I believe this should be made public so it won't go into a PM.

The comment about the tried and true 3w 28 or a Zenoah product is quite relevant. People know that higher quality costs more but they don't want, or can't afford, to pay for that level of quality. However, they can or will afford to buy at lower price points. When they elect to do so they fail to remember they are not paying for the best quality, but for lessor quality. Then they expect to have the same level of performance and quality available at a much higher price with the better product. If you aren't capable of paying for the best quality, you should not expect the best possible quality...or performance. You've paid for fair to good quality and performence, not the best. If you expect the best possible quality, or try to force a manufacturer to increase the quality and performance of their products, anticipate that soon you'll be paying a much higher price for it. Until then the issue isn't with the quality of the budget manufacturers product, the problem is with the consumers that expect to receive more than they paid for. The consumer has the responsibility to determine what they want, what they need, and what they can afford. If they cannot afford the best, they should not expect the best, and accept the compromise that came of their decision.

I do the R/C forum thing for fun. I don't have a hobby shop, I'm not a distributor or importer, and I don't receive any compensation for the information and assistance I provide. That's as it should be probably. However, I get a might riled when people seem to think they deserve a full education in two stroke operation and design for free. Even worse is when hundreds of posts have been made about various subject matter and people jump in with questions that have been alrready answered over, and over, and over. They get mad when they are told to do a search. So my reference to people not remembering things for longer than 10 minutes has been well supported over the years because you see the same people asking the same questions about something previously responded to many times over.

Then you have the people that became virtually irate when Jody, myself, RCIGN, TKG, Al Lewis, and others did not post pictures and information that provided a free fix for a manufacturer defect. Seems everyone thought our time and labor should be just given to "the masses". Like we have no value. We had an opportunity to leverage the manufacturer into doing something instead of letting them know that anyone with any mechanical talent could do the work for them. Instead everyone whined and cried about an "issue" that still isn't that big a deal. Many of those whining the loudest didn't even have an engine!

I'm only guessing, but based on what I know Jody was doing at the time, the guy probably had close to $500.00 in out of pocket expenses, plus free time, that he put into the intake plenum fix. Ya'll know what he got out of it? Nada, but everyone that bought a relatively inexpensive engine thought he owed them. The other way around would be accurate from my perspective. The guy works his butt off trying to make everyone happy and handle their problems. I used to do a lot of the same but learned you don't get anything back for your efforts except an arguement from those that have a different view or lack the knowledge to make an accurate assessment.

As for being "fortunate", hogwash. I have to work for everything I receive, and some of that put my life at great risk. I have the same financial limits most everyone does but I learned how to save a dime here and there and buy after saving. Because I want or wanted something did not mean I could have it. As for being fortunate to work with two stroke engines and other "toys"...it's a job, just like any other job, and everyone just can't wait to get up in the morning and head to work, right? I'd much rather be "fortunate" and have millions of $$ available so I could just go out and do whatever I wanted.