An engine that isn't a joke....

...but a serious MF. This is an engine sent to me by a friend along with many other engines. The intent was to clean up, play with, make videos and then sell them. Well I have made it through many of his engines, but this one is a bit special. It is a Thunder Tiger Pro 120 two stroke engine. Now when it arrived it looked quite new with little run time. The only issues was that it was very tight turning it over when a propeller was installed. I tore this engine down, pulled the new bearings and gave it a thorough inspection. When I re-installed the bearings, I made a stupid mistake too. I 'assumed' that the front bearing was fully seated when flush with the front housing. This was how I installed the front bearing using my arbor press. The crankshaft felt great and smooth before the piston was re-installed. It still felt great afterward, but it was a different story when the propeller was attached and tightened down. Eventually I dis-assembled the engine again and found a perfectly sized socket that would fit the outer race. It certainly seated another .5mm-1mm after that using the press. Issue resolved, dumb mistake made, lesson learned. Now to run this thing! That was and is the largest 2 stroke engine I have ever attempted to run. Honestly I wasn't sure it would fit in my PSP test stand, but, luckily for me, it did. Well run it did! It has been one of the most fun engine runs I have had in a long time! The thing is big, scary, and powerful! I have several videos here showing the runs. I hope you enjoy watching them. In the second video I use a different hand starting technique than I normally use. It is called a 'bump' start. It is basically just 'bumping' the prop the opposite direction of normal rotation. Many folks swear by this technique and I am not sure I really have it down yet. From my perspective on this technique a few things are required. 1. A properly primed engine. 2. A large prop to act as a fly wheel helps. Now these are my opinions of the few times I have tried this technique so I may be all wet here. Just watch the videos and see what you think.