you dont need to pull the exhaust off to check the piston. Spin the flywheel untill it has no pressure. when it freely rocks back and forth take a guess and what the middle point is. that will put it close enough to the bottom. its not going to matter at all if its exactly at the very lowest point. they just dont want it stuffed at the top of the piston where the compression happens. you will feel the compression when its at the top when your rolling the flywheel, sicne it will be hard to roll. then you'll hear like a air bubble pop and it will go loose again back to the bottom. that simple...

its still lubricated from running it with fuel, so you dont need to worry about that. its not going to hurt it. but be carefull not to burn your self lol. 200 degrees and tight spaces isnt a fingers best friend.

2nd when it comes to breaking it in in the cold. there is nothing wrong with it. it doesnt hurt your motor at all. the problem with that is. when you break it in in the winter time, it will over heat in the summer time, so then that will hurt your motor. Thats why you want to warm it up, so the motor thinks its sitting in 80 degree weather when you first fire it up.

So in 45-50 degree weather. just hit the entire motor with a blow dryer for a few minutes. and get it pretty warm. and then head outsite and fire it up you'll be fine. anything less than 45 id wrap the cooling head with aluminum foil to help keep the heat in. and you need to wrap the entire head, not just part of it like badass savage was leading you to believe. the point is to keep the heat in. down by the block where the piston actually is.


if you dont have a heat gun... super simple solution. Spit on it. Spit on your cooling head, if it instantly sizzles away its to hot. If it takes 3-4 seconds to sizzle away its in good temperature.