JL;
It sounds like your carb & timing settings were indeed incorrect. I could not begin to tell you what or why but I do wish to comment. If you made a very lean run & scored the cylinders, why would you expect BME to be responsible? Sure the carb & timing might have been wrong, but you were the one who chose to run engine, you were the one who scored the cylinders. Why couldn't you have sent the engine back when you detected something wrong? I know another person who scored the cylinders on his BME break-in. He did not ensure enough airflow over the jugs and ran hard the engine (tourque rolling) without concern for proper cooling. His inexperience caused him to damage the cylinders and he blamed BME for thier fault. As a bystander I clearly saw it different. Please I do not mean to say there were not issues, but you are the one that really did the damage. If you feel offended, I appoligise, but you were asking for input.