If the prop was a Grish, then that IS pretty impressive. And about Russian precision. I've been dealing with Norvel from the very beginning and consistently, they have, year to year, improved and expanded their products. Yes, they have had some glitches along the way.

But they have virtually aerospace technology built into their engines. Nickle plated pistons along with hard anodized cylinders. Instead of a hard/soft combination, they give you a near diamond hard/extremely hard combination. A vast improvement over ABC technology even, which itself is over 40 years old.

I love all my Cox engines, despite the design being what, 60 years old? They all still have a very modern, appealing look. But looks is where it ends. Cox technology is just as old. Yet today, you pay MORE for a TD than you do for a Norvel. What does a stock TD do on diesel, on a 7 X 4 ? And what is Cox doing today, despite having the world's largest market right at their back door?

Here, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o-uvAb-vQgM you can see a TD .09 with good power to weight and pretty darn good throttling. This one is rigged up with an MVVS .09 throttle with adjustable airbleed. The muffler is custom made. It competes very well with the Norvel .074 but it DOES have more displacement. I'd dieselize it but I'm afraid to break the crank.

Here, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PRn5i6Knisw is a dieselized, Norvel .06 doing 4K to 10.4K on a COX 8 X 4 prop with perfect throttling. Perfect. An adjustable airbleed has been installed on the carb and the crankcase has been altered to take a proper, bolt on muffler. We are also using muffler pressure to the tank. And the crank has taken the extra loads that diesel and this size prop imposes with absolutely no problems.

I've dieselized the entire range of Norvel engines. The .06 and .074 have been flown extensively. The .15 has had dozens and dozens of bench runs on all manner of fuels including those made up of acetone, mineral spirits and even WD 40.

ALL of the Norvels have had starters applied to them with utter abandon. The ONLY problem was bent rods. And that only happened when I got careless. In ALL cases, the cranks have stood up to the beating.

Am I a fan of Norvel? How can you tell?