Makes for a stronger case and let's the manufacturer sell the engine to someone other than modelers. It's currently too thin to hold up in "industrial use" applications. The super thin case is extremely poor for heat transfer and heats up rather quickly with heat transferred from the cylinders. By leaving it a smidge thicker it also helps prevent an engine from self destructing over time through combustion shock. The benefit of increasing the case thickness far outweighs a weight gain of a couple of ounces. There are some changes that will be coming to the way our gas engines work in the not too distant future and those manufacturers that have already allowed for those changes will be positioned holding a large advantage.

Changing the cylinder slightly will provide better cooling, making it easier for a customer to get it right, and lower the return rate of engines damaged from heat. Cylinder fins weigh almost nothing. Break one and you find that out when you pick up the broken fin. In changing the cylinder the customer and the manufacturer are both better served. The customer because his engine doesn't break and require service, and the company because they don't have to expend time and effort in needless warranty or non warranty repairs. Most customers like it very much when all they have to do is add gas and go fly, not remove an engine and wait for customer sevice to return it. Baffles are still important but some room for less than perfect baffle installations will be afforded.

For the sake of speculation let's say the engine might gain 5 ounces with all the changes that could happen. If the engine then functioned well for 500 hours or more without having to go overboard in the set up everyone would be happy. The engine would still be a power house, and still be lighter than anything on the market. Even the current 85's will still be heavier than a 115. The "new" lighter DA 100 would still be a pound plus heavier and have 15cc's less displacement. No contest, the 115 would still be a big winner.