I know that my 2.5 is probably a fluke. I bought the Maxx used, and have put about 4 gallons through it myself. This was my first Nitro vehicle, and I made many mistakes (temps in the 300's) while learning how to tune it.

Untill about 2 months ago, I was running the Stock Maxx pipe on the 2.5. At that time, I switched to a RD Logics curved pipe, Which brought new life to my Maxx. I have never run Top Fuel in my Maxx, I've used Monster Horsepower from Trinity, which only has 12% oil content.

As for the large number of 2.5 engines your friend sees that are destroyed, how many of them are being run by inexperienced tuners, who may be diagnosing the conditions wrong? Many times, I've wondered if a bog I noticed was caused by too lean or too rich, only to get lost in the needle settings trying to get it to run right. Engines are a "luck of the draw". Out of 100 engines of any make, there may be 99 GREAT, but that 1 bad one is usually the one you hear about..... Just my opinion...