I never got the dam thing to run right or ever to get it started without fighting tooth and nail every inch of the way. I posted when I originally started to break it in a while back (long winded post if you remember) but today was the straw that broke my back. After 20mins of it pizzing fuel out the exhaust and only getting a sputter every now and then, I finally tore it apart to see wth was going on. Lookie what I found:







It seems that the cylinder and piston are not matched and it wore evenly around the cylinder everywhere but one spot, you can see the darkening of the cylinder where it is and the whole side of the piston that was pointed towards that spot. I also noticed that there are metal chips from the rod that were damaging the top of the cylinder as well. This dam motor would never start for me, I have only run about 6tanks of Byrons 25% race fuel through it and its been a booger every inch of those tanks. It was always spitting tons of fuel out the exhaust during the attempted startings and never fired enough to stay running. Temps during after cycleing were in the 220-240 range consistantly and tons of nice smoke. It idled for the most part, only had to play with the idle screw just a bit for it to stay on after break in. So now I'm pizzed off severly, I was going to run this weekend and I really wanted to hit the berwyn weekend as well. I cant run out and dump $240 on a new piston/sleeve/rod set, I need Nova to replace this damn thing. Wonder how long that will take :'( . Guess my new LST2 gets to sit and look pretty a little while longer.

BTW thats some wicked factory work on the case and cylinder . Now if I can get a running motor, I would appreciate that $400 much more.

what temp did u run it at? That is not bad, the brown is a good thing believe it or not...that is the sign of a rich motor. Does the motor still have a ton of pinch? Its gonna be a bitch to break in but once u get it there it will be great. Lean her out and get the temps up to 200 atleast

cant turn over by hand even if you try with the flywheel, I never touched the carb settings but to lean out just a bit on the low side and the high as well for some top speed. This thing will half empty a 220cc tank trying to start it by dumping the fuel out the exhaust every time.

u need to get the temps up that is very important. Lean it out until u can run it for about a hoel tank without it dripping out of the pipe. Get a good temp gun and get those temps higher and it will be much easier for you. the first couple tanks are the worst

thers no way its at 220 and bogging and too rich, the reason there are metal flakes if there are any is because it is too cold during breakin and the "pinch" is being broken to adbruptly

problem is I could never get it started to get the temps up without hurting the pinch

If it is TOO rich, as you are explaining, it will not start.

lean it out a few hours on the bottom and try it again, keep leaning both until all u get is smoke outta the pipe. I think your temp gun may be reading wrong; i just dont see any conceivable way that an engine could be blubury rich at over 200 degrees

engine gets nice and warm (about 220+) and runs drives like it was stolen, the bottom end is so nice that it can idle for a few minutes and drive away stall free once its running and once I started to lean it out I could not keep the truck off its top even during driving without loosening up the slipper. Wheelies were sick and out of control. There is no excess smoke, cept for a normal amount. This is not my first engine by far, I have broken in many others and have helped friends new to the hobby to handle their motors as well.
Its just been the biggest PIA ever since its second tank. Guys on the other boards noticed that the fuel stains were past many of the ports, especially one bypass port and the exhaust port.
I am not giving up but I think there is something goofed with this motor to never start and only ever started when fuel was spitting out of the exhaust.

maybe the sleeve is backwards in the case? just trying to think of something

Looking at the top of the piston, it appears that it had been correctly. Like Mikey said, that is normal. You want that "horse shoe" on top of the piston. That shows you had it at a decent tune at one time and it pionts towards the exhaust port. You cant start a motor that is over rich and dumping all kinds of fuel out the pipe. You have to lean it up on both needles and get it started and then retune to stay running. Your motor is matched fine. Sorry, but if you cant get this thing running and you think you have problems with it by taking it apart and thinking you have something wrong by the way the piston is darker on one side, you really are not that good of a tuner as you claim to be. Novarossi will not warranty your engine because its not defective and shows no signs of bad craftmanship. Lean it out good and check that plug, make sure its not soaked in fuel from rich settings. You must also adjust for weather temps, its getting hot and humid and youll need to lean it out alittle more. The fuel stains are normal and are higher because the motor is Very rich and filling up with fuel. Did you get a hydro-lock when trying to start it at anytime?

I know why the piston is darker on thats side, I was more concerned about the sleeve not wearing even on that side near the exhaust. Also the chipping that is present on the rod where nothing is near contacting it. I understand that that is where the sleeve is the thinnest due to the large exhaust port and the rest of the way around the sleeve is filled with may smaller ports so that it may in fact be wearing correctly. This is my first mega port motor, and the first that runs at a great tune when running but only started WHEN fuel is coming out the exhaust. I will tear down the carb today and clean it out, I reassembled the motor and am waiting to try it again. It never fully hydrolocked at all, I notice when its getting loaded up with fuel and just starts to get hard to turn over then stop, remove the plug and empty it.
The only reason I felt that it should get taken care of is the rod, and the marking on the top of the piston (the scars not the color). The uneven wear makes sence to me this morning, last night was not the best night I had :S so I may have over-reacted cause I was pizzed about a few other thnigs, that just caught me by suprise and I vented.

Too much trying to get it started with a rich motor will cause more wear than when actually running at hot temp. Did you lose a plug filament in there by anychance? Also, it is common practice to partially disassemble a new motor to clean out any metal fragmants that could have been in it from the machining process from the factory. The marking on the rod could have come from the backplate of the pull starter. I have never seen that before, but i have never used a pull start motor besides some .15's. Something got in there to make those marks like that. It doesnt just happen from fuel. What kind of filter you using? Air and fuel filters.

I am using the original plug in there, I have tried to swap it out with the other NR turbo plugs I have but they all work the same so no lost element. I knew I should have taken it apart from new as I have heard stories about debris in motors, even NOVA's. Its a roto start motor so maybe the one way contacted the rod like that at some point in time since it directly connects to the rod. I am using the RB two stage air filter and the LST fuel filter. I hope that cleaning it out and rebuilding everything including the carb works.

quote from the owner of Amain where I bought the engine from:
"Hi Joshua,

I assume this is the Novarossi 528XRS engine? We have had a problem
with
this engine in the past where the one-way shaft that goes into the one
way bearing is bad and it comes out and extends into the engine area,
and rips apart the connceting rod. I thought this problem was fixed,
but
clearly you must have gotten a bad engine. Can you send me the pictures
of the problem?"

and he gave me the link to jim hottinger so I can talk directly to him. Lets see shall we .