Despite over 50 years of experience, I'm about to try my first (non-racing) ABC engine. It's a gently used OS Max-S  .35 with the Brian Gardner ABC piston/liner and a new rod from Len Neumann. My plan is to use PowerMaster 10-22 and a wood 9-4 prop, and heat-cycle it a couple of dozen times at a rich 2-stroke, and then go fly. Does this sound about right???

FWIW, the engine is going into a UHP Gieseke Nobler, which will probably weigh around 40-42 oz. While it will probably be a good combination, if there are shortcomings, there's a really sweet-running Brodak B.40 waiting in the wings, as necessary.

OK, Walter. That sounds just like we did with the racing ABC's back in the '70s - - Peak it and then back off just a bit. Can do.

 Ralph      I did the testing work on the very first ABC ST/46 for Brian and He used my ST/35 for the building of the ST/35 ABC setup. So I did very early testing on that set up also. I haven't run the ABC setup for the Max but the break in and running will be the same. What you suggest should work fine for break in. Since I did the first testing several years ago I have gone to less and less oil. I have found that 18% max is all that is needed. Half and half is good but I use 25-75 oil and they run better.The ST/46 will run on all synthetic 15 % oil.I run some Castor in the ST/35 because it has the bronze bushing like the Max does. My very good friend Randy will say to use more oil but My 46 is the oldest ABC version out there and it is like new and I fly it a lot. My experience has been that any of the ABC conversions break in very fast. They use less fuel and run the same flight after flight.  One point to check on your Max is to be sure your crank is nice and loose in the crankcase. Set it up so the crank drops right in with no dragging. It takes a long time to break a tight crank in to the crankcase by running the motor.   Hope this helps
Ed      EddyR