A note:

The rear cover needed is out of stock. It is cracked, but the engine can be mounted and run. We don't have engines in stock, or we'd take one out of stock and get the part. We've been assured that one is coming from O.S., in Japan.

We have successfully run the engine twice. It runs normally and very, very well.

Please note that the instructions for the engine do state that it is intended to be started with an electric starter. Please see the last paragraph of page 16 in the instruction manual. The engine can be hand-started, but you must get it really flipping fast, because the engine does need to have the prop hub moving fast enough to excite the sensor. It's not surprising that hand-starting could be difficult because of this.