Maybe people swear by the heat cycle method. There are tons of variations and ways to do it, and it can easily be described with a quick search of the forums. I personally have used it on 3 engines and they all have run exceptionally well with long lasting results from it. I think what is most essential is giving the engine time to break in before tuning for performance and letter them rip. The length of break in depends on the quality of the engine (RTR engines require less) but I like to go easy on all of my engines for the first 10 tanks before touching the needles anyway.

Tom.