Tuning an engine is like fishing, everybody has their own way. How well that way works determines whether or not they catch anything. To a new person, the manual can be very confusing and detailed. Most of it won't work anyway due to the engine at 5000ft or wrong prop or wrong plane size, fuel and rest of it.

"Factory settings" is one of the most misleading areas. How many of you guys have ST low ends out 4 1/2 turns and fuel will not draw at 4 turns? We do here. Part of engine performance is also determend by where you live. InJuly in Ala^%$&bama, you have to change sweaty monokote after every flight to keep the balsa from warping.