A few days ago I gave a talk on 'Alternative methods of growing' to a Cymbidium society. From their plant display and their silent auction plants it's pretty obvious that their growing extends far beyond Cymbidiums. I brought them 45 Kawamoto cat hybrid clones for their plant table which was appreciated. There were numerous questions about the plants on the plant table and after the talk I gave a brief description of what they could find there. The vast majority of the members of this very active club were elderly orientals who busily churned around with all their usual activities, a very nice group. What blew me away is that none of them had ever heard of Kawamoto Orchids of Hawaii. I grow Cymbidiums, but am not INTO Cymbidiums, yet I am still aware of the major Cymbidium growers in our corner of the world. These people seem to live in a parallel universe, it was really cute and entertaining. The other thing that was different was the prices they were willing to pay for plants. There was a Portia on the silent auction table with one new lead with flowers, starting bid: $41. It sold for $78. I bid on a nice catt hybrid, one growing lead which started at $12 and went for $29. Neither of these plants would have sold for anything near that in our society. They also bought raffle tickets like crazy, numerous had major rings of them around their necks. 'What's really appealling to me is that each Club is different each has its own charm!' You're right on the mark, Stitz. Nick

An't gong to matter! running the engine with the air filter removed will alow all the dust, grass clippings, to be sucked down the carb. If that don't plug the carb. up it will soon wear the piston to cylinder wall clearance, turn the oil to gritty past and it will start smoking, knocking, and eventually won't start. If he really wants to save money and heartaches down the road spend the extra money he is wasting on high octane gas on a new air filter. That would be the best bang for his buck if it an't too late???????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????

Jim: Iam an Old OMC. Fan have always swore by Envinrude . Raced Dirt Bikes and Snowmobiles for Yrs. I have found that Religious use of Premium Oils and Plug Checks to ensure proper lubrication will ensure long efficient Engine Life. I always do Plug Checks to determine engine performance . My Old V-4 90 would troll all day and cruise at 35 MPH all day . Never bought into the OMC vs Yamaha Manf. Oil issues , just made sure the oil was TC-W3 Rated. Eventually with the Amsoil Product I introduced it into my Snowmobile , Chainsaw then Outboards @ 70-1 . As for the Yamaha 70 , great outboard . I assume you are talking mid 80's vintage since early 90's they went to Oil Injection. I would buy it in a Heartbeat , can't kill the bottom end of any OMC (Stinger) but the Power and fuel conservation of the Yamaha would be like night and day lol . All the Best with your Trial , keep a eye on your Spark Plug Colouration , they don't lie !

Hey, you can't have all of this fun without me!! VBG Seriously some of what is being said about piston slap is true. Piston slap alone is NOT a reason to tear an engine down and do a repair. Piston slap is in fact normal on a cold engine because aluminum expands faster than the cast iron engine block. if the piston is tight enough cold, it will be too tight when warmed up. Piston slap should a repair actually be indicated actually does not even mean that a piston needs to be replaced! If the problem is a collapsed skirt, it can in many cases be "knurled" and reshaped to take up the slightly excessive clearance. A knurled piston is one that has many tiny marks made into it's surface, that cause the outer edges of the mark to rise up. Sort of like the way a center punch makes a "crater" in a piece of metal. These two links give both a description of knurling, and an actual application. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Knurling http://www.hastingsmfg.com/ServiceTips/international_v8_engines.htm Now the one big problem I have with this thread is the idea that $100 in parts, a saturday, and a twelve pack of beer is all that is required to make the noise go away. I do understand the perception that to the right person pulling and reinstalling a piston isn't difficult to do but the reality is to do it right is in fact much different. This is a job where a very simple mistake can cause a major engine failure after the attempt. Plus if it's 4WD just getting the oil pan off and back on will take up most of your staurday, and that's if you have a hoist. People have been successful simply replacing a piston(s) in chassis but not always successful at eliminating piston noise or slap. That's because the piston is only half of the equation, cylinder wear or taper could easily be coming into play, and I would leave those checks/measurements up to a qualified machinist. Plus we still have the little issue of pressing the piston pin through the rod. Very few shops have the equipment to do that, let alone DIY's. There are many traps lurking in this repair that can make the whole attempt go south in a hurry. One common trap is as simple as not torquing the intake manifold in the correct order! An incorrect torque sequence distorts the engine block, and that changes the line bore of the engine resulting in main bearing/camshaft bearing wear. The $64,000 question from there is, does the resulting wear end up causing the engine to actually fail? Sometimes it does, and sometimes it does not. Lastly, stroke length plays a role in piston slap issues. The longer the stroke, the more often a piston skirt has to be shortened for clearance issues. Cylinder block deck height and other design issues can also impact piston design. The longer that the skirts can be, the less likely it is that piston slap is likely to occur. Although think about it, the longer the skirts, the greater the piston mass and you start impacting engine efficiency due to inertial, and frictional losses. Plus you can impact RPM and horsepower. It's all an intricate dance that even the manufactures are not going to be perfect at every time. That's why we have tolerances, and some things (noises) are allowable even if they are not completely desireable.