Update, the folks over at the UK forum helped me figure out the recoil issue which was the trip arm on the Tamiya recoil unit was not being properly hit due to the board supplying too much power. The other issue with the motor appears to be a bad board problem. When I pulled the standard board and installed a pro unit, both motors worked fine but it too has the recoil issue. With the American distributor going out of business, where can I send this board to be replaced?