The engine I plan to put it on first is one that was new when it had the conversion head made by Gkamysz installed and test ran. That was a brand new engine when I handed it off to him and he did the initial break in with it. I wasn't there so I don't know how he went about it as far as heat cycles, but I do know that Norvels are very tight sometimes, there are stories of bent rods from people trying to run them in. My guess is that QC was poor towards the end with engines assembled quickly out of parts... Unlike a plated and ground cylinder, the size of the bore on these is dictated by the anodizing process.

I think the official direction from NV is to hit the head with a heat gun prior to starting it the first time. I know that the glow version I have been flying forever has a huge number of hours on it and still gets stuck at TDC with fresh fuel on the cylinder walls. when the engine is cold, she's tighter than Prom Night, but it is perfect when running hot. After Four hours, I still can't pull it thru TDC without the piston getting stuck. With the jug and slug both being made from aluminum, the expansion rate should be very fast, and like the VA .049 the alloys are selected to manage that fit as the engine heats up,

I'd make that first run easy on yourself by putting a drop of motor oil in the cylinder and heating it with a heat gun, followed by a couple of long bursts with the starter. Once you get it running, I'd proceed to lean her out until you are at a very fast 2-stroke, let it run like that for 30sec to a minute and then run it as lean as you can without sagging. I think getting these to operating temperature early in life is key to their health. The Anodized cylinders have a lot of advantages (biggest being cost for Norvel) and I'm happy to have them this way, but the plated cylinders were better in most respects.