenfligh on the bay) who has made those nice aluminium intakes to replace our broken plastic TD 049 ones for years. Turns out he also makes them for the 020 as well as a nice all aluminium replacement for the plastic backplate. He has a nice deal where you get the intake, the backplate, and a T-wrench for tightening the venturi all for $26. Turns out the T-wrench is sweet and I'm thinking of getting the one he makes for the 049 too. Also picked up some of his brass bushings for the APC props on the 049s while I was at it.
So it will be a tale of 2 motors. I have little doubt that Bob will exceed my tinkering results, but if I can get a decent increase I'll be happy and pleased as punch to get away from the cox plugs at $10 a pop.