Let me tell you this about Sportwerks .26 engines: the settings from the factory seemed pretty lean to me (at 3 out for hi and 2.5 out for the low) for a break in from scratch. But I like only running a touch rich during break-in to spare the con rod, and I read about this from O.S., too, so it seemed ok to me: Only slightly rich...modest and light running from the jump.

I saw alot of good smoke, too, but after getting thru some trouble shooting, changing the plug etc and getting some real run minutes, I discovered the low speed needle seemed to be lean after I kept the engine running and could hear it would not settle down off throttle. Check it out: if you turn the low speed screw, it sort of wants to return to its original position, so that if you start out from the bottom and turn it out 2.5...it slowly springs closed....as much as a 1/4 turn. This was more than enough to go from 'ok' to lean (dang!).

Here I am, fresh on tank 1.5 of break in getting my first real continuous minutes in, when I backed off the throttle, the engine revs were way to high. I did a pinch of the fuel line and the motor shut down in a milisecond.!!! And I used factory settings on the low end!

It was way too lean on the low end: The engine should have rev-ed up a little, then died; that would meant the low speed was set 'ok'. I checked the temps: 296 (spit on the head to double-check and instant sizzle/boil)!!!!!!!!!!!! And yet the high speed was fine. But the low speed had closed 1/5 to 1/4 of a turn! I had to do a double look. But it really was about 2 1/4 from bottom, causing lean running.

So, I used a smaller screw driver (for better feel) and turned it down to the bottom carefully and then back out 2.5. With the smaller screw driver, and better light, I could see/feel the screw wanted to close a bit. It was sort of springy I went all the way back to about 2 3/4 out from bottom on the low and it closed itself a little bit and settled right around 2.5.

For safe measure, I backed the hi speed out about 1/8.

I fired the engine up and got thru 5 solid tanks of break in at 190-230 degrees. Most checks were right around 220. My pinch test saw the engine rev a little and die. Perfect.

I'm glad you checked in. I was very pissed to see more than one high temp reading during break in. It was hard to tell intially that it was the low speed for me, because during break in, the idle is often high and it masks low speed lean issues. Further, most facotry settings are plenty rich, so one never expects to be lean on factory settings during break in.

That being said, my 2-5 tanks were smooth as silk, with it about 80% in tune (leaving high a little rich for now). The low speed is good and the idle doesn't engage the clutch. I can tweak the high speed any time I like and she'll rip now.