Jeez, it's not that big a deal for some to get all in a huff over. I agree with vladconnery about discoveries and disasters being the beginning of some great developments. Perhaps these little engines have been around so long as to have every conceivable modification done, but then perhaps not. There is nothing wrong with giving it a shot, and it takes a decent individual to post an experiment into this community and ask for opinions.

To address the crank mod - if I remember correctly from high school (oy... long time ), knife-edging the crank counterweights was an effort to decrease the rotating mass and offset the weight of aluminum rods, and also smooth the friction of the crankshaft's interaction with the engine oil. I might be nuts, but it seems to me that lightening the crank can yield at least a bit of improvement on any IC engine (even though no crankcase oil volume). Feel free to correct me otherwise. It's been a while!

mfroot, nice work, and thanks for sharing.