Capt,n I don't think this trick will work here in California. Gas engines burn much hotter than glow, therefore the cooling area is needed (especialy when there is over 90F out here). My "no muffler run" is a description of the sound , not that I don't have any muffler at all. I'm using gutted original muffler as you can see on the picture. It works for holding exhaust close but does not restrickt it and of course doesn't reduce the "puf-puf" sound

The main problem I have so far is the engine missing from time to time even with the glow plug powered - obvious symptom of the wrong mixture setting. And this causes the engine to shake a lot making fine tunning even more difficult (I need to watch my fingers ). Working whole week I will be able to do some adjustments and testing next weekend.