My efforts to break in the Moki took a significant turn for the better yesterday.

I did 2 things differently:

1) I shortened the fuel line between the regulator and the carburetor to about 1/2 inch between ends of nipples. This change did not seem to make too much difference.

2) I turned the Bisem muffler rightside up. Up till now I have been running it backwards because I did not have the clearance on the side of the engine case where the engine is mounted to the test stand. I fix this problem by reversing the test stand mounting rail so that the bottom of the "L" runs under the engine. I then moved the engine as far left on the stand as I could get it. This gave me plenty of clearance for the muffler to be installed normally. The difference in the way the engine ran and started was significant.

My guess, was that when the muffler was upside down the thrust from the prop was forcing air back into the engine through the exhaust -- this had a significant impact in the way the engine ran and started. Now the engine starts with a couple of back flips with the chicken stick.

I also found that my RPM readings in the past were no correct -- believe the contrast through the prop confused the tach and made it look like it was going faster. With a Zinger Pro 18x10 I'm getting about 7900rpm full throttle with the needle way out to rich -- I still haven't tried leaning it yet so don't know what peak is yet.

I also found that upon turning the muffler my temperature readings have increase significantly. I'm now seeing 340 degrees at the exhaust header and ~235 degrees on the cylinder head. I hope these readings aren't too hot.

I few times I played with transitioning from high idle to full throttle. Quick spurts up and down work fine but if I allow it to fast idle for a little while the transition back to full is haphazard. I'm still shy of a gallon of fuel and plan to finish the gallon before I try to adjust the engine for flight use.

The biggest improvement todate is the engine is now very easy to start with just a few flips of the chickenstick against compression.