ORIGINAL: Bax
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.
The first 4 starts I made were hand starts, 2 on the bench and 2 for flights. No issue with the first 4 runs....I have no electric starter and don't intend to buy one. My flips are faster than the minimum rpm required (> 100 rpm per the manual)
Problems started immediately afterward. It wouldn't even pop when hand cranking and I used 2 other CDI units other than the OS, which have no extra software regarding minimum rpm.
Look....I am very intrigued by the engine's power that's why I have not chalked this 420$ up to experience. I truly hope it runs as well as you claim and does so reliably for 1000's of runs. I intend to run the engine in pattern applications (piped) so relaibility is an absolute. And as much as I practice every year, I don't want these unexpected sidetracks