Hey guys-I realize I`m a new guy here & all......but it sounds like a lot of weird variables are happening and I`d just like to to inject what I see as an obvious problem.

Suzi recommends oil & filter changes at what? 3500 miles? That seems like a real `stretch' to me, after all, a filter only stops the big stuff allowing micro bits to sail thru and act as an abrasive. You might be running paste thru the engine by milking the relatively cheap oil and filter for all they are worth. Look at the site glass-when the oil`s dirty-well, it`s dirty. I get the fact that the oil might still be performing as a lubricant, but it sure as hell can carry all manner of metal, carbon, etc to exactly where you don`t want it to go. Just what do you think makes the oil darken? Soot? Well, what`s soot made up of?

When I dropped my header [x-leak] the other day I noticed the port was surfaced with casting bubbles and seams, real rough. Makes me wonder about the finish inside the whole little motor. Yeah it`s only aluminum there, but soft aluminum can catch and contain harder stuff esp. on a micro level. Face it, the QC on Suzi ain`t the best. When you consider that a lead bullet can go thru steel, and a rubber belt can groove your alloy  pulley, makes me wonder if all the rough interior finishing -coarse machining-is making a nasty soup in our little one lungers. Me, I`m gonna run fresh oil thru it more often, maybe every 700-1000 miles and change the filter like every other time.

Correct me if I`m wrong, but that`s a hell of a long time between oil changes on a highly stressed engine.

My 2 cents,

Bill

Gotta agree on the oil, I change out mine at 1,500 miles with a filter every 3,000.