OK I was not going to post my engine troubles here because this is a CubCrafters forum and the problems are not all theirs.
They are lax, in my opinion, for not providing all the necessary break in information to owners.
Here's the bare bones of the failure.
last spring I took my CC SN124 (I think) in for an annual condition inspection with 220 hours TT.
The shop I use is excellent and we also use them to maintain our Citationjet. (Indy Jet at Indianapolis Regional airport.)
The shop found one cylinder with very low compression.
It was removed after borscoping and we found that the second ring was badly damaged as was the piston groove and the cylinder wall was scored.
We also found scored valve rockers and plating peeling on the rocker pin.
There were also areas of rust that looked like fingerprints on the push rods.
Because some of the damage was on the valve rockers we removed all of the covers and found additional trouble.
The other cylinders also were removed and showed similar distress in one or more rings.
Long story short, Jon at CubCrafters convinced ECI to give me all new cylinder assemblies.
My shop removed and installed the new cylinders on my nickle.
I now have about 10 hours on the new cylinders.
Note that my engine was assembled by a third party, not ECI or CubCrafters as were all the early engines.
Now I have an airplane that I am told is worth a lot less because we had to "overhaul" the engine at 220 hours.
What caused the problems???
My shop says probably ring flutter.
ECI said it could have been caused by ring flutter or incorrect break in or both.
( I think it was broken in correctly.)
It could have been assembled incorrectly.
Here is my advice for whatever it's worth.
1. Pay absolutely no attention to the LSA 80 HP limit for the first 50 hours or until the oil consumption stabilizes.
Run the hell out of the engine
2350-2450 RPM all the time for the first 50 or so.
2. 425 -450 dF is ok for cylinder head temperature.
3. Use Phillips XC oil only.
4. Use Camgard after 50 hours.
5. Stop pulling the power all the way back in flight. I know----that's hard to remember and to do and some say it's an old wives tale.
ECI says it's real - by the way so does Lycoming.
5. Add an oil filter if you don't have one. My airplane was delivered without one and was operated for the first 20 hours or so that way.
I then bought an oil filter and added it to the engine.
Questions?
Bill