My Toki just completed a shortened 196th flight when I split S-ed out of a reverse cuban eight and the ground was approximately 2 feet higher then I remembered it being. [&o] When I find myself in situations like this and waiting for parts, I use the spare time to go over everything and moniter things like the engine for wear. Upon inspection with the back cover off I found what I would term I mid life connecting rod. My subjective definition is that when you roll the crank back and forth you can see the oil squish on the crank journal. Its obviously not as tight as it once was.
Now back to your situation. I don't know how you can blanket say these engines are a POS. I don't know how many posts I"ve read over the last three years of OS's spitting out rear bearings faster then you can say "hover". I would say from my experience though that there is nothing else on the market that builds this much power, smoothly I might add, for anywhere near the money. I got mine in combo with the mechanics for $299 on my Hawk Pro and I feel its good value. When winter kills my flying I'm putting in a new rod and wristpin and I'm going to be out a whole $20. Sorry for your bad luck in dealing with Century on this matter. I've had my share of hair pulling moments with them also, but I don't honestly think these engines are a "bad deal" for the dollar spent. Maybe some other users can pass along their durability impressions also. I think when your approaching 200 flights like I am using 30% wildcat, thats a hell of a lot of flying and having fun for cheap! Replace it and go have fun. Lifes too short to smoke a fuse over a $100 engine.
