Lil Tsunami's catastrophic engine failure: I buy all my 1/2a engines from Paul Gibeault. This engine was going to go in the Lil Tsunami, but that was not to be. In Paul's words here's what happened: "Well as you recall I had one surplus TD that I was willing to let go of and I made a deal with you to buy it. Almost ANY used engine from me MUST undergo an Inspection & Test Run to my personal standards before I am willing to sell it. That allows me a 99%+ customer satisfaction rating. So that initial engine looked perfect up until the test run. During the test run, it was noted to putting out superior power than normal. As I was admiring such excellent RPM's,(something between 22 - 23,000) the engine suddenly stopped! Upon further inspection I noted the con rod had snapped in half & punched it's way right through the crankcase! This of course essentially trashed the engine which is why you ended up with the last personal TD which I owned (which is also a thoroughbred) powerful engine. I know where cheap replacement parts are if I ever want to re-build it, but have no plans to do so at the moment.
And now you know the rest of the story..."
Cheers,
Paul
p.s. I've blown up A LOT of .049's in my time, but have NEVER seen a con rod snap in the middle like this one did!"