well guys i finally got a chance to take that engine apart and i found that the top of the piston was pitted pretty bad and the ring was totally ceized in that slot on the side of the piston. i will have to pry it out of there somehow. also there is an indent on the head where it seemed the piston was hitting. and that seems a little pitted too. did some reseach on where the engine actually came from and it was bought from a guy on rc groups and he said that he was in the middle of breakin it in and then decided to sell it "yeah, i wonder why" he said it worked great but i guess thats why we couldn't get it going........or is it? wonder what you guys think or how this happened..........by the way the top of the piston is really blackened.